Kestra¶

Kestra is an open-source orchestration platform for declarative, scheduled, event-driven, and business-critical workflows. It uses YAML-defined flows, a web UI, and a powerful plugin architecture. As of June 2026, v0.18.x is the stable release, featuring enhanced Flow Loops, first-class Python Script support, and native MCP 3.0 support for extending Kestra with agentic tools.

What it is¶

Kestra is a declarative orchestration platform that allows engineering teams to define complex workflows as simple YAML files. It provides a unified control plane for coordinating scripts (Python, Node.js, Shell), data tools, and cloud services.

What problem it solves¶

Kestra bridges the gap between infrastructure automation and data orchestration. It eliminates the "hidden" logic often found in cron jobs or custom scripts by making every execution observable, retryable, and version-controllable. It simplifies the creation of event-driven agentic loops by providing native triggers for external events.

Where it fits in the stack¶

Orchestration / Declarative Automation Platform. It serves as the coordination layer that sits above your infrastructure (Kubernetes, Docker, Cloud) and data/AI services. It is particularly strong for teams that prefer declarative configuration over complex Python DAGs.

Typical use cases¶

AI Model Retraining: Triggering a training pipeline when new data arrives, followed by evaluation and notification.
Infrastructure Provisioning: Coordinating Terraform or Ansible runs with post-deployment health checks.
Enterprise ETL/ELT: Moving data between internal systems and warehouses with robust error handling.
Event-Driven Agentic Loops: Triggering an AI agent (Claude 4.8) via an MCP tool as soon as a specific event (e.g., a new GitHub issue) is detected.

Strengths¶

Declarative YAML: Everything is defined in code, making it version-controllable and easy to review.
Embedded Scripts: Run Python, Node.js, or Shell scripts directly within a flow without managing external workers.
Event-Driven: Native support for triggers like file arrivals, webhooks, and message queue events.
High Observability: A rich UI provides real-time logs, flow visualization, and performance metrics.
MCP 3.0 Support: Seamlessly integrate agentic tools into your declarative workflows.

Limitations¶

YAML Learning Curve: While simpler than complex Python DAGs, the YAML schema for advanced plugins requires study.
Not for Micro-Services: Not intended to replace low-latency service-to-service communication.
Plugin Dependency: Complex logic depends on the availability and maturity of specific Kestra plugins.

When to use it¶

You want to manage your workflows as code using a declarative YAML format.
You need a unified platform that handles both data pipelines and infrastructure tasks.
You require high visibility and a user-friendly UI for operations and monitoring.
You want to build event-driven agentic systems using MCP.

When not to use it¶

For ultra-low latency request/response handling (use a dedicated API framework).
If your team strictly requires a code-only (e.g., pure Python) orchestration library without a central server.
For simple, isolated scripts where the overhead of a platform isn't justified.

Getting started¶

Docker Compose¶

Run Kestra locally with a single command:

docker run --pull always -p 8080:8080 kestra/kestra:latest-full

Access the UI at http://localhost:8080.

Hello World Flow¶

Create a new flow in the UI:

id: hello_world
namespace: dev

tasks:
  - id: log
    type: io.kestra.plugin.core.log.Log
    message: Hello from Kestra 2026!

  - id: python_script
    type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Script
    script: |
      import sys
      print(f"Python version: {sys.version}")

CLI examples¶

The kestra CLI allows for flow validation and deployment.

# Validate a flow locally
kestra flow validate my_flow.yaml

# Create or update a flow from the CLI
kestra flow create dev my_flow.yaml

# Execute a flow and follow the logs
kestra flow execute dev hello_world --follow

# List all flows in a namespace
kestra flow list dev

API examples¶

Kestra provides a REST API for programmatic interaction.

# Trigger a flow via curl
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/api/v1/executions/dev/hello_world" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"parameters": {"env": "prod"}}'

# Fetch logs for a specific execution
curl -X GET "http://localhost:8080/api/v1/logs/EXECUTION_ID"

Apache Airflow — The Python-based alternative.
Dagster — Asset-centric data orchestration.
Prefect — Dynamic Python workflows.
Argo Workflows — Kubernetes-native orchestration.
n8n — Low-code visual automation.
LiteLLM — For AI task integration within flows.
MCP — For extending Kestra with agentic tools.

Sources / references¶

Contribution Metadata¶

Last reviewed: 2026-06-21
Confidence: high