/annotating-task-lineage

name: annotating-task-lineage
description: Annotate Airflow tasks with data lineage using inlets and outlets. Use when the user wants to add lineage metadata to tasks, specify input/output datasets, or enable lineage tracking for operators without built-in OpenLineage extraction.

Annotating Task Lineage with Inlets & Outlets

This skill guides you through adding manual lineage annotations to Airflow tasks using `inlets` and `outlets`.

> **Reference:** See the [OpenLineage provider developer guide](https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow-providers-openlineage/stable/guides/developer.html) for the latest supported operators and patterns.

On Astro

Lineage annotations defined with inlets and outlets are visualized in Astro's enhanced **Lineage tab**, which provides cross-DAG and cross-deployment lineage views. This means your annotations are immediately visible in the Astro UI, giving you a unified view of data flow across your entire Astro organization.

When to Use This Approach

| Scenario | Use Inlets/Outlets? | |----------|---------------------| | Operator has OpenLineage methods (`get_openlineage_facets_on_*`) | ❌ Modify the OL method directly | | Operator has no built-in OpenLineage extractor | ✅ Yes | | Simple table-level lineage is sufficient | ✅ Yes | | Quick lineage setup without custom code | ✅ Yes | | Need column-level lineage | ❌ Use OpenLineage methods or custom extractor | | Complex extraction logic needed | ❌ Use OpenLineage methods or custom extractor |

> **Note:** Inlets/outlets are the lowest-priority fallback. If an OpenLineage extractor or method exists for the operator, it takes precedence. Use this approach for operators without extractors.

---

Supported Types for Inlets/Outlets

You can use **OpenLineage Dataset** objects or **Airflow Assets** for inlets and outlets:

OpenLineage Datasets (Recommended)

from openlineage.client.event_v2 import Dataset

# Database tables
source_table = Dataset(
    namespace="postgres://mydb:5432",
    name="public.orders",
)
target_table = Dataset(
    namespace="snowflake://account.snowflakecomputing.com",
    name="staging.orders_clean",
)

# Files
input_file = Dataset(
    namespace="s3://my-bucket",
    name="raw/events/2024-01-01.json",
)

Airflow Assets (Airflow 3+)

from airflow.sdk import Asset

# Using Airflow's native Asset type
orders_asset = Asset(uri="s3://my-bucket/data/orders")

Airflow Datasets (Airflow 2.4+)

from airflow.datasets import Dataset

# Using Airflow's Dataset type (Airflow 2.4-2.x)
orders_dataset = Dataset(uri="s3://my-bucket/data/orders")

---

Basic Usage

Setting Inlets and Outlets on Operators

from airflow import DAG
from airflow.operators.bash import BashOperator
from openlineage.client.event_v2 import Dataset
import pendulum

# Define your lineage datasets
source_table = Dataset(
    namespace="snowflake://account.snowflakecomputing.com",
    name="raw.orders",
)
target_table = Dataset(
    namespace="snowflake://account.snowflakecomputing.com",
    name="staging.orders_clean",
)
output_file = Dataset(
    namespace="s3://my-bucket",
    name="exports/orders.parquet",
)

with DAG(
    dag_id="etl_with_lineage",
    start_date=pendulum.datetime(2024, 1, 1, tz="UTC"),
    schedule="@daily",
) as dag:

    transform = BashOperator(
        task_id="transform_orders",
        bash_command="echo 'transforming...'",
        inlets=[source_table],           # What this task reads
        outlets=[target_table],          # What this task writes
    )

    export = BashOperator(
        task_id="export_to_s3",
        bash_command="echo 'exporting...'",
        inlets=[target_table],           # Reads from previous output
        outlets=[output_file],           # Writes to S3
    )

    transform >> export

Multiple Inputs and Outputs

Tasks often read from multiple sources and write to multiple destinations:

from openlineage.client.event_v2 import Dataset

# Multiple source tables
customers = Dataset(namespace="postgres://crm:5432", name="public.customers")
orders = Dataset(namespace="postgres://sales:5432", name="public.orders")
products = Dataset(namespace="postgres://inventory:5432", name="public.products")

# Multiple output tables
daily_summary = Dataset(namespace="snowflake://account", name="analytics.daily_summary")
customer_metrics = Dataset(namespace="snowflake://account", name="analytics.customer_metrics")

aggregate_task = PythonOperator(
    task_id="build_daily_aggregates",
    python_callable=build_aggregates,
    inlets=[customers, orders, products],      # All inputs
    outlets=[daily_summary, customer_metrics], # All outputs
)

---

Setting Lineage in Custom Operators

When building custom operators, you have two options:

Option 1: Implement OpenLineage Methods (Recommended)

This is the preferred approach as it gives you full control over lineage extraction:

from airflow.models import BaseOperator


class MyCustomOperator(BaseOperator):
    def __init__(self, source_table: str, target_table: str, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(**kwargs)
        self.source_table = source_table
        self.target_table = target_table

    def execute(self, context):
        # ... perform the actual work ...
        self.log.info(f"Processing {self.source_table} -> {self.target_table}")

    def get_openlineage_facets_on_complete(self, task_instance):
        """Return lineage after successful execution."""
        from openlineage.client.event_v2 import Dataset
        from airflow.providers.openlineage.extractors import OperatorLineage

        return OperatorLineage(
            inputs=[Dataset(namespace="warehouse://db", name=self.source_table)],
            outputs=[Dataset(namespace="warehouse://db", name=self.target_table)],
        )

Option 2: Set Inlets/Outlets Dynamically

For simpler cases, set lineage within the `execute` method (non-