Generated banner for Debugging Mwaa Workflow
Generated logo for Debugging Mwaa Workflow

Debugging Mwaa Workflow

AWSOfficialPublished by AWS

  • Skill
  • Review and audit
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
  • No issues found

From the author

Diagnoses and root-causes Amazon MWAA workflow failures across Provisioned (Python DAG) and Serverless (YAML workflow) environments. Provisioned uses aws mwaa invoke-rest-api, CloudWatch log groups, and get-environment; Serverless uses aws mwaa-serverless API (GetWorkflowRun, ListWorkflowRuns, GetTaskInstance) and CloudWatch logs. Covers failed runs and tasks, DAGs not appearing, import errors, worker OOM, IAM denials, and dependency drift. Triggers on: DAG failed, task failed, workflow run failed, MWAA error, debug my DAG, why did my workflow fail, DAG not showing up, MWAA import error, requirements failing, worker crashed, serverless run failed. Not applicable to authoring workflows (handled by authoring-mwaa-workflow), running or smoke-testing a workflow (handled by testing-mwaa-workflow), or CI-CD deploy failures.
— the description by AWS

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a systematic, read-only diagnostic framework for troubleshooting Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (MWAA). It handles both Provisioned (Python DAG) and Serverless (YAML) environments by routing failures through a standardized 4-step process: detection, identification, categorization, and context analysis. It leverages AWS CLI commands to query MWAA APIs and CloudWatch logs, providing actionable root cause analysis, impact assessments, and remediation recommendations while maintaining production safety by never executing state-mutating commands autonomously.

What it does

  • Detects and categorizes MWAA workflow failures including task crashes, import errors, and IAM denials.
  • Queries MWAA Provisioned environments via invoke-rest-api and CloudWatch logs.
  • Analyzes MWAA Serverless workflows using GetWorkflowRun and task instance logs.
  • Provides a structured diagnostic report with root cause, impact, and remediation steps.
  • Offers specific troubleshooting checklists for common issues like DAGs not appearing in the UI.
  • Maintains security by performing only read-only operations and suggesting safe remediation commands.

When to use it

  • When a DAG or task fails unexpectedly in an MWAA environment.
  • When a DAG is not appearing in the Airflow UI.
  • When diagnosing worker OOM (SIGKILL) or dependency drift issues.
  • When investigating 'AccessDenied' or 'EntityNotFound' errors in workflow logs.
  • When needing to distinguish between definition errors and task-execution failures.

Advantages

  • Standardizes the diagnostic process across different MWAA deployment models.
  • Prioritizes safe, read-only investigation to prevent accidental production changes.
  • Provides clear, actionable remediation paths for complex issues like dependency drift.
  • Reduces manual log-diving by automating the retrieval of relevant error details.
  • Includes specific guidance for common, non-obvious issues like scheduler scan intervals.

Usage examples

“Why did my workflow fail?”
The agent will identify the environment flavor, list recent failed runs, pull the relevant error logs, and provide a structured report with the root cause and remediation steps.
“My DAG is not showing up in the UI, help me debug.”
The agent will walk through the DAG registration checklist, checking for import errors, scan intervals, dag_id collisions, and S3-sync delays.
“Why is my worker crashing with a SIGKILL?”
The agent will analyze the worker logs, confirm the environment class and memory constraints, and recommend moving heavy tasks to external services like Glue or EMR.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/aws/debugging-mwaa-workflow/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip debugging-mwaa-workflow.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by AWS

Debugging MWAA Workflows

AWS MCP server (optional but recommended): running the AWS CLI commands in this skill through the AWS MCP server gives sandboxed execution and audit logging. Every command here also works with the plain AWS CLI, so the skill does not require the MCP server or any MCP-only tools.

Diagnose and root-cause Amazon MWAA workflow failures, then report root cause, impact, and recommended remediation. Routes by flavor, then runs a shared 4-step diagnostic spine.

Guardrail — where this skill's own files live (MCP vs local install)

This skill can be loaded two ways, and they resolve the skill's own bundled files from different places. Determine how the skill was loaded before reading a reference:

  • Loaded through the AWS MCP retrieve_skill tool: The skill is not installed on the local filesystem. You MUST fetch each reference via retrieve_skill with the file parameter (e.g. file="references/failure-catalog.md") and read the returned content. Do NOT file_read these paths locally — they do not exist on disk.

  • Installed locally (e.g. .kiro/skills/debugging-mwaa-workflow/ or ~/.claude/skills/debugging-mwaa-workflow/): Read the files from the local skill directory using relative paths.

This distinction applies only to the skill's own packaged files. User data and session artifacts are always read from and written to the user's working directory. Never fetch or write customer data through retrieve_skill.

Step 0: Detect Flavor and Scope the Failure

Detect flavor
  1. An environment name resolvable via aws mwaa get-environment means the environment is Provisioned.

  2. A workflow/... ARN or any aws mwaa-serverless context means the environment is Serverless. A bare run identifier does NOT indicate flavor — Provisioned DAG runs also have run ids.

  3. If neither signal is present, ask: is the target MWAA Provisioned (Python DAG) or MWAA Serverless (YAML workflow)?

Route by complexity
  • Simple — a single named task or run failed with a clear exception. Jump to Step 2 for that task.

  • Standard — a run failed and the cause is unknown. Run the full Step 1 to Step 4 sweep.

  • Complex — intermittent or environment-wide (multiple DAGs, "worked yesterday", nothing appearing). Run the full sweep with emphasis on Step 3.

Step 1: Identify the Failure

Provisioned: list failed DAG runs and task instances via aws mwaa invoke-rest-api (paths /dags/{id}/dagRuns and /dags/{id}/dagRuns/{run_id}/taskInstances). If invoke-rest-api errors (RestApiClientException), fall back to the Scheduler and DAGProcessing log groups. Get version and config from aws mwaa get-environment. See references/provisioned-diagnostics.md.

Serverless: aws mwaa-serverless list-workflow-runs, then get-workflow-run. Read RunDetail.ErrorMessage — an empty TaskInstances with a parser message is a definition error; Workflow execution failed with populated TaskInstances is a task-execution failure. See references/serverless-diagnostics.md.

Step 2: Get Error Details and Categorize

Pull the real exception past boilerplate:

Provisioned: read the Task log group first, then Worker/Scheduler/ DAGProcessing as the symptom directs.

Serverless: list-task-instances then get-task-instance to get each task's LogStream, then read that stream in CloudWatch.

Then categorize in priority order — infra, then drift, then code-data — using references/failure-catalog.md. The category determines the Step 3 checks.

Step 3: Check Context (Why It Happened)

Run the context checks for the matched category from references/failure-catalog.md. Do not stop at the surface exception: a SIGKILL is an OOM story, a fresh import error on unchanged code is a drift story, a sensor timeout is an upstream-health story.

Step 4: Provide Actionable Output

Report in this exact structure:

Root Cause: <one-line diagnosis with the evidence that proves it>
Impact: <what failed, which runs, blast radius>
Immediate Fix: <the smallest change that unblocks>
Prevention: <the change that stops recurrence>
Commands: <exact read-only commands run, plus remediation commands for the user to run>

Run only read-only operations. Present state-mutating remediation (clear/rerun/backfill for Provisioned; start-workflow-run or fix-and-redeploy for Serverless) as commands for the user to run, with the impact stated. Never execute them autonomously (production safety).

For the fix-and-redeploy path, use authoring-mwaa-workflow to regenerate a compliant artifact.

Gotchas

  • Serverless has no Airflow web UI, no REST API, and no CLI token. Do not attempt create-web-login-token, invoke-rest-api, or any Airflow REST path for Serverless.

  • For Provisioned, always use aws mwaa invoke-rest-api (not create-web-login-token + curl). invoke-rest-api reaches VPC-only web servers without network access.

  • GetWorkflowRun.RunDetail.ErrorMessage distinguishes a definition error (empty TaskInstances) from a task-execution failure (Workflow execution failed, populated TaskInstances). Read it before pulling task logs.

  • The Serverless log group defaults to /aws/mwaa-serverless/{workflow-id}/ but can be a custom group; confirm via get-workflow LoggingConfiguration before assuming the path.

  • A DAG not appearing has several causes — an import/parse error, the scheduler scan interval (scheduler.dag_dir_list_interval, or dag_processor.refresh_interval on Airflow 3.x) not yet elapsed, a dag_id collision, or S3-sync delay — and is rarely a broken DAG. Check GET /importErrors and GET /dags/{dag_id} via invoke-rest-api (and the DAGProcessing logs); see the failure catalog's "DAG not appearing in the UI" checklist before concluding the code is wrong.

  • A worker SIGKILL is an OOM signal. Recommend moving work to Glue/EMR/Lambda; scaling workers alone does not fix per-task memory pressure.

  • MWAA re-resolves dependencies on environment update, so an unchanged DAG can start failing on import with no code change. Treat no-code-change import failures as drift.

  • Serverless PythonOperator/BashOperator tasks run custom code from a --code package. A run that fails to extract the package or hits ModuleNotFoundError is a packaging problem (wrong-platform wheel, missing dep, bad layout), not a YAML definition error. See the failure catalog's serverless custom-code section.

Troubleshooting

ErrorCauseFix
RestApiClientException (Provisioned)Mis-scoped execution role or service errorFall back to Scheduler/DAGProcessing log groups
ResourceNotFoundException on get-workflow-runWrong workflow ARN or run idRe-list with list-workflow-runs
Task log stream empty (Serverless)Wrong log group assumedRead LoggingConfiguration from get-workflow
No task logs but run FAILEDDefinition/parse errorRead RunDetail.ErrorMessage; fix the YAML

References

Security Considerations

  • Read-only by default: diagnosis uses only read/list/describe calls. Remediation (clear/rerun/backfill, IAM or key-policy changes) is presented as commands for the user to run, never executed autonomously.

  • Least-privilege IAM: when an AccessDenied is a genuine permission gap, recommend the minimal Action/Resource from the error — never a wildcard; distinguish it from a nonexistent-resource typo (do not broaden IAM then).

  • Cross-account: KMS key-policy / assume-role changes are human-gated and coordinated with the resource owner.

  • No secret exposure: do not surface credentials or connection strings from logs or API responses in the diagnosis output.

Files

LICENSE


                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs an MCP server

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Published by
AWS
Publisher
AWS (Official)
Source
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws · plugins/aws-data-analytics/skills/debugging-mwaa-workflow · commit 0a218f8
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • NOTICE (added by AutoGineer from NOTICE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced
Also distributed in
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by AWS or AWS.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download debugging-mwaa-workflow.zip