GitHub user salimuddin07 added a comment to the discussion: Command airflow db
clean does not work anymore with BashOperator in Airflow 3+
You have a few ways to handle this:
1. Use `airflow db clean` outside the DAG
The simplest approach is to keep DB cleaning as a manual or scheduled job
outside Airflow:
Use a cron job or systemd timer that executes the command inside the container.
Example:
`docker exec airflow-airflow-worker-1 airflow db clean --clean-before-timestamp
20250930 --yes`
2. Use a separate script and run it as a container task
Create a small Docker container (or script) that runs the cleaning command.
Schedule it via Airflow using a KubernetesPodOperator or DockerOperator instead
of BashOperator.
The container can safely have the real DB connection string, bypassing the
“blocked” environment.
3. Explicitly pass the DB connection as an environment variable
If you really want to use BashOperator, you can override the environment:
```
clean_database = BashOperator(
task_id="clean-database",
bash_command=f'airflow db clean --clean-before-timestamp
{clean_before.isoformat()} --yes',
env={
"AIRFLOW__DATABASE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN":
"postgresql+psycopg2://airflow:secret@postgres/airflow"
}
)
```
Caution: This works, but it bypasses the security protection, so use it only if
you understand the risks.
4. Use Airflow API / maintenance commands instead
If your goal is to clean old DAG runs or logs, you can use Airflow’s Python API
(airflow.models.DagRun deletion) in a PythonOperator, which is safer than
calling destructive CLI commands.
Recommended Approach
For production, the safest and most maintainable way is:
Keep airflow db clean outside DAGs, running either via cron or as a one-off
container job.
If you need to automate via DAG, use DockerOperator or KubernetesPodOperator
with explicit DB connection, not BashOperator.
Avoid passing destructive commands directly inside DAGs, because Airflow 3
intentionally prevents it for safety.
GitHub link:
https://github.com/apache/airflow/discussions/56281#discussioncomment-14560197
----
This is an automatically sent email for [email protected].
To unsubscribe, please send an email to: [email protected]
