Apache Airflow is an open-source platform to programmatically author, schedule and monitor workflows. It is designed to orchestrate complex computational workflows, allow data engineers to create Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) of tasks, and manage the execution of those tasks to automate processes.
Airflow is like a smart robot that organizes and runs a series of actions for you, kind of like a baking recipe where you first mix ingredients, then bake, and finally let it cool. This robot ensures that each step happens in the correct order and automatically keeps track of everything.
Unlike other workflow orchestration tools, Airflow offers a very flexible and powerful Python-based interface for building DAGs. It is highly extensible and allows for complex dependency management, which makes it perfect for sophisticated data processing workflows.