Background

As of today, we deal with the following tpyes of releases:

  • Airflow core
    • Python Client (derived from core)
  • Task SDK
  • Providers
  • Airflow CTL
  • Helm Chart

Problem definition

As of Jan. 2026:

  1. The current division of GitHub Issues to categories:
    1. Overwhelms the average user due to many categories
    2. Does not fully cover all existing release types

    3. Does not scale well to support additional release types from a UI/UX perspective
      Release Type X [feature,bug] + Docs + Task & Meta + external links >= 25 categories
  1. Additionally, many issue types include unnecessary mandatory or extra fields, which:
    1. Overwhelm users due to the number of required fields

    2. Increase maintenance burden because of significant code duplication

Figure 1 - Current "Create new issue" window

Proposal

WORK IN PROGRESS

This proposal suggests restructuring GitHub Issues, inc. both categories and fields, to improve UI/UX while accommodating current and future requirements.

To simplify issue reporting for end users, it is proposed to base the initial categorization solely on release type (with some unions where appropriate), following the scheme outlined below.

Since there is already automation in place that labels GitHub issues as bug or feature request, introducing a secondary manual categorization by bug/feature provides little to no additional value, given that final classification often changes during triage and reported bugs frequently reflect intended behavior or incomplete features.

Ultimately, the final classification should be determined by the triager, though user input may still be considered helpful where relevant.

Removal of unnecessray sections

"Docs" section

The “Docs” section should be considered for removal for the following reasons:

  • Documentation issues are generally the easiest to quickly resolve, especially with the assistance of LLMs.

  • With over 1.4K open issues, this section adds load for triagers and tends to mask more critical issues.

  • Docs issues could instead be reported under the regular issue types; making the reporting process slightly more demanding may encourage contributors to implement fixes themselves.

"Ask a question or get support" &"Questions on Stack Overflow" section

These sections should be considered for removal for UI/UX reasons:

  • Support and discussion channels are already discoverable from the main repository.

  • Platforms such as Stack Overflow are widely known and complemented by LLM-based assistance.

  • Including these options in the issue creation flow adds unnecessary complexity and increases cognitive load for users.

Suggested Issue Scheme

Airflow Core & Providers* (+ Task SDK & Python Client**)

  • Airflow version (required), choice between:

    • Latest stable (e.g., 3.1.6)

    • Main (development)

    • Other Airflow 3 version (with input field to specify which)

  • If “Other Airflow 3 version” is selected, which one? (optional)

  • Providers (optional), input for relevant provider(s) and their version(s)

  • How would you consider this issue? Choice between: N/A, Bug or Feature Request (or Docs?)

  • Current behavior (required)
    Includes background details, reproduction steps, and logs for alleged bugs

  • Desired behavior (required)
    Includes usage examples for feature requests

  • Deployment (optional), choice between:

    • N/A (default)

    • Official Helm chart

    • Managed service (Astronomer, MWAA, GCC, ADF)

    • Local deployment (Breeze / Docker Compose)

    • Other

  • Deployment details (optional)

  • Checkboxes (both unchecked by default, as they are today):

    • Are you willing to submit a PR? (with the addition in parantheses "Contributing a fix, or helping find someone who will, is often the fastest way to resolve an issue")

    • Code of Conduct

* Current description should be shortened
** Omitted for brevity; the description should be added later

Airflow CTL (Buğra Öztürk )

  • Airflow version (required), choice between:
  • AirflowCTL Version
    • Latest stable (e.g., 3.1.6)

    • Main (development)

  • Airflow CTL Command
  • Keyring Backend/Version (To understand if the problem is on our end or a bug from the keyring backend)
  • Auth Type
    • username:password 
    • Token
  • Current behavior (required)

  • Desired behavior (required)

  • Checkboxes

Helm Chart (Unknown User (jedcunningham) ) - ?

Task and Meta (Maintainers only) - retain as is

Report a security vulnerability - retain as-is


Illustration of the suggested "Create new issue"

Figure 2 - Suggested "Create new issue" window



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3 Comments

  1. Buğra Öztürk

    Thanks for prepping Unknown User (shahar) ! After reading this document, I see we are missing Airflow CTL Bug Report  at least in the current structure :)


    I like the idea. I am not sure if we really need to split the feature requests thinking face . Question Titles in the feature request looked relevant for all, but we don't have a way of selecting the distribution to identify.  From the distribution type, we can also further break down with labels, as you suggested.

    I can suggest a Bug Report Template for CTL. CTL Bug Report Template Suggestion

    Suggested template, would be great to hear more.

    • Airflow version (required), choice between:
      • Latest stable (e.g., 3.1.6)

      • Main (development)

      • Other Airflow 3 version (with an input field to specify which)

    • AirflowCTL Version
      • Latest stable (e.g., 3.1.6)

      • Main (development)

    • Airflow CTL Command
    • Keyring Backend/Version (To understand if the problem is on our end or a bug from the keyring backend)
    • Auth Type
      • username:password 
      • Token
    • Current behavior (required)
      Includes background details, reproduction steps, and logs for alleged bugs

    • Desired behavior (required)
      Includes usage examples for feature requests

    • Checkboxes (both checked by default to encourage action from the reporter):

      • Are you willing to submit a PR?

      • Code of Conduct

    1. Unknown User (shahar)

      Your suggestion for the AirflowCTL template looks great! I'll add it to the proposal

      Not entirely sure what you meant by "splitting the feature request", as I suggested the opposite - the template for each release type will be unified for both feature requests and bugs, and only later we will later distinguish them - first by automation and finally by human triaging.

      1. Buğra Öztürk

        I overlooked that part, sorry Shahar! I am all up for it :D