Support Dynamic UI Alerts

airflow-core/docs/howto/customize-ui.rst

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Customizing the UI
 .. _customizing-the-ui:
 
 Customizing Dag UI Header and Airflow Page Titles
-==================================================
+-------------------------------------------------
 
 Airflow now allows you to customize the Dag home page header and page title. This will help
 distinguish between various installations of Airflow or simply amend the page text.
@@ -61,17 +61,47 @@ After
 
 .. image:: ../img/change-site-title/example_instance_name_configuration.png
 
+|
 
-Add custom alert messages on the dashboard
-------------------------------------------
+Adding Dashboard Alert Messages
+===============================
 
-Extra alert messages can be shown on the UI dashboard. This can be useful for warning about setup issues
-or announcing changes to end users. The following example shows how to add alert messages:
+Extra alert messages can be shown on the Airflow dashboard. This can be useful for warning about setup issues, announcing changes
+to end users, or providing real-time status information. Dashboard alerts support both static and dynamic content.
 
-1.  Add the following contents to ``airflow_local_settings.py`` file under ``$AIRFLOW_HOME/config``.
-    Each alert message should specify a severity level (``info``, ``warning``, ``error``) using ``category``.
+Basic Static Alerts
+-------------------
 
-    .. code-block:: python
+To add static alert messages that remain constant until the webserver is restarted:
+
+1. Create an ``airflow_local_settings.py`` file and place it in ``$PYTHONPATH`` or in the ``$AIRFLOW_HOME/config`` folder.
+   (Airflow adds ``$AIRFLOW_HOME/config`` to ``PYTHONPATH`` when Airflow is initialized)
+
+2. Add the following contents to ``airflow_local_settings.py``:
+
+  .. note::
+      See :ref:`Configuring local settings <set-config:configuring-local-settings>` for details on how to configure local settings.
+
+  .. code-block:: python
+
+      from airflow.www.utils import UIAlert
+
+      DASHBOARD_UIALERTS = [
+          UIAlert("Welcome to Airflow"),
+      ]
+
+3. Restart the Airflow webserver, and you should now see the alert message displayed on the dashboard.
+
+Alert Categories
+----------------
+
+You can control the category of the alert message. Available categories include:
+
+- ``"info"`` (default) - Blue informational alerts
+- ``"warning"`` - Yellow warning alerts
+- ``"error"`` - Red error alerts
+
+.. code-block:: python
 
       from airflow.api_fastapi.common.types import UIAlert
 
@@ -81,19 +111,70 @@ or announcing changes to end users. The following example shows how to add alert
           UIAlert(text="Critical error detected!", category="error"),
       ]
 
-    See :ref:`Configuring local settings <set-config:configuring-local-settings>` for details on how to
-    configure local settings.
+.. image:: ../img/ui-alert-message.png
 
-2.  Restart Airflow Webserver, and you should now see:
+Markdown Content in Alerts
+--------------------------
 
-.. image:: ../img/ui-alert-message.png
+Markdown can be included in alert messages for richer formatting. In the following example, we show an alert
+message of heading 2 with a link included:
 
-Alert messages also support Markdown. In the following example, we show an alert message of heading 2 with a link included.
+.. code-block:: python
 
-    .. code-block:: python
+    from airflow.www.utils import UIAlert
 
-      DASHBOARD_UIALERTS = [
-          UIAlert(text="## Visit [airflow.apache.org](https://airflow.apache.org)", category="info"),
-      ]
+    DASHBOARD_UIALERTS = [
+        UIAlert(text="## Visit [airflow.apache.org](https://airflow.apache.org)", category="info"),
+    ]
 
 .. image:: ../img/ui-alert-message-markdown.png
+
+Dynamic Dashboard Alerts
+------------------------
+
+Dashboard alerts support dynamic content that updates each time the dashboard page is refreshed. This allows for real-time
+status updates without requiring webserver restarts. Dynamic alerts must be defined as an instance of an iterable object.
+The recommended approach is to create a class that subclasses ``list`` and implements a custom ``__iter__`` method that
+yields fresh alerts each time Airflow iterates over the alerts.
+
+.. note::
+  When implementing dynamic alerts it is important to keep alert generation logic lightweight to avoid
+  impacting dashboard load times. Consider caching results for expensive operations and handle exceptions
+  gracefully to prevent alert generation from breaking the UI.
+
+Dynamic alerts are particularly useful for:
+
+- **Real-time notifications**: Display current status updates or announcements
+- **Deployment notifications**: Show current deployment status, build progress, or GitOps state
+- **Temporary maintenance alerts**: Provide time-sensitive information about ongoing maintenance or issues
+- **Environment-specific warnings**: Display different alerts based on current environment conditions
+- **External service status**: Show the availability of dependent services or APIs
+
+Creating Dynamic Alerts
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+To create dynamic alerts, define ``DASHBOARD_UIALERTS`` as an instance of a class that subclasses ``list``
+and implements the ``__iter__`` method. The UI will iterate over any number ``UIAlert`` instances yielded by
+this method and expose them as alerts on the dashboard page.
+
+The example below demonstrates how logic can be applied to yield alerts dynamically. More practical use
+cases might include alerts yielded from APIs, database queries or files.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    import random
+    from airflow.www.utils import UIAlert
+
+
+    class DynamicAlerts(list):
+        def __iter__(self):
+            # This method is called each time Airflow iterates over DASHBOARD_UIALERTS
+            # Example: Flip a coin
+            if random.choice([True, False]):
+                yield UIAlert("Heads!", category="info")
+            else:
+                yield UIAlert("Tails!", category="warning")
+
+
+    # Create an instance of the class
+    DASHBOARD_UIALERTS = DynamicAlerts()

airflow-core/src/airflow/api_fastapi/core_api/routes/ui/config.py

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 from fastapi import Depends, status
 
 from airflow.api_fastapi.common.router import AirflowRouter
+from airflow.api_fastapi.common.types import UIAlert
 from airflow.api_fastapi.core_api.datamodels.ui.config import ConfigResponse
 from airflow.api_fastapi.core_api.openapi.exceptions import create_openapi_http_exception_doc
 from airflow.api_fastapi.core_api.security import requires_authenticated
@@ -54,7 +55,8 @@ def get_configs() -> ConfigResponse:
     additional_config: dict[str, Any] = {
         "instance_name": conf.get("api", "instance_name", fallback="Airflow"),
         "test_connection": conf.get("core", "test_connection", fallback="Disabled"),
-        "dashboard_alert": DASHBOARD_UIALERTS,
+        # Expose "dashboard_alert" using a list comprehension so UIAlert instances can be expressed dynamically.
+        "dashboard_alert": [alert for alert in DASHBOARD_UIALERTS if isinstance(alert, UIAlert)],
         "show_external_log_redirect": task_log_reader.supports_external_link,
         "external_log_name": getattr(task_log_reader.log_handler, "log_name", None),
     }