---
id: kestra
version: "1.3.0"
license: Apache License 2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# kestra — Kestra is an infinitely scalable orchestration and scheduling platform, creating, running, scheduling, and monitoring millions of complex pipelines.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 2.9M/mo

## What it is and what it does

Kestra is a Python client library that connects your code to a Kestra orchestration server. It lets you trigger workflows (called flows), wait for them to complete, and retrieve their status and logs. You can also send metrics, counters, timers, and structured outputs back to the Kestra server from within your Python scripts, and read Ion-format data files.

The package is designed for two main patterns: synchronous flow execution where you wait for a flow to finish and get its result, and fire-and-forget execution where you trigger a flow and continue without blocking. It handles authentication via API token or username/password, includes automatic retry logic with exponential backoff for failed requests, and provides a JSON-formatted logger for integration with log management systems.

Use it for:

- Trigger a Kestra workflow from a Python script and wait for completion before proceeding with downstream tasks.
- Send custom metrics and counters to Kestra during a Python task execution for monitoring and observability.
- Retrieve execution logs and status of a Kestra flow run to implement custom error handling or reporting.
- Pass file inputs to a Kestra flow from Python, such as uploading a CSV or text file as a flow parameter.
- Read Ion-format data files downloaded from external sources and convert them to Python dictionaries for data processing.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides a Python client to interact with Kestra servers for triggering flows, sending metrics and outputs, and retrieving execution status and logs.

Yes. The package has low install friction, active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and a permissive license. It is the official client for Kestra orchestration, making it the natural choice if you need to programmatically interact with a Kestra server from Python. Install it if you are already using or planning to use Kestra for workflow orchestration.

## Install

pip install kestra
uv add kestra
poetry add kestra

## Installing kestra

Before you install: Low install friction with only three runtime dependencies (requests, amazon.ion, python-dateutil). Package is actively maintained with recent releases and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Apache License 2.0 is permissive; you can use this package in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions, provided you include a copy of the license.

Quickstart:

from kestra import Flow

flow = Flow()
flow.execute('mynamespace', 'myflow', {'param': 'value'})

Requires a running Kestra server accessible via KESTRA_HOSTNAME environment variable or constructor parameter; authentication via KESTRA_API_TOKEN or KESTRA_USER/KESTRA_PASSWORD environment variables.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package supports async/await patterns for non-blocking flow execution beyond the wait_for_completion flag.
- Performance characteristics when polling large numbers of concurrent flow executions.
- Whether retry logic with exponential backoff is configurable by users.

## Package facts

- License: Apache License 2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 2.9M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

kestra flow execution client, orchestration platform python sdk, workflow trigger and monitoring, send metrics to kestra, kestra api client, flow execution polling, pipeline orchestration python, orchestration-client, workflow-automation, monitoring-integration

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