04_selective_checks.md

Table of Contents generated with DocToc

• Selective CI Checks
  • Why selective checks exist (the optimisation goal)
  • Mental model: events, modes, file groups, outputs
  • The decision pipeline
  • Individually simple rules
  • Worked examples: pull requests, pushes, and canary runs
  • Troubleshooting: my CI run does too much
  • Groups of files that selective check make decisions on
  • Selective check decision rules
  • Skipping prek hooks (Static checks)
  • Suspended providers
  • Selective check outputs
  • Committer vs. Non-committer PRs
  • Changing behaviours of the CI runs by setting labels

Selective CI Checks

In order to optimise our CI jobs, we've implemented optimisations to only run selected checks for some kind of changes. The logic implemented reflects the internal architecture of Airflow 2.0 packages, and it helps to keep down both the usage of jobs in GitHub Actions and CI feedback time to contributors in case of simpler changes.

Note

All the logic described here lives in a single file: dev/breeze/src/airflow_breeze/utils/selective_checks.py. When you change that file, update this document in the same PR so the behaviour and the documentation stay in sync.

Why selective checks exist (the optimisation goal)

Airflow's full CI matrix is large: multiple Python versions, multiple databases (Postgres, MySQL, SQLite), Kubernetes versions, Helm tests, 100+ provider packages, UI tests, doc builds, image builds for two architectures, and dozens of static checks. Running everything for every change would burn an enormous amount of GitHub Actions minutes and make contributors wait an hour or more for feedback on a one-line doc fix.

Selective checks exist to answer one question, cheaply and conservatively:

Given exactly which files changed (plus the event, the branch and the labels), what is the smallest set of CI work that still gives us confidence the change is correct?

Three design assumptions drive everything:

1. The changed file list is a reliable proxy for risk. A change to airflow-core/.../scheduler can break anything, so it must run broadly. A change confined to providers/amazon can only plausibly break Amazon (and its direct dependents), so only those need to run. A change to a .md file can't break runtime behaviour at all.
2. Be conservative when in doubt — never trade correctness for speed. Every rule is biased toward running more. If a change touches something foundational (the environment, the CI scripts, the dependency set, the API contract, core test utilities), selective checks fall back to the full matrix. Skipping is only ever done when a rule can prove the skipped work is irrelevant.
3. Trust must be earned on main. Pull-request runs are optimised aggressively for fast feedback, but the merge to main (and the nightly canary run) always runs the full matrix on all versions. So even if a PR-time optimisation was too aggressive, the canary catches it before a release.

Mental model: events, modes, file groups, outputs

Selective checks take a handful of inputs and produce a set of GitHub Actions outputs that the workflows read to decide what to run. Everything in between is pure, deterministic computation — same inputs always give the same outputs, and you can reproduce it locally (see Troubleshooting).

flowchart LR
    subgraph IN[Inputs]
        F[changed files]
        EV[github event<br/>PR / PUSH / SCHEDULE / DISPATCH]
        BR[target branch<br/>main / v3-x-test]
        LB[PR labels]
        RP[repository<br/>apache/airflow or fork]
    end
    IN --> SC[SelectiveChecks]
    SC --> MODE[Run MODE<br/>full_tests_needed?<br/>all_versions?<br/>is_canary_run?]
    SC --> MATCH[FILE-GROUP matches<br/>regex per area]
    MODE --> OUT[GitHub Actions outputs]
    MATCH --> OUT
    OUT --> JOBS[which jobs run<br/>which versions<br/>which test types<br/>which prek hooks]

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The two halves that matter are:

• The run MODE — a few booleans (full_tests_needed, all_versions, is_canary_run) computed mostly from the event, the branch and a handful of high-impact files/labels. The mode decides whether we take the "run everything" shortcut or the "be selective" path.
• The FILE-GROUP matches — every area of the codebase (UI, Helm, docs, Kubernetes, each provider, each mypy target, …) has a list of regexps in CI_FILE_GROUP_MATCHES. A group is "active" when at least one changed file matches it. In selective mode, active groups are what turn individual jobs on.

The key helper that ties the two together is _should_be_run(group):

_should_be_run(group):
    if full_tests_needed:  return True          # full mode → every area is "on"
    return (any changed file matches group)     # selective mode → only matched areas are "on"

Almost every run_* / *_build output is just _should_be_run(<some group>), so once you understand those two halves you understand the whole system.

The decision pipeline

The computation happens in three conceptual stages. Each individual rule is tiny; the apparent complexity is only the number of rules, not their difficulty.

Stage 1 — pick the run mode

First selective checks decide whether this run takes the full-matrix shortcut. The foundational helper is _should_run_all_tests_and_versions(), which is driven by the event and a few high-blast-radius signals:

flowchart TD
    A([_should_run_all_tests_and_versions]) --> B{event is<br/>PUSH / SCHEDULE / DISPATCH?}
    B -->|yes| C{PUSH and only<br/>.txt/.md files changed?}
    C -->|yes| NO1[False<br/>skip full tests]
    C -->|no| D{PUSH and<br/>branch != main?}
    D -->|yes - release branch push| NO2[False<br/>selective only]
    D -->|no| YES1[True<br/>run everything]
    B -->|no - PULL_REQUEST| E{commit_ref missing?}
    E -->|yes| YES2[True]
    E -->|no| Fp{pyproject.toml changed?}
    Fp -->|yes| YES3[True]
    Fp -->|no| G{generated provider<br/>dependencies changed?}
    G -->|yes| YES4[True]
    G -->|no| NO3[False]

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full_tests_needed then layers a short-circuit ladder on top: it is True if _should_run_all_tests_and_versions() is true or any one of a small list of high-impact file groups changed or the full tests needed label is set. The first matching rule wins — order does not matter because any single hit forces the full matrix:

flowchart TD
    A([full_tests_needed]) --> M{_should_run_all_tests_and_versions?}
    M -->|yes| T[TRUE - full matrix]
    M -->|no| E1{environment files?<br/>test workflows, dev/breeze/src,<br/>Dockerfile, scripts/ci/docker-compose+kubernetes, ...<br/>excl. prek + non-test workflows}
    E1 -->|yes| T
    E1 -->|no| E2{API contract / codegen?<br/>generated OpenAPI spec or generator}
    E2 -->|yes| T
    E2 -->|no| E3{git or standard<br/>provider files?}
    E3 -->|yes| T
    E3 -->|no| E4{core test utils?<br/>tests/utils}
    E4 -->|yes| T
    E4 -->|no| E5{'full tests needed' label?}
    E5 -->|yes| T
    E5 -->|no| Fa[FALSE - be selective]

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Two related booleans share this machinery:

• all_versions — whether to expand the Python/Kubernetes/DB version axis to all supported versions instead of just the defaults. Labels (default versions only, latest versions only, all versions) override; otherwise it follows _should_run_all_tests_and_versions().
• is_canary_run — True for SCHEDULE/PUSH/DISPATCH events on apache/airflow (not forks) when more than just .txt/.md changed, or whenever the canary label is set. Canary runs always run unit tests even when full_tests_needed is False (this is what makes a release-branch push still run its relevant unit tests — see the examples).

Stage 2 — decide which jobs run

In full mode every area is "on". In selective mode, each job is gated on its file group via _should_be_run. The image builds are derived (they turn on only because something that needs them turned on):

flowchart TD
    FTN{full_tests_needed?} -->|yes| ALL[every run_* area = ON<br/>all versions, all test types]
    FTN -->|no| SEL[selective: gate each area on its file group]
    SEL --> RUT{run_unit_tests?}
    RUT -->|canary OR any source file matched| UNIT[unit tests ON<br/>test types chosen by matched files]
    RUT -->|only new-UI files, or no source files| NOUNIT[unit tests OFF]
    SEL --> AREAS[run_ui_tests, run_kubernetes_tests,<br/>run_helm_tests*, docs_build, run_api_tests,<br/>run_python_scans, run_task_sdk_tests, ...]
    UNIT --> IMG
    AREAS --> IMG
    IMG[ci_image_build = unit OR docs OR k8s OR ui<br/>OR pyproject/provider-yaml changed OR prod_image_build]
    AREAS --> PROD[prod_image_build = k8s OR helm OR<br/>integration/e2e tests]
    PROD --> IMG

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* Helm tests only run on the main branch.

Stage 3 — choose which test types

When unit tests run, selective checks narrow which test types execute, separately for core and providers:

• Core test types (_get_core_test_types_to_run): Always is always included. Each specific type (API, CLI, Serialization, …) is added if its files matched. Then the escape hatch: if any changed source file is left over after removing provider files, test files, UI files, etc. — i.e. something "core/other" changed — all core test types are added, because a core change can affect anything. In full mode, all core types run unconditionally.
• Provider test types (_get_providers_test_types_to_run): empty on non-main branches. In full mode (or when dependencies were upgraded) → Providers (all). Otherwise selective checks compute the affected providers from the changed files and add their direct upstream and downstream dependents (not the whole transitive closure). Changes to common provider code (tests/utils that don't belong to a single provider) escalate to all providers. Suspended providers are excluded (and a PR that touches one fails unless it carries the allow suspended provider changes label).

The same matched-file approach drives the prek hook skip list (skip_prek_hooks): each mypy / compile / lint hook is skipped when nothing in its area changed. See Skipping prek hooks.

Individually simple rules

The list of rules is long, but each rule is a one-liner you can reason about in isolation. A few representative examples (file → effect):

A change to …	… turns on	because
README.md only	(almost) nothing	.md/.txt are text-non-doc; on a push this even skips full tests
airflow-core/docs/...rst	docs_build (+ CI image)	matches DOC_FILES; docs need the CI image to render
providers/amazon/.../s3.py	unit tests with Providers[amazon, …dependents] + Always	a provider file → only that provider and its direct dependents
airflow-core/src/airflow/jobs/scheduler_job_runner.py	unit tests with all core test types	a core/other file → escape hatch runs all core types
pyproject.toml	full matrix, all versions	dependency surface changed → _should_run_all_tests_and_versions
.github/workflows/ci-amd.yml or dev/breeze/src/...	full matrix	environment files → can change the whole CI environment
.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yml (non-test workflow)	basic checks only	non-test workflow → cannot affect tests (env-files carve-out)
scripts/ci/prek/check_*.py (static-check hook)	CI image + static checks, no full matrix	prek hooks are static checks → Prek files carve-out
the generated OpenAPI spec	full matrix	the API contract ripples to UI codegen + every client
chart/templates/...yaml (on main)	run_helm_tests (+ PROD image)	matches HELM_FILES; Helm tests only on main
task-sdk/.../task_runner.py or airflow-core/tests/integration/otel/...	the otel core integration	matches OTEL_FILES; the otel integration tests assert the span hierarchy task_runner emits
airflow-core/src/airflow/ui/...tsx only	run_ui_tests, no unit tests	"only new-UI files" short-circuit skips Python unit tests

The "complexity" you feel reading the code is just many such rules stacked up — each one on its own is simple, conservative, and independently testable (see dev/breeze/tests/test_selective_checks.py).

Worked examples: pull requests, pushes, and canary runs

The same engine produces very different results depending on the event, the branch and the files. These four scenarios cover the common cases:

flowchart TD
    subgraph PR[Pull request - small provider change]
        PR1[event=PULL_REQUEST<br/>files=providers/amazon/.../s3.py] --> PR2[full_tests_needed=False<br/>all_versions=False<br/>is_canary_run=False]
        PR2 --> PR3[unit tests: Providers amazon + Always<br/>default versions only<br/>amazon prek/mypy only]
    end
    subgraph PUSHMAIN[Push / merge to main]
        PM1[event=PUSH, branch=main] --> PM2[full_tests_needed=True<br/>all_versions=True<br/>is_canary_run=True]
        PM2 --> PM3[full matrix, all versions,<br/>all canary-only jobs]
    end
    subgraph RELPUSH[Push to release branch v3-x-test]
        RP1[event=PUSH, branch!=main] --> RP2[full_tests_needed=False<br/>is_canary_run=True]
        RP2 --> RP3[unit tests run via canary<br/>but selective test types<br/>default versions]
    end
    subgraph CANARY[Scheduled nightly canary]
        CN1[event=SCHEDULE on apache/airflow] --> CN2[full_tests_needed=True<br/>all_versions=True<br/>is_canary_run=True]
        CN2 --> CN3[everything, all versions]
    end

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1. Pull request, small provider change (providers/amazon/.../s3.py). Not an environment/contract file, commit_ref present, no special label → full_tests_needed=False, all_versions=False. Result: unit tests run only Providers[amazon] (plus amazon's direct dependents) and Always, on default versions only; only the amazon-related prek/mypy hooks run. Fast PR feedback.
2. Pull request, core change (scheduler_job_runner.py). Still full_tests_needed=False, but the core/other escape hatch adds all core test types. Providers are not pulled in (no provider files changed). Default versions.
3. Pull request that changes pyproject.toml (or a test workflow like .github/workflows/ci-amd.yml, or the OpenAPI spec). full_tests_needed=True (and for pyproject.toml also all_versions=True). The PR runs the full matrix — same as a canary — because the change can affect everything. (A non-test workflow such as codeql-analysis.yml, or a scripts/ci/prek/... static-check hook, does not force the full matrix — see the Environment files carve-outs above.)
4. Push / merge to main. _should_run_all_tests_and_versions() is true for PUSH on main → full_tests_needed=True, all_versions=True, is_canary_run=True. The full matrix plus all canary-only jobs run. This is the safety net that backstops aggressive PR-time optimisation.
5. Push to a release branch (v3-1-test). PUSH but branch != main → full_tests_needed=False (selective), yet is_canary_run=True, so run_unit_tests=True. The branch runs its relevant unit tests on default versions rather than the entire matrix — release branches don't need the full cross-version sweep on every push.
6. Scheduled nightly canary (SCHEDULE on apache/airflow). Full matrix on all versions, every canary-only job. The most thorough run; it is what gives us confidence that the PR-time shortcuts never let a regression through.

Troubleshooting: my CI run does too much

If a CI run is slower or broader than you expect (full matrix on a small change, all providers running, all versions), the cause is almost always a single rule that fired. To find it:

1. Read the selective-checks job output. Selective checks print a [warning] … line for every decision, e.g. "Running full set of tests because env files changed" or "Running everything with all versions: changed pyproject.toml". That line names the exact rule (and usually the file group) that escalated the run. This is the fastest way to diagnose.

2. Reproduce locally with Breeze, pointing at the squashed commit of your change:

   breeze selective-checks --commit-ref <commit_sha>

   It prints the same outputs and the same [warning] reasons CI uses, so you can iterate without pushing.

3. Check the usual escalation triggers (any one of these forces the full matrix):

   • an environment file changed — .github/workflows/*, dev/breeze/src/*, Dockerfile*, scripts/ci/*, scripts/docker/*, (often this is the surprise: editing CI/breeze itself runs everything);
   • pyproject.toml or generated provider dependencies changed (also forces all_versions);
   • the generated OpenAPI spec or the client generator changed (the API contract);
   • tests/utils or git/standard provider files changed;
   • the full tests needed or all versions label is set on the PR.

4. All providers running? That means selective checks decided all providers are affected — usually because common provider code (shared tests/utils not owned by one provider) changed, or because dependencies were upgraded, or full_tests_needed is on. The reason is printed in the provider-selection [warning] lines.

5. Want to confirm an optimisation is safe? Remember the canary on main always runs everything — the worst case of an over-aggressive skip is caught at merge time, not in production.

The authoritative, exhaustive rule list (kept in sync with the code) is in Selective check decision rules below; the sections above are the "why" and the shape, this is the "what" in full detail.

Groups of files that selective check make decisions on

We have the following Groups of files for CI that determine which tests are run:

• Environment files - if any of those changes, that forces 'full tests needed' mode, because changes there might simply change the whole environment of what is going on in CI (Container image, dependencies). Two deliberate carve-outs do not force full tests: static-check hooks (scripts/ci/prek/...) drive prek static checks rather than the test matrix, so they only trigger the CI image build (via the Prek files group) — mypy-scripts and the image-based static checks still run, but the full test matrix does not; and non-test workflows (.github/workflows/ for security scans, doc publishing, notifications, backporting, calendar/stale bots, …) cannot change test outcomes. Workflows that run or configure the test suite (ci-amd, ci-arm, run-unit-tests, k8s-tests, helm-tests, image builds, …) still force the full matrix.
• Prek files - scripts/ci/prek/... static-check hooks. They do not force full tests, but they trigger the CI image build so mypy-scripts and the image-based static checks run for a prek-only change.
• Python production files and Javascript production files - this area is useful in CodeQL Security scanning
  • if any of the python or javascript files for airflow "production" changed, this means that the security scans should run
• Always test files - Files that belong to "Always" run tests.
• API tests files and Codegen test files - those are OpenAPI definition files that impact Open API specification and determine that we should run dedicated API tests.
• Helm files - change in those files impacts helm "rendering" tests - chart folder (which contains the chart sources and tests under chart/tests/).
• Build files - change in the files indicates that we should run upgrade to newer dependencies - build dependencies in pyproject.toml and generated dependencies files in generated folder. The dependencies are automatically generated from the provider.yaml files in provider by the hatch_build.py build hook. The provider.yaml is a single source of truth for each provider and hatch_build.py for all regular dependencies.
• DOC files - change in those files indicate that we should run documentation builds (both airflow sources and airflow documentation)
• UI files - those are files for the new full React UI (useful to determine if UI tests should run)
• WWW files - those are files for the WWW part of our UI (useful to determine if UI tests should run)
• System test files - those are the files that are part of system tests (system tests are not automatically run in our CI, but Airflow stakeholders are running the tests and expose dashboards for them at System Test Dashbards
• Kubernetes files - determine if any of Kubernetes related tests should be run
• All Python files - if none of the Python file changed, that indicates that we should not run unit tests
• All source files - if none of the sources change, that indicates that we should probably not build an image and run any image-based static checks
• All Airflow Python files - files that are checked by mypy-airflow-core static checks
• All Providers Python files - files that are checked by mypy-providers static checks
• All Dev Python files - files that are checked by mypy-dev static checks
• All Scripts Python files - files that are checked by mypy-scripts static checks
• Task SDK files - files that are checked by mypy-task-sdk static checks
• All Airflow CTL Python files - files that are checked by mypy-airflow-ctl static checks
• All Devel Common Python files - files that are checked by mypy-devel-common static checks
• All Helm Tests Python files / All Docker Tests Python files / All Kubernetes Tests Python files / All Airflow E2E Tests Python files / Airflow CTL Integration Test files / Task SDK Integration Test files - files that are checked by the respective mypy-helm-tests / mypy-docker-tests / mypy-kubernetes-tests / mypy-airflow-e2e-tests / mypy-airflow-ctl-tests / mypy-task-sdk-integration-tests hooks
• shared/<dist>/**/*.py - each shared/<dist> workspace member has its own mypy-shared-<dist> hook (selective-checks enumerates them at runtime)
• All Provider Yaml files - all provider yaml files

We have a number of TEST_TYPES that can be selectively disabled/enabled based on the content of the incoming PR. Usually they are limited to a sub-folder of the "tests" folder but there are some exceptions. You can read more about those in testing.rst <contributing-docs/09_testing.rst>. Those types are determined by selective checks and are used to run DB and Non-DB tests.

The DB tests inside each TEST_TYPE are run sequentially (because they use DB as state) while TEST_TYPES are run in parallel - each within separate docker-compose project. The Non-DB tests are all executed together using pytest-xdist (pytest-xdist distributes the tests among parallel workers).

Selective check decision rules

• Full tests case is enabled when the event is PUSH to main, SCHEDULE or WORKFLOW_DISPATCH, or we miss commit info, or any of the important environment files (pyproject.toml, Dockerfile, scripts, etc.) changed, or the API contract changed (the generated OpenAPI spec or the client generator — plain API source/test edits that leave the committed spec untouched do not force full tests), or tests/utils / git / standard provider files changed, or when the full tests needed label is set. That enables all matrix combinations of variables (representative) and all possible test type. No further checks are performed. See also [1] note below. Two exceptions narrow this: a PUSH that changed only .txt/.md files skips full tests, and a PUSH to a release branch (v3-X-test, i.e. not main) runs selective tests only (it is still a canary run, so its relevant unit tests run on default versions). The high-level flow and worked examples for these cases are in The decision pipeline and Worked examples above.
• Python, Kubernetes, Backend, Kind, Helm versions are limited to "defaults" only unless Full tests mode is enabled.
• Python scans, Javascript scans, API tests/codegen, UI, WWW, Kubernetes tests and DOC builds are enabled if any of the relevant files have been changed.
• Helm tests are run only if relevant files have been changed and if current branch is main.
• If no Source files are changed - no tests are run and no further rules below are checked.
• CI Image building is enabled if either test are run, docs are build.
• PROD Image building is enabled when kubernetes tests are run.
• In case of Providers test in regular PRs, additional check is done in order to determine which providers are affected and the actual selection is made based on that:
  • if directly provider code is changed (either in the provider, test or system tests) then this provider is selected.
  • if there are any providers that depend on the affected providers, they are also included in the list of affected providers (but not recursively - only direct dependencies are added)
  • if there are any changes to "common" provider code not belonging to any provider (usually system tests or tests), then tests for all Providers are run
• The specific unit test type is enabled only if changed files match the expected patterns for each type (API, CLI, WWW, Providers etc.). The Always test type is added always if any unit tests are run. Providers tests are removed if current branch is different than main
• If there are no files left in sources after matching the test types and Kubernetes files, then apparently some Core/Other files have been changed. This automatically adds all test types to execute. This is done because changes in core might impact all the other test types.
• if CI Image building is disabled, only basic prek hooks are enabled - no 'image-depending` prek hooks are enabled.
• If there are some build dependencies changed (hatch_build.py and updated system dependencies in the pyproject.toml - then upgrade to newer dependencies is enabled.
• If docs are build, the docs-list-as-string will determine which docs packages to build. This is based on several criteria: if any of the airflow core, charts, docker-stack, providers files or docs have changed, then corresponding packages are build (including cross-dependent providers). If any of the core files changed, also providers docs are built because all providers depend on airflow docs. If any of the docs build python files changed or when build is "canary" type in main - all docs packages are built.

Skipping prek hooks (Static checks)

Our CI always run prek checks with --all-files flag. This is in order to avoid cases where different check results are run when only subset of files is used. This has an effect that the prek tests take a long time to run when all of them are run. Selective checks allow to save a lot of time for those tests in regular PRs of contributors by smart detection of which prek hooks should be skipped when some files are not changed. Those are the rules implemented:

• The identity check is always skipped (saves space to display all changed files in CI)
• The provider specific checks are skipped when builds are running in v2_* branches (we do not build providers from those branches. Those are the checks skipped in this case:
  • check-airflow-provider-compatibility
  • check-extra-packages-references
  • check-provider-yaml-valid
  • lint-helm-chart
  • mypy-providers
• If "full tests" mode is detected, no more prek hooks are skipped - we run all of them
• The following checks are skipped if those files are not changed:
  • if no All Providers Python files changed - mypy-providers check is skipped
  • if no All Airflow Python files changed - mypy-airflow-core check is skipped
  • if no All Dev Python files changed - mypy-dev check is skipped
  • if no All Scripts Python files changed - mypy-scripts check is skipped
  • if no Task SDK files changed - mypy-task-sdk check is skipped
  • if no All Airflow CTL Python files changed - mypy-airflow-ctl check is skipped
  • if no All Devel Common Python files changed - mypy-devel-common check is skipped
  • if no files under the matching folder changed, the corresponding per-folder mypy hook is skipped (mypy-airflow-ctl-tests, mypy-helm-tests, mypy-airflow-e2e-tests, mypy-task-sdk-integration-tests, mypy-docker-tests, mypy-kubernetes-tests)
  • for each shared/<dist> workspace member, mypy-shared-<dist> is skipped when no file under shared/<dist>/ changed (enumerated at runtime)
  • if no UI files changed - ts-compile-format-lint-ui check is skipped
  • if no WWW files changed - ts-compile-format-lint-www check is skipped
  • if no All Python files changed - flynt check is skipped
  • if no Helm files changed - lint-helm-chart check is skipped
  • if no Java SDK files changed - ktlint check is skipped (it runs the java-sdk Gradle wrapper, which downloads the Gradle distribution, so we avoid that download on PRs that do not touch java-sdk/)
  • if no TS SDK files (ts-sdk/) changed - check-ts-sdk-supervisor-schema check is skipped (it regenerates and diffs the generated ts-sdk file; a change to the supervisor wire schema alone deliberately does not trigger it - regenerating the ts-sdk types is the ts-sdk follow-up PR's job, not the schema author's)
  • if no All Providers Python files and no All Providers Yaml files are changed - check-provider-yaml-valid check is skipped

Suspended providers

The selective checks will fail in PR if it contains changes to a suspended provider unless you set the label allow suspended provider changes in the PR. This is to prevent accidental changes to suspended providers.

Selective check outputs

The selective check outputs available are described below. In case of list-as-string values, empty string means everything, where lack of the output means nothing and list elements are separated by spaces. This is to accommodate for the way how outputs of this kind can be easily used by GitHub Actions to pass the list of parameters to a command to execute

Output	Meaning of the output	Example value	List
all-python-versions	List of all python versions there are available in the form of JSON array	['3.10', '3.11']
all-python-versions-list-as-string	List of all python versions there are available in the form of space separated string	3.10 3.11	*
all-versions	If set to true, then all python, k8s, DB versions are used for tests.	false
basic-checks-only	Whether to run all static checks ("false") or only basic set of static checks ("true")	false
ci-image-build	Whether CI image build is needed	true
core-test-types-list-as-strings-in-json	Which test types should be run for unit tests for core	API Always Providers	*
debug-resources	Whether resources usage should be printed during parallel job execution ("true"/ "false")	false
default-branch	Which branch is default for the build ("main" for main branch, "v2-4-test" for 2.4 line etc.)	main
default-constraints-branch	Which branch is default for the build ("constraints-main" for main branch, "constraints-2-4" etc.)	constraints-main
default-helm-version	Which Helm version to use as default	v3.9.4
default-kind-version	Which Kind version to use as default	v0.16.0
default-kubernetes-version	Which Kubernetes version to use as default	v1.25.2
default-mysql-version	Which MySQL version to use as default	5.7
default-postgres-version	Which Postgres version to use as default	10
default-python-version	Which Python version to use as default	3.10
disable-airflow-repo-cache	Disables cache of the repo main cache in CI - airflow will be installed without main installation cache	true
docker-cache	Which cache should be used for images ("registry", "local" , "disabled")	registry
docs-build	Whether to build documentation ("true"/"false")	true
docs-list-as-string	What filter to apply to docs building - based on which documentation packages should be built	apache-airflow helm-chart google	*
excluded-providers-as-string	List of providers that should be excluded from the build as space-separated string	amazon google	*
force-pip	Whether pip should be forced in the image build instead of uv ("true"/"false")	false
full-tests-needed	Whether this build runs complete set of tests or only subset (for faster PR builds) [1]	false
generated-dependencies-changed	Whether generated dependencies have changed ("true"/"false")	false
has-migrations	Whether the PR has migrations ("true"/"false")	false
hatch-build-changed	When hatch build.py changed in the PR.	false
helm-test-packages-list-as-string	List of helm packages to test as JSON array	["airflow_aux", "airflow_core"]	*
helm-version	Which Helm version to use for tests	v3.15.3
include-success-outputs	Whether to include outputs of successful parallel tests ("true"/"false")	false
individual-providers-test-types-list-as-strings-in-json	Which test types should be run for unit tests for providers (individually listed)	Providers[\amazon] Providers[google]	*
is-committer-build	Whether the build is triggered by a committer	false
is-legacy-ui-api-labeled	Whether the PR is labeled as legacy UI/API	false
java-sdk-version	JDK version used to build the lang-SDK Java artifacts natively in CI	17
kind-version	Which Kind version to use for tests	v0.24.0
kubernetes-combos-list-as-string	All combinations of Python version and Kubernetes version to use for tests as space-separated string	3.10-v1.25.2 3.11-v1.28.13	*
kubernetes-versions	All Kubernetes versions to use for tests as JSON array	['v1.25.2']
kubernetes-versions-list-as-string	All Kubernetes versions to use for tests as space-separated string	v1.25.2	*
latest-versions-only	If set, the number of Python, Kubernetes, DB versions will be limited to the latest ones.	false
mypy-checks	List of folders to be considered for mypy checks	["airflow_aux", "airflow_core"]
mysql-exclude	Which versions of MySQL to exclude for tests as JSON array	[]
mysql-versions	Which versions of MySQL to use for tests as JSON array	['8.0']
postgres-exclude	Which versions of Postgres to exclude for tests as JSON array	[]
postgres-versions	Which versions of Postgres to use for tests as JSON array	['12']
prod-image-build	Whether PROD image build is needed	true
providers-compatibility-tests-matrix	Matrix of providers compatibility tests: (python_version, airflow_version, removed_providers)	[{}]
providers-test-types-list-as-strings-in-json	Which test types should be run for unit tests for providers	Providers Providers[-google]	*
pyproject-toml-changed	When pyproject.toml changed in the PR.	false
python-versions	List of python versions to use for that build	['3.10']
python-versions-list-as-string	Which versions of MySQL to use for tests as space-separated string	3.10	*
run-amazon-tests	Whether Amazon tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-api-codegen	Whether "api-codegen" are needed to run ("true"/"false")	true
run-api-tests	Whether "api-tests" are needed to run ("true"/"false")	true
run-helm-tests	Whether Helm tests are needed to run ("true"/"false")	true
run-kubernetes-tests	Whether Kubernetes tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-mypy	Whether mypy check is supposed to run in this build	true
run-system-tests	Whether system tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-task-sdk-tests	Whether Task SDK tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-ui-tests	Whether UI tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-unit-tests	Whether unit tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
run-www-tests	Whether Legacy WWW tests should be run ("true"/"false")	true
amd-runners	List of labels assigned for runners for that build for public AMD runners	["ubuntu-22.04"]
arm-runners	List of labels assigned for runners for that build for public ARM runners	["ubuntu-22.04-arm"]
selected-providers-list-as-string	List of providers affected when they are selectively affected.	airbyte http	*
skip-prek-hooks	Which prek hooks should be skipped during the static-checks run	flynt,identity
skip-providers-tests	When provider tests should be skipped (on non-main branch or when no provider changes detected)	true
sqlite-exclude	Which versions of Sqlite to exclude for tests as JSON array	[]
testable-core-integrations	List of core integrations that are testable in the build as JSON array	['celery', 'kerberos']
testable-providers-integrations	List of core integrations that are testable in the build as JSON array	['mongo', 'kafka']
upgrade-to-newer-dependencies	Whether the image build should attempt to upgrade all dependencies (true/false or commit hash)	false

Committer vs. Non-committer PRs

There is a difference in how the CI jobs are run for committer and non-committer PRs from forks. The main reason is security; we do not want to run untrusted code on our infrastructure for self-hosted runners.

Currently there is no difference because we are not using self-hosted runners (until we implement Action Runner Controller but most of the jobs, committer builds will use "Self-hosted" runners by default, while non-committer builds will use "Public" runners. For committers, this can be overridden by setting the use public runners label in the PR.

Changing behaviours of the CI runs by setting labels

Also, currently for most of the jobs, committer builds by default use "Self-hosted" runners, while non-committer builds use "Public" runners. For committers, this can be overridden by setting the use public runners label in the PR. In the future when we might also switch committers to public runners. Committers will be able to use use self-hosted runners label in the PR to force using self-hosted runners. The use public runners label will still be available for committers and they will be able to set it for builds that also have canary label set to also switch the canary builds to public runners.

If you are testing CI workflow changes and want to test it for more complete matrix combinations generated by the jobs - you can set all versions label in the PR. This will run the PRs with the same combinations of versions as the canary main build. Using all versions is automatically set when build dependencies change in pyproject.toml.

If you are running an apache PR, you can also set canary label for such PR and in this case, all the canary properties of build will be used: self-hosted runners, full tests needed mode, all versions as well as all canary-specific jobs will run there. You can modify this behaviour of the canary run by applying use public runners, and default versions only labels to the PR as well which will still run a canary equivalent build but with public runners an default Python/K8S versions only - respectively.

If you are testing CI workflow changes and change pyproject.toml and you want to limit the number of matrix combinations generated by the jobs - you can set default versions only label in the PR. This will limit the number of versions used in the matrix to the default ones (default Python version and default Kubernetes version).

If you are testing CI workflow changes and want to limit the number of matrix combinations generated by the jobs - you can also set latest versions only label in the PR. This will limit the number of versions used in the matrix to the latest ones (latest Python version and latest Kubernetes version).

You can also disable cache if you want to make sure your tests will run with image that does not have left-over package installed from the past cached image - by setting disable image cache label in the PR.

By default, all outputs of successful parallel tests are not shown. You can enable them by setting include success outputs label in the PR. This makes the logs of mostly successful tests a lot longer and more difficult to sift through, but it might be useful in case you want to compare successful and unsuccessful runs of the tests.

This table summarizes the labels you can use on PRs to control the selective checks and the CI runs:

Label	Affected outputs	Meaning
all versions	all-versions, -versions-	Run tests for all python and k8s versions.
allow suspended provider changes	allow-suspended-provider-changes	Allow changes to suspended providers.
area:kubernetes-tests	run-kubernetes-tests	If set, the Kubernetes tests job is run regardless of changed files (does not force the full test matrix).
canary	is-canary-run	If set, the PR run from apache/airflow repo behaves as canary run.
debug ci resources	debug-ci-resources	If set, then debugging resources is enabled during parallel tests and you can see them.
default versions only	all-versions, -versions-	If set, the number of Python and Kubernetes, DB versions are limited to the default ones.
disable image cache	docker-cache	If set, the image cache is disables when building the image.
force pip	force-pip	If set, the image build uses pip instead of uv.
full tests needed	full-tests-needed	If set, complete set of tests are run
include success outputs	include-success-outputs	If set, outputs of successful parallel tests are shown not only failed outputs.
latest versions only	-versions-, -versions-	If set, the number of Python, Kubernetes, DB versions will be limited to the latest ones.
non committer build	is-committer-build	If set, the scripts used for images are used from target branch for committers.
upgrade to newer dependencies	upgrade-to-newer-dependencies	If set to true (default false) then dependencies in the CI image build are upgraded.

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Read next about Workflows