Show Dag Run conf column by default in Dag Runs list

[ashutosh264]

Airflow 3 already exposed Dag Run conf in the API and defined a Conf column in the Dag Runs table, but the column was hidden by default (conf: false in columnVisibility). That broke AF2 parity for operators who trigger Dags with run conf and need to see it in the list without opening column settings.

This PR makes the Conf column visible by default. Rendering is unchanged — the existing inline RenderedJsonField (collapsed Monaco JSON), consistent with XCom, Assets, and other tables.

Applies to both Browse → Dag Runs (/dag_runs) and Dag → Runs (/dags/:dagId/runs).

closes: #53382

[ashutosh264]

UI Screenshots

• In specific dag run

• In global dag runs tab

[pierrejeambrun]

Thanks for the PR.

I'm fine with showing 'conf' column by default, but can you explain the motivation by replacing the monaco editor with a custom one and then a modal for monaco? (First it's inconsistent with how we display json content in the UI, and also it offers far less features, highlighting, expand/collapse etc...)

Maybe for performance reason (less monaco IDE mounted at once on the same page)? That still makes the content of the conf available through an extra click, and there are plenty of other tables with monaco columns (xcoms, assets, etc...) that currently work fine. If we want to change this, we probably need to change it for all tables and unless it's proven to be a performance bottleneck (with experiment and metrics) I wouldn't be in favor of going in that direction. Also if we want to explore it, I would create a separate PR because we probably want to discuss more about this and not block the 'display config column by default' part.

Also CI need fixing.

[ashutosh264]

Maybe for performance reason (less monaco IDE mounted at once on the same page)? That still makes the content of the conf available through an extra click, and there are plenty of other tables with monaco columns (xcoms, assets, etc...) that currently work fine. If we want to change this, we probably need to change it for all tables and unless it's proven to be a performance bottleneck (with experiment and metrics) I wouldn't be in favor of going in that direction. Also if we want to explore it, I would create a separate PR because we probably want to discuss more about this and not block the 'display config column by default' part.

Thanks for the review, agreed on keeping Monaco inline for consistency with XCom/Assets/etc.

I've dropped the custom preview/dialog (DagRunConfCell) and reverted to the existing RenderedJsonField collapsed cell. The PR now only makes the Conf column visible by default.

Removed the newsfragment per your comment. Rebased onto the latest main to fix CI.

[pierrejeambrun]

Nice, can you please update the PR title and description. (And remove UI: that's against our policy).

A couple of suggestions and we should be good to merge.

[ashutosh264]

@pierrejeambrun Thanks for the thorough review!

All suggestions are addressed. Please take another look when you have a moment.

[bbovenzi]

Could you update the screenshots please?

[ashutosh264]

Could you update the screenshots please?

@bbovenzi I have updated the screenshots, can you please check?

[ashutosh264]

Thanks for the review.

One follow-up idea I'd like your take on: show conf content expanded by default in the Dag Runs list (i.e. drop collapsed on the conf cell), rather than the folded { ... } preview users have to open row by row. (If I am not wrong, this case is there in AF2)

Motivation: when I'm triaging or comparing runs, I often want to quickly scan or diff conf values across rows (env, batch id, feature flags, etc.). With the column visible but folded, I still have to expand each row manually, which doesn't help much for search/compare workflows.

Trade-off I'm aware of: expanded JSON will make rows taller and the table noisier, especially for large conf objects — which is probably why XCom/Assets use collapsed previews in list views. Conf might be different, though: it's usually smaller and more often the thing you're looking at on this page.

Questions:

Do you think unfolded conf by default is reasonable on Dag Runs, or should we keep collapsed for consistency with other JSON columns?
If it's worth pursuing, I feel it should be tracked as a separate issue.
Happy to prototype and share a screenshot if that would help the discussion.

[bbovenzi]

Looking better!

1. I think we need to fix our monaco code to show some preview instead of two lines of just {}. But that should be a separate PR
2. Good point. In other pages (like xcoms) we have an expand/collapse all code blocks button. Let's add that here.

[ashutosh264]

Makes sense to add expand/collapse like XCom.

I'm working on a follow-up PR to add expand/collapse-all on the Dag Runs page. I'll tackle the Monaco collapsed preview ({...} instead of a useful preview) in a separate PR after that, as suggested.

Will link the follow-up here once it's up.

[ashutosh264]

Follow-up is up in #69567 - expand/collapse-all on Dag Runs conf, with collapse/expand screenshots. Monaco preview improvement still planned as a separate PR.

[boring-cyborg]

Awesome work, congrats on your first merged pull request! You are invited to check our Issue Tracker for additional contributions.

[github-actions]

Backport successfully created: v3-3-test

Note: As of Merging PRs targeted for Airflow 3.X
the committer who merges the PR is responsible for backporting the PRs that are bug fixes (generally speaking) to the maintenance branches.

In matter of doubt please ask in #release-management Slack channel.

Status	Branch	Result
✅	v3-3-test