apache / apache/airflow

Add in-form "Select Recent Configurations" dropdown to the Trigger DAG form (navigation QoL, coexisting with "Trigger again with this config")

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area:UI kind:feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

### Description

Airflow 3.2.0 restored config reuse via the "Trigger again with this config"
menu item (#56254 / #56406). That flow requires the user to first navigate to
the DAG run list/grid, visually find the right past run, select it, and only
then trigger from it.

This request is to ALSO add back the Airflow 2 "Select Recent Configurations"
dropdown *inside the trigger form itself*. Picking an entry pre-fills the
Configuration JSON without ever leaving the form.

The point of this request is the navigation quality-of-life, not config reuse in
the abstract. The two features are complementary:
- "Trigger again with this config": for when you already know and can find the
exact run you want to copy.
- In-form dropdown: for when you just want to grab a recent config while
composing a run, without breaking flow to go hunt through the run list.

Proposal: keep the menu item as-is and add the dropdown to the trigger form.
Both write the same conf field, so there is no conflict.

### Use case/motivation

Many DAGs are triggered manually with configs that repeat or differ by only a
few parameters. The friction is navigation, not the reuse itself.

Current 3.2.0 flow to reuse a config:
open DAG -> go to runs list/grid -> scan for the run with the config I want
-> select it -> Trigger button -> "Trigger again with this config" -> adjust
-> run.

When a DAG has run many times and runs look visually similar, finding "the run
that had the config I want" is slow and error-prone, and it pulls the user out
of the trigger flow entirely.

Airflow 2 flow (what this restores):
open trigger form -> pick a recent config from the dropdown -> adjust -> run.

The in-form dropdown removes the detour into the run list. It surfaces recent
configs right where the user is already composing the run. This is the specific
quality-of-life that the menu item does not provide, since the menu item is
built around first locating and selecting a specific run.

Multiple users have asked for exactly this (Discussion #56038). The dropdown and
the menu item can coexist with minimal added surface area, since the dropdown
just populates the existing conf field.

### Related issues

- #56254 Trigger form missing "Select Recent Configurations" from airflow 2 (implemented as the menu item)
- #56406 PR that added "Trigger again with this config" (3.2.0); a dropdown was built here but removed in favor of the menu item
- #56038 Discussion: Missing dropdown "Select Recent Configurations" in DagRun UI Airflow v3 (users still asking for this)
- #27714 Original Airflow 2 feature: Re-use recent DagRun JSON-configurations
- #36878 Airflow 2 PR: configurable number of recent configs in the dropdown

### Are you willing to submit a PR?

- [ ] Yes I am willing to submit a PR!

### Code of Conduct

- [x] I agree to follow this project's [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/apache/airflow/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start at the Trigger DAG form entry point and inspect how the existing Configuration JSON field is populated. Trace the current "Trigger again with this config" flow and related recent-configuration behavior, then verify that selecting a recent entry pre-fills the form without removing the existing menu item.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
50/100

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