jgoedeke opened a new issue, #57564:
URL: https://github.com/apache/airflow/issues/57564
### Apache Airflow version
3.1.1
### If "Other Airflow 2/3 version" selected, which one?
_No response_
### What happened?
When attaching event-specific metadata to assets in Airflow via the `extra`
field (e.g., `Metadata(asset, {'timestamp': datetime.now(), ...})`),
serializable objects like `datetime` and `Path` are converted to strings upon
serialization, but are **not deserialized back to their original Python types**
when accessed in downstream tasks. This leads to unexpected behavior and type
mismatches for users expecting original types.
### Example
```python
from datetime import UTC, datetime
from pathlib import Path
from airflow.sdk import Asset, Metadata, dag, task
asset = Asset(
's3://bucket/mydata.csv',
extra={
'path': Path('/some/local/path.txt'),
},
)
@dag(
schedule=None,
)
def producer_dag():
@task(outlets=[asset])
def produce_asset():
yield Metadata(asset, {'timestamp': datetime.now(tz=UTC)})
produce_asset()
@dag(
schedule=[asset],
)
def consumer_dag():
@task(inlets=[asset])
def consume_asset(inlet_events):
events: list[Metadata] = inlet_events[asset]
for event in events:
timestamp = event.extra.get('timestamp')
path = event.asset.extra.get('path')
print(f'Asset: {event.asset}')
print(f'Asset extra: {event.asset.extra}')
print(f'Asset extra path type: {type(path)}, value: {path} ')
print(f'Extra metadata: {event.extra}')
print(f'Extra timestamp type: {type(timestamp)}, value:
{timestamp} ')
consume_asset()
producer_dag()
consumer_dag()
```
#### Output
```
[2025-10-30 14:36:21] INFO - Asset: name='s3://bucket/mydata.csv'
uri='s3://bucket/mydata.csv' group='asset' extra={'path':
'/some/local/path.txt'} source=task.stdout
[2025-10-30 14:36:21] INFO - Asset extra: {'path': '/some/local/path.txt'}
source=task.stdout
[2025-10-30 14:36:21] INFO - Asset extra path type: <class 'str'>, value:
/some/local/path.txt source=task.stdout
[2025-10-30 14:36:21] INFO - Extra metadata: {'timestamp':
'2025-10-30T14:35:16.937410Z'} source=task.stdout
[2025-10-30 14:36:21] INFO - Extra timestamp type: <class 'str'>, value:
2025-10-30T14:35:16.937410Z source=task.stdout
```
- The `extra` dict values are always strings, regardless of their original
type.
- Downstream code must manually parse/convert these values, which is
error-prone and inconsistent.
### What you think should happen instead?
- When retrieving asset event metadata, deserializable objects (e.g., ISO
datetime strings, Path strings) should be converted back to their corresponding
Python types (e.g., `datetime`, `Path`).
- This would restore consistency with how XCom values are deserialized.
### How to reproduce
Use example DAG.
### Operating System
docker
### Versions of Apache Airflow Providers
_No response_
### Deployment
Docker-Compose
### Deployment details
_No response_
### Anything else?
_No response_
### Are you willing to submit PR?
- [ ] Yes I am willing to submit a PR!
### Code of Conduct
- [x] I agree to follow this project's [Code of
Conduct](https://github.com/apache/airflow/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)
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