Astro Runtime maintenance and lifecycle policy

Astro Runtime is a production ready, data orchestration tool based on Apache Airflow that is distributed as a Docker image and is required by all Astronomer products. It is intended to provide organizations with improved functionality, reliability, efficiency, and performance. Deploying Astro Runtime is a requirement if your organization is using Astro.

Astronomer maintenance and lifecycle policies are part of the distribution. These policies define:

• The maintenance window for specific Astro Runtime versions.
• The frequency of updates.
• The length of time for which support requests will be accepted.

Astro Runtime maintenance policy​

Since the release of 3.0, all Runtime versions receive two years of maintenance (in the form of bug fixes) followed by six months of Basic Support. Previously, Runtime releases had differing amounts of time in maintenance based on support policy at the time. This is reflected in the following tables.

Within the maintenance window of each Astro Runtime version, the following is true:

• A set of Docker images corresponding to that version is available for download on Quay.io or astrocrpublic.azurecr.io/runtime.
• Astronomer will regularly publish bug or security fixes identified as high-priority.
• Support for paying customers running a maintained version of Astro Runtime is provided by Astronomer Support.
• A user can create a new Deployment with the Astro UI, API, or Astro CLI with any maintained major.minor version pair of Runtime. For new Deployments, the Astro UI assumes the latest patch.

When the maintenance window for a given version of Runtime ends, the following is true:

• New Deployments cannot be created on Astro with an unmaintained version of Runtime. Versions that are no longer maintained will not render as an option in the Deployment creation process from the Astro UI, API, or Astro CLI.
• The Deployment view of the Astro UI will show a warning that encourages the user to upgrade if the Deployment is running an unmaintainted version.
• The latest version of the Astro CLI will show a warning if a user pushes an Astro Runtime image to Astronomer that corresponds to an unmaintained version.

Astronomer will not interrupt service for Deployments running Astro Runtime versions that are no longer in maintenance. Unmaintained versions of Astro Runtime are available for local development and testing with the Astro CLI.

Bug fixes and patch versions​

For Runtime versions based on Airflow 3, Astronomer releases patch versions for every in maintenance minor version. These patches are delivered as -patch, for example 3.0-2 followed by 3.0-3. Patches include both Astronomer-specific fixes as well as Apache Airflow community bug fixes. Patches do not need to be explicitly specified and are automatically applied when performing an image build through the Astronomer tagging system. If you have not performed an image update for your Deployment since the most recent patch and are experiencing an issue that could potentially be resolved with a patch, Astronomer Support might instruct you to perform an image update.

For Runtime 11 and Runtime 12, which are based on Airflow 2, Astronomer only delivers bug fixes through new minor.patch versions. If you report an issue with a maintained Astro Runtime image that is not on the latest minor.patch version, Astronomer Support might ask that you upgrade your Astro Runtime version to see if that resolves the issue. For example, if you report an issue occurring on a Deployment running Astro Runtime 12.0.0, Astronomer support might ask you to first upgrade to the latest 12.minor.patch version before troubleshooting your issue any further. If the issue still persists after upgrading, any fixes to that issue will be delivered in a new minor or patch release. Astronomer strives to provide backwards compatibility for all upgrades within the version. For example, you can upgrade directly from 11.0.0 to 11.16.0 and expect no breaking changes unless otherwise stated in documentation.

Basic Support​

Astronomer Support will continue to accept support tickets for an additional period after a Runtime version becomes unmaintained. The ability of Astronomer Support to do deep dives on unmaintained versions of Astro Runtime is very limited, so you may be asked to upgrade to a maintained version if a solution cannot be straightforwardly found on your current version. Astronomer is not obligated to answer questions regarding a Deployment that is running a version that is past its Basic Support window. Astronomer Support strongly recommends remaining on maintained versions of Astro Runtime and limiting the use of Basic Support, as Astronomer will not release any patches for Basic Support versions whatsoever, even in the case of a critical security vulnerability.

End of maintenance date​

Maintenance is discontinued the last day of the month for a given version. For example, if the maintenance window for a version of Astro Runtime is January - June of a given year, that version will be maintained by Astronomer until the last day of June.

Restricted runtime versions​

There are some restricted versions of the Astro runtime that have known bugs and can't be used even if you enabled deprecated Astro Runtime versions.

Yanked versions​

Runtime version	Yanked reason
8.0.0	Does not apply cluster policies defined through pluggy.
9.0.0 - 9.6.0	Has significant scheduling performance issues.
11.0.0 - 11.1.0	Has db migration issues when you have running triggers.

Security​

Astronomer continuously checks for available security fixes for software used in Astro Runtime. This process includes scanning language dependencies, container images, and open source threat intelligence sources. When a security fix is available, Astronomer evaluates potential risks for organizations using Astro Runtime and determines deployment priority. Low-priority fixes are deployed following the regular maintenance policy as described in Astro Runtime maintenance policy.

If a vulnerability is not yet addressed in a third-party dependency and no official fix is available, Astronomer attempts to address the vulnerability or its impact with environmental mitigations. Whenever possible, Astronomer collaborates with the upstream project to support a timely delivery of the official fix. This process also covers images publicly available on Quay.io and provides context for their vulnerability scanning results.

Astro Runtime releases may or may not include a fix to a Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE). When you use a particular Astro Runtime version the day of release, the CVE fixes that version contains might be undisclosed. For security purposes, a description of these fixes will be retroactively added to release notes only once the CVE resolution is published or announced by the upstream project.

If you identify a vulnerability that results in relevant risk for your organization, contact Astronomer security.

Backport policy for bug and security fixes​

• Functional bugs: When Astronomer identifies a significant functional bug in Astro Runtime, a fix is backported to all maintained versions. To avoid the impact of previously identified bugs, Astronomer recommends that you consistently upgrade Astro Runtime to the latest version.

• Security vulnerabilities: When Astronomer identifies a significant security vulnerability in Astro Runtime, a fix is backported and made available as a patch version for all versions in maintenance. A significant security issue is defined as an issue with significant impact and exploitability.

Occasionally, Astronomer might deviate from the defined response policy and backport a bug or security fix to releases other than in-maintenance versions.

Astro Runtime lifecycle schedule​

The following table contains the exact lifecycle for each published version of Astro Runtime.

Runtime version	Airflow version	Current Support	Release date	End of maintenance date	End of basic support
3.0	3.0	Maintenance	April 22, 2025	April 2027	November 2027
12	2.10	Maintenance	August 16, 2024	February 2026	February 2027
11	2.9	Maintenance	April 8, 2024	October 2025	October 2026
10	2.8	Basic Support	December 18, 2023	June 2024	June 2025
9	2.7	Basic Support	August 18, 2023	January 2025	January 2026
8	2.6	Basic Support	April 30, 2023	November 2023	October 2025

If you have any questions or concerns, contact Astronomer support.

Astro Runtime Python version images​

Starting with Astro Runtime 9, Astronomer maintains different Astro Runtime images for each supported Python version. If a Python version goes out of support while that Runtime version is in support, Astronomer will not publish a Runtime version for that Python version.

Legacy Astro Runtime versions​

The following table contains all major Runtime releases that are no longer maintained. Support policies at the time of many of these releases was different, and the dates reflect the time maintenance and support was ended.

Runtime version	Airflow version	Release date	End of maintenance date	End of basic support
4 (LTS)	2.2	March 10, 2022	September 2023	September 2024
5 (LTS)	2.3	April 30, 2022	April 2024	December 2024
6 (LTS)	2.4	September 19, 2022	March 2024	December 2024
7	2.5	December 3, 2022	July 2023	July 2024