Drop support for Python 3.8

[kuan121]

High Level Overview of Change

Drop support for Python 3.8, which reached end-of-life in October 2024. The minimum supported Python version is now 3.9.

Context of Change

Python 3.8 reached its end-of-life on October 14, 2024, and no longer receives security updates.

Type of Change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)
• Refactor (non-breaking change that only restructures code)
• Tests (You added tests for code that already exists, or your new feature included in this PR)
• Documentation Updates
• Release

Did you update CHANGELOG.md?

• Yes
• No, this change does not impact library users

Test Plan

1. Verify CI passes on Python 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14
2. Verify poetry install works correctly

[coderabbitai]

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 393a39d and 571a8bf.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• CHANGELOG.md

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• CHANGELOG.md

---

Walkthrough

This PR drops Python 3.8 support and raises the minimum Python requirement to 3.9. CI workflow matrices and job environments were updated to remove 3.8, release workflow Python for Poetry was bumped to 3.9, pyproject.toml constraints were tightened, and README/CHANGELOG were updated.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
CI Workflow Updates .github/workflows/faucet_test.yml, .github/workflows/integration_test.yml, .github/workflows/unit_test.yml	Removed Python 3.8 from job matrices and environment settings; test matrices now cover 3.9–3.14.
Release Workflow .github/workflows/release.yml	Bumped Python used for the Poetry installation step from 3.8 to 3.9; minor whitespace edit in a Slack message line.
Project Configuration pyproject.toml	Updated project.requires-python to >=3.9 and tool.poetry.dependencies.python to >=3.9,<4.0; collapsed conditional dev pydoclint entries into a single ^0.5.13.
Documentation CHANGELOG.md, README.md	Added BREAKING CHANGE note about dropping Python 3.8; updated README references from 3.8 to 3.9.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• ci: add Python 3.14 #874: Modifies the same CI workflow Python-version matrices (faucet_test, integration_test, unit_test).
• chore: bump Github Actions versions, add Python 3.13 tests #753: Also updates GitHub Actions workflow Python-version matrices across CI workflows.

Suggested reviewers

• Patel-Raj11
• pdp2121

Poem

🐰
I hopped from old 3.8 sod,
Found 3.9 fields and gave a nod,
Tests now dance on fresher ground,
Lint and release — the beats resound,
Little paws, a quieter log.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Drop support for Python 3.8' clearly and concisely summarizes the main change in the pull request—removing Python 3.8 support across all workflow files, configuration, and documentation.
Description check	✅ Passed	The pull request description follows the required template structure with all essential sections completed: high-level overview, context of change, type of change (breaking change selected), CHANGELOG.md confirmation, and test plan.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch drop-python-3.8-support

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[mvadari]

Suggested change

	### Changed
	- [Breaking change] Dropped support for Python 3.8 (EOL October 2024). The minimum supported Python version is now 3.9.
	### Breaking Changes
	- Dropped support for Python 3.8 (EOL October 2024). The minimum supported Python version is now 3.9.

[kuan121]

@mvadari Updated the changelog based on your suggestion, but used the format we’ve followed before (e.g., ### BREAKING CHANGE).