Drop support for Airflow < 2.10

[jedcunningham]

Description

Neither Runtime or Apache Airflow support 2.9 or earlier Airflow versions any longer, so we can drop support per our policy.

This lets us drop 2.6-2.9, and a number of special cases to support those versions.

Related Issue(s)

None.

Breaking Change?

🤷

Checklist

• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation (if required)
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works

[netlify]

✅ Deploy Preview for astronomer-cosmos ready!

Name	Link
🔨 Latest commit	15524bf
🔍 Latest deploy log	https://app.netlify.com/projects/astronomer-cosmos/deploys/69724949a06e2e0008a65fce
😎 Deploy Preview	https://deploy-preview-2276--astronomer-cosmos.netlify.app
📱 Preview on mobile	Toggle QR Code... Use your smartphone camera to open QR code link.

---

To edit notification comments on pull requests, go to your Netlify project configuration.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR removes support for Apache Airflow versions 2.6 through 2.9, bringing the minimum supported version to 2.10.0. This cleanup allows removal of various compatibility checks and workarounds that were previously needed for older Airflow versions.

Changes:

• Updated minimum Airflow version from 2.6.0 to 2.10.0 in dependencies
• Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE setting and related checks (Object Storage is available in all supported versions)
• Removed PARTIALLY_SUPPORTED_AIRFLOW_VERSIONS constant and associated test skips for Airflow 2.9.0/2.9.1
• Cleaned up version-specific installation logic and test matrix configurations

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 32 out of 32 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pyproject.toml	Updated minimum Airflow dependency to 2.10.0 and removed 2.6-2.9 from test matrix
cosmos/settings.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE flag no longer needed with minimum version 2.10
cosmos/constants.py	Removed PARTIALLY_SUPPORTED_AIRFLOW_VERSIONS list for 2.9.0/2.9.1
cosmos/config.py	Simplified manifest path handling by removing AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE checks
cosmos/cache.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE checks from remote cache configuration
cosmos/io.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE checks from remote target path configuration
cosmos/operators/local.py	Simplified dataset emission logic by removing version checks for 2.10+
cosmos/operators/_asynchronous/bigquery.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE check and version comparison for 2.10+
tests/test_io.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE test skips and related unavailability test
tests/test_config.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE test skips and unavailability test
tests/test_cache.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE test skips and unavailability test
tests/test_example_dags.py	Removed version-specific logic for unsupported Airflow versions
tests/operators/test_local.py	Removed PARTIALLY_SUPPORTED_AIRFLOW_VERSIONS checks and pre-2.10 tests
tests/operators/test_watcher.py	Updated test mock versions from 2.7/2.9 to 2.10
tests/operators/_watcher/test_triggerer.py	Updated test mock versions from 2.9 to 2.10
tests/operators/_asynchronous/test_bigquery.py	Removed version check skipif for 2.10+
tests/operators/_asynchronous/test_base.py	Removed version check skipif and unused imports
tests/dbt/test_graph.py	Removed AIRFLOW_IO_AVAILABLE test skips
tests/airflow/test_graph.py	Removed version check skipif for 2.9+ display_name feature
scripts/test/pre-install-airflow.sh	Removed version-specific installation logic for 2.6-2.9
.github/workflows/test.yml	Removed 2.6-2.9 from test matrix and related exclusions
docs/requirements.txt	Updated minimum Airflow version to 2.10.0
docs/getting_started/async-execution-mode.rst	Removed version requirement note (now implied by minimum version)
docs/configuration/scheduling.rst	Removed Airflow 2.9 and below section and version-specific mentions
docs/configuration/render-config.rst	Removed version note about display_name availability
docs/configuration/parsing-methods.rst	Removed version requirement note for remote manifest paths
docs/configuration/lineage.rst	Simplified installation/configuration instructions
docs/configuration/cosmos-conf.rst	Removed version introduction notes for Object Storage
docs/configuration/callbacks.rst	Removed version requirement note
docs/compatibility-policy.rst	Updated minimum and supported Airflow versions
dev/dags/example_virtualenv.py	Removed version note from comment
dev/dags/cosmos_callback_dag.py	Removed version note from comment

---

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

[tatiana]

Hi @jedcunningham, thanks a lot for working on this.

We will review and update Cosmos' policy towards Airflow compatibility in this document:
https://github.com/astronomer/astronomer-cosmos/blob/main/docs/compatibility-policy.rst#currently-supported-versions

I just checked the Astro Runtime lifecycle schedule. It seems we offer basic support to AF 2.7 until the end of this month and basic support to AF 2.9 until October 2026:
https://www.astronomer.io/docs/runtime/runtime-version-lifecycle-policy#astro-runtime-lifecycle-schedule

From a maintenance cost perspective, I'd say it is low to continue support at 2.9 for a few months, but let's confirm with @yetudada, and we'll let you know if we need any adjustments to the PR's scope.

In the meantime, so we can see a relatively green CI, I was wondering if you could temporarily update the GH using something similar to: 0fd4b54
It would be great to see a dedicated GH Job run all tests against this branch and confirm that the relevant tests pass.

[jedcunningham]

@tatiana I think there is a bit of ambiguity now. Historically we had a single "support" date for Runtime, which was when we stopped releasing new images with bugfixes and CVE fixes, etc. Now that is "end of maintenance". There was no equivalent of the current "basic support".

Basic suppport: "Astronomer Support will continue to accept support tickets for an additional period after a Runtime version becomes unmaintained."

I'd argue cosmos should stop supporting a version when it hits "end of maintenance" instead of "end of basic support".

My 2c, let me know :)

[tatiana]

@jedcunningham We are in a sort of delicate moment migrating some customers from older versions of Airflow, so we may decide to be more conservative on Cosmos than in the Airflow community / Astro Runtime - for now. But I agree with you, we should review and focus on what is actively developed and maintained. We'll make sure we involve the right stakeholders before deciding on this one

[tatiana]

Hi @jedcunningham — thanks so much for putting this PR together, really appreciate the work you’ve put into it! 🙌

I spoke with @yetudada today, and we aligned on the following approach:

• Cosmos support for Airflow versions will be compatible at least through Astronomer’s “End of basic support.”
  I'll update the project compatibility policy accordingly.

Based on that, our current plan is:

• Cosmos 1.14.0 (currently targeted for March/April 2026) will drop support for Airflow 2.7
• The first minor/major Cosmos release after October 2026 will drop support for Airflow 2.9
  And so on.

If you’re open to it, it would be great to adjust the scope of this PR to focus specifically on removing support for Airflow 2.7. If not, no worries at all — we can close this PR and open more targeted ones as we get closer to those milestones.

Thanks again!

[jedcunningham]

No problem, opened #2286 to fix up the wording.

I'll also open another PR for the ones we can drop now.