Dagu

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Quickstart ​

From zero to a running workflow in under five minutes.

1. Install ​

bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagucloud/dagu/main/scripts/installer.sh | bash
powershell
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagucloud/dagu/main/scripts/installer.ps1 | iex
bash
docker pull ghcr.io/dagucloud/dagu:latest
bash
npm install -g --ignore-scripts=false @dagucloud/dagu
bash
brew install dagu

The script installers run a guided wizard for PATH setup, background service setup, and the first admin account. Homebrew, npm, and Docker install the binary or container only.

Full options (specific versions, custom directories, service scope, uninstall, CI/non-interactive): Installation Guide.

Verify:

bash
dagu version

2. Write your first workflow ​

A DAG is a YAML file. Save the following as hello.yaml:

yaml
steps:
  - id: hello
    run: echo "Hello from Dagu!"
  - id: step_2
    run: echo "Running step 2"
    depends: hello

3. Run it ​

bash
dagu start hello.yaml

Output:

Succeeded - 2026-04-24T15:23:07+09:00

dag: hello (0s)
├─log: .../logs/hello/.../dag-run....log
│
├─cmd_1 (0s) [succeeded]
│ ├─echo "Hello from Dagu!"
│ │
│ └─stdout: .../cmd_1....out
│     Hello from Dagu!
│
└─cmd_2 (0s) [succeeded]
  ├─echo "Running step 2"
  │
  └─stdout: .../cmd_2....out
      Running step 2

Result: Succeeded

Timestamp, duration, and log paths vary by run.

Other useful commands:

bash
dagu validate hello.yaml   # Check syntax without running
dagu dry hello.yaml        # Show execution plan
dagu status hello          # Last run status
dagu history hello         # Recent runs

Run with Docker instead:

bash
mkdir -p ~/.dagu/dags && cp hello.yaml ~/.dagu/dags/
docker run --rm -v ~/.dagu:/var/lib/dagu ghcr.io/dagucloud/dagu:latest \
  dagu start hello

4. Open the web UI ​

bash
dagu start-all

Visit http://localhost:8080. The UI shows live run status, logs per step, execution history, and a YAML editor.

On first launch against an empty DAGs directory (~/.config/dagu/dags/), Dagu creates a set of example workflows (example-01-basic-sequential.yaml through example-06-container-workflow.yaml). Set DAGU_SKIP_EXAMPLES=true or skip_examples: true in config.yaml to disable.

Core pieces ​

Dependencies ​

yaml
type: graph
steps:
  - id: extract
    run: ./extract.sh
  - id: transform_a
    run: ./transform_a.sh
    depends: extract

  - id: transform_b
    run: ./transform_b.sh
    depends: extract

  - id: load
    run: ./load.sh
    depends: [transform_a, transform_b]

Parameters ​

yaml
params:
  - SOURCE: /data
  - DEST: /backup

steps:
  - run: tar -czf ${DEST}/backup.tar.gz ${SOURCE}
bash
dagu start backup.yaml -- SOURCE=/important DEST=/backups

Retries and error handling ​

yaml
steps:
  - id: download
    run: curl -f https://example.com/data.zip -o data.zip
    retry_policy:
      limit: 3
      interval_sec: 30

  - id: process
    run: ./process.sh data.zip
    continue_on:
      failure: true
    depends: download

handler_on:
  failure:
    run: echo "run failed" | mail -s "alert" admin@example.com
  exit:
    run: rm -f data.zip
    depends: download

Containers ​

Run every step in the same container:

yaml
container:
  image: python:3.11
  volumes:
    - ./data:/data
steps:
  - id: write_file
    run: python -c "open('/data/out.txt','w').write('hi')"
  - id: read_file
    run: python -c "print(open('/data/out.txt').read())"
    depends: write_file

Or run a single step in its own container:

yaml
steps:
  - name: build
    container:
      image: node:20-alpine
    run: npm run build

Scheduling ​

yaml
schedule: "0 2 * * *"      # 2 AM daily
overlap_policy: skip        # drop new runs while one is active
timeout_sec: 3600
steps:
  - run: ./nightly.sh

Working directory ​

DAGs execute in the directory of the YAML file by default. Override with working_dir:

yaml
working_dir: /app/project
dotenv: .env                 # resolved from working_dir
steps:
  - run: ls -la

Next steps ​