Airflow 3: data_interval_end == data_interval_start?

[Djoren]

hi all,

I upgraded to Airflow 3.0.1, from Airflow 2.10.5, and read one of the breaking changes is redefining logical_date (from being equal to data_interval_start before to run_after now). However, I'm also finding the breaking change that for every DAG the data_interval_start == data_interval_end == logical_date.

I could not find anything in documentation about interval start and end dates being made equal. I'd like to get help understanding if this finding is correct, and if so what the intention behind this was?

Thanks

[yxl1108]

set ENV AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__CREATE_CRON_DATA_INTERVALS=True will revert AF3 back to old behavior, data_interval_start and data_interval_end cover the span of the interval

[novandwiatmaja]

I have same issue. after set env AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__CREATE_CRON_DATA_INTERVALS=True how to resolve?

[vietvudanh]

I am having the same problem. Say if I do ETL which requires today run_id cover yesterday data: Now that logical_date = start = end = today, I need to change all code to {{ ds }} subtract 01 day?

[yxl1108]

I am using Astronomer airflow, all I did was to add the following line to Dockerfile, and now in airflow 3, the behavior is the same as what's in airflow 2
ENV AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__CREATE_CRON_DATA_INTERVALS=True

[novandwiatmaja]

If you set AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__CREATE_CRON_DATA_INTERVALS=True, I think that’s not the best decision, as it’s not future-proof.

Instead, I took a different approach using:

from airflow.timetables.interval import CronDataIntervalTimetable

schedule = CronDataIntervalTimetable("0 0 * * *", timezone="UTC")

For existing tasks, the interval may not change unless you delete the historical task data from the database. However, future DAG runs will follow the correct data interval start and end.

[ehddnr301]

Thanks, this worked great for me! 🙌

[mohamedhassib]

This works fine when I use:

from airflow.timetables.interval import CronDataIntervalTimetable

schedule = CronDataIntervalTimetable("0 0 * * *", timezone="UTC")

But the problem appears when one DAG triggers another DAG — in that case, the triggered DAG does not respect the data interval from the timetable (it collapses to start == end).

Is there a recommended way to make CronDataIntervalTimetable work correctly when DAGs trigger each other?

[ashb]

The AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__CREATE_CRON_DATA_INTERVALS option will exist at least until Airflow 4 (which we have no plans to even start thinking about yet).

Using CronDataIntervalTimetable is "better", but to folks finding this thread: don't let perfect be the enemy of good -- either using this timetable or the config option are both good options

[je-enf]

Hello,
Apologies for bumping such an old discussion. I understand that using CronDataIntervalTimetable solves this issue.
It seems however contradictory with the documentation here: to me this implies that this should be the default behavior when providing a string with a cron expression. Am I reading this wrong ?