Python

Airplane makes it easy to write and deploy Python-based tasks when you need to write custom code that SQL or REST might not be able to handle.
This guide will get you up and running with an example Python task. For specific details see:

Getting started
We'll use the Airplane CLI airplane to demonstrate how to get started with a Python task.
If you haven't yet, first install the Airplane CLI by following the instructions at Installing the CLI.

Create your task
Once you've installed and logged in to the CLI, navigate to the folder where you want to create your task and run:
bash
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airplane init
You'll be prompted for some information:
  • Enter a name for the task.
  • Select Python as the kind.
  • Enter a name for the script and the definition file. The script contains the task code (e.g. delete_user_by_email.py) while the definition file contains task metadata (e.g. delete_user_by_email.task.yaml).

Parameters
Parameters allow you to prompt users for input before triggering your task. See Parameters for more information.
Open up the definition file (the file with extension .task.yaml) to add parameters to the task.
Example:
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parameters:
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  - name: User email
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    slug: user_email
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    type: shorttext
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    description: The email address of the user
See Task definition for a full reference on available parameters.

Environment variables
Environment variables can be entered directly ("from value"), or you can reference Config variables ("from config variable"). Use config variables for secrets and/or values you want to share across multiple tasks.
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python:
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  envVars:
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    # From value
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    ENVIRONMENT:
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      value: production
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    # From config variable
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    MY_SECRET:
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      config: MY_SECRET_CONFIG_VAR
Access environment variables using standard Python patterns. For example:
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my_secret = os.getenv('MY_SECRET')

Develop your script
Airplane runs your code using Python 3.9.
A minimal Airplane python script looks like this (and gets generated by airplane init):
python
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# Put the main logic of the task in the main function.
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def main(params):
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    print("parameters:", params)
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    # You can return data to show output to users.
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    # Output documentation: https://docs.airplane.dev/tasks/output
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    return [
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        {"element": "hydrogen", "weight": 1.008},
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        {"element": "helium", "weight": 4.0026}
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    ]
When Airplane executes your script, it will look for a main function. This function should accept a single argument params which will be set to an object of the Parameter values passed in by the user: { "user_email": "hello@airplane.dev" }.

Install dependencies
To install dependencies, you can add them to a requirements.txt file, and Airplane will pip install from it when deploying.
You should place this requirements.txt file either next to your script or in a parent directory. The closest directory containing requirements.txt becomes the task root—the task root is uploaded when deploying.
For more information, see Python dependencies.

Develop locally
To test your task locally, ensure you have the Airplane CLI installed, then run the dev command:
bash
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$ airplane dev your_task.task.yaml -- --user_email="hello@airplane.dev"
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parameters: {'user_email': 'hello@airplane.dev'}
For more details on local task execution, including how to set environment variables, see Local task execution.

Deploy to Airplane
Finally, run deploy to push your script to Airplane:
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airplane deploy your_task.task.yaml
Once deployed, go to the Tasks page to see and run your task!
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