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Setup

In this step, we'll:

  • Install the example code and review the project structure
  • Set up a local environment
  • Ensure we can run Airflow locally.

Install example code​

First, create a fresh virtual environment using uv and activate it:

pip install uv
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Next, install Dagster and verify that the dagster CLI is available:

uv pip install dagster
dagster --version

Finally, install the tutorial example code:

dagster project from-example --name airlift-federation-tutorial --example airlift-federation-tutorial

Project structure​

This tutorial example contains the following files and directories:

airlift_federation_tutorial
├── constants.py: Contains constant values used throughout both Airflow and Dagster
├── dagster_defs: Contains Dagster definitions
│   ├── definitions.py: Empty starter file for following along with the tutorial
│   └── stages: Contains reference implementations for each stage of the migration process.
├── metrics_airflow_dags: Contains the Airflow DAGs for the "downstream" Airflow instance
└── warehouse_airflow_dags: Contains the Airflow DAGs for the "upstream" Airflow instance

Run Airflow instances locally​

This tutorial involves running two local Airflow instances, which you can do by following commands from the root of the airlift-federation-tutorial directory.

First, install the required Python packages:

make airflow_install

Next, scaffold the two Airflow instances required for this tutorial:

make airflow_setup

Finally, run the two Airflow instances with environment variables set.

In one shell, run:

make warehouse_airflow_run

In a separate shell, run:

make metrics_airflow_run

This will run two Airflow Web UIs, one for each Airflow instance. You should now be able to access the warehouse Airflow UI at http://localhost:8081, with the default username and password set to admin.

You should be able to see the load_customers DAG in the Airflow UI:

load_customers DAG

Similarly, you should be able to access the metrics Airflow UI at http://localhost:8082, with the default username and password set to admin.

You should be able to see the customer_metrics DAG in the Airflow UI:

customer_metrics DAG

Next steps​

In the next step, "Observe multiple Airflow instances from Dagster", we'll add asset representations of our DAGs and set up lineage across both Airflow instances.