diff --git a/swh/graph/luigi.py b/swh/graph/luigi.py
--- a/swh/graph/luigi.py
+++ b/swh/graph/luigi.py
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@
         output_directory = self.local_graph_path
         graph_name = "graph"
 
+        def progress_cb(percentage: int, step: webgraph.CompressionStep):
+            self.set_progress_percentage(percentage)
+            self.set_status_message(f"Running {step.name} (step #{step.value})")
+
         start_date = datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc)
         webgraph.compress(
             graph_name,
diff --git a/swh/graph/webgraph.py b/swh/graph/webgraph.py
--- a/swh/graph/webgraph.py
+++ b/swh/graph/webgraph.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
 import subprocess
-from typing import Dict, List, Set
+from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Set
 
 from swh.graph.config import check_config_compress
 
@@ -323,6 +323,7 @@
     out_dir: Path,
     steps: Set[CompressionStep] = set(COMP_SEQ),
     conf: Dict[str, str] = {},
+    progress_cb: Callable[[int, CompressionStep], None] = lambda percentage, step: None,
 ):
     """graph compression pipeline driver from nodes/edges files to compressed
     on-disk representation
@@ -348,6 +349,8 @@
             virtual memory
           - tmp_dir: temporary directory, defaults to the "tmp" subdir of
             out_dir
+        progress_cb: a callable taking a percentage and step as argument,
+          which is called every time a step starts.
 
     """
     if not steps:
@@ -364,6 +367,7 @@
             continue
         seq_no += 1
         logger.info("Running compression step %s (%s/%s)", step, seq_no, len(steps))
+        progress_cb(seq_no * 100 // len(steps), step)
         do_step(step, conf)
     compression_end_time = datetime.now()
     compression_duration = compression_end_time - compression_start_time