Is Dagu a good alternative to Apache Airflow?

Yes! Dagu is an excellent alternative to Apache Airflow for teams wanting simplicity. It's a single binary with zero dependencies (no database or message broker needed), installs in seconds, and provides the same core DAG workflow capabilities with a beautiful web UI.

What makes Dagu different from Airflow?

Dagu is lightweight (single binary vs Airflow's complex infrastructure), language-agnostic (not Python-only), has zero external dependencies, and can be set up in minutes instead of days. Perfect for teams who find Airflow overly complex.

Can Dagu replace Apache Airflow?

Yes, Dagu can replace Airflow for most use cases. It supports DAG workflows, scheduling, retries, dependencies, and monitoring - all the core features teams use in Airflow, but in a much simpler package.

The workflow engine that doesn’t turn into an SRE project.

Dagu replaces workflow platform sprawl with a self-contained engine that is easier to run, cheaper to own, and simpler to scale.

Quick Start

View Examples

Try Live Demo

dagu server --port 8080

Install dagu command

$curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagu-org/dagu/main/scripts/installer.sh | sh

Zero Intrusion

No SDK required. Your code stays untouched.

Self-contained

Single binary, no external dependencies

Language agnostic

Run any script, any language

Air-Gapped Ready

Runs fully offline. No external services needed.

workflow.yaml

# CLI + AI agent workflow

name: "log-analyzer"

schedule: "0 0 * * *"

steps:

- name: "collect-logs"

command: "grep ERROR /var/log/app/*.log"

output: ERRORS

- name: "ai-analyze"

type: agent

messages:

- role: user

content: "Analyze: $${ERRORS}"

Supported Integrations

Docker SSH S3 Redis OpenAI Anthropic Gemini PostgreSQL SQLite

USE CASES

Built for real workflows

From shell scripts to AI agents, automate it all in simple YAML.

Health Check

SSH Backup

Notify

CLI Orchestration

Chain shell commands, Docker containers, SSH sessions, and HTTP calls into reliable automated workflows.

1Orchestrate any CLI command without code changes
2Run containers, SSH into servers, make HTTP calls
3Parallel execution with dependency management
4Automatic retries with exponential backoff

workflow.yaml

steps:
  - name: health-check
    command: curl -sf http://app:8080/health

  - name: backup
    type: ssh
    config:
      host: db-server
      user: admin
    command: pg_dump mydb > /backups/daily.sql

  - name: notify
    type: http
    config:
      url: "https://hooks.slack.com/..."
      method: POST
    body: '{"text": "Backup complete"}'