upgrade-fab-provider

Airflow's FAB provider is tightly coupled to a specific Flask-AppBuilder release because it vendors-in and subclasses large parts of FAB's security manager. A version bump is therefore never "just change the pin" — it must be reconciled against the vendored code, and that reconciliation is enforced by a pytest alignment test, not a prek hook.

The canonical reference for a real bump is PR #66841 ("Bump flask-appbuilder to 5.2.1 and mirror new auth event hooks") — commit c72b6613fd. Read its diff first when in doubt: git show c72b6613fd.

The coupling — why this is not a one-line change

• providers/fab/pyproject.toml:75-80 explains it: Airflow vendored FAB's security-manager code into providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/auth_manager/security_manager/override.py (~2700 lines) as FabAirflowSecurityManagerOverride. Every bump must review that class against upstream FAB for new / changed / removed methods.
• test_fab_alignment.py mechanically detects drift between the installed FAB package and the vendored override, and fails CI until the developer reconciles it.

Inputs

• Target version — the FAB version to move to. If not given, use the latest release on PyPI (https://pypi.org/pypi/flask-appbuilder/json → info.version). Confirm the target with the user if it is a major or minor bump (higher reconciliation risk); a patch bump can proceed.

The files a bump touches

Always:

1. providers/fab/pyproject.toml — line ~80, the flask-appbuilder==X.Y.Z pin (the only real dependency pin in the repo).
2. providers/fab/tests/unit/fab/auth_manager/security_manager/test_fab_alignment.py — EXPECTED_FAB_VERSION = "X.Y.Z" (line ~43). Must move in lockstep with the pin.
3. providers/fab/docs/index.rst — the dependency table row ``flask-appbuilder`` ``==X.Y.Z`` (line ~114).
4. providers/fab/README.rst — the Requirements table row (line ~60). Do not hand-edit — it is auto-generated. Regenerate it from the bumped pyproject.toml with the sync-provider-readme prek hook (Step 8); the hook re-renders the table whenever pyproject.toml changes. (Pre-existing bumps that predate this hook left it to release-time regeneration; today the hook is per-commit, so CI flags the drift — run it.)
5. uv.lock — regenerated (see Step 4 for the pinned-uv caveat).

Conditionally:

6. providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/auth_manager/security_manager/override.py — transplant any relevant upstream FAB changes (new auth hooks, changed signatures, ported fixes). The reference bump added +37 lines here. Note: a green alignment test does not prove the transplant is unnecessary — a security fix may live inside a method Airflow vendors (see the 5.2.2 worked example below).
7. providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/www/** + providers/fab/www-hash.txt — only if the new FAB ships changed static assets / templates that are re-vendored (see Step 6).
8. providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/migrations/versions/** — only if the new FAB version ships DB migrations (see Step 7).

Never: no newsfragment, and do not hand-edit providers/fab/docs/changelog.rst — providers are released from main and the release manager regenerates the changelog from git log (per providers/AGENTS.md). The commit subject is the changelog entry.

Procedure

Step 1 — Determine the target version and current state

• Read the current pin: grep flask-appbuilder== providers/fab/pyproject.toml.
• Resolve the target (PyPI latest, or the user's requested version).
• Classify the jump: patch / minor / major. For minor/major, skim the FAB release notes (https://github.com/dpgaspar/Flask-AppBuilder/releases) for security-manager / model / template changes before editing.

Step 2 — Bump the three source pins

Edit in lockstep:

• providers/fab/pyproject.toml — the flask-appbuilder==X.Y.Z line (keep the trailing # Whenever updating the version, run test_fab_alignment.py to verify. comment).
• test_fab_alignment.py — EXPECTED_FAB_VERSION = "X.Y.Z". It is the tripwire; editing it now is fine — you will keep re-running the test until it and the other three tests pass.
• providers/fab/docs/index.rst — the dependency-table ==X.Y.Z row.

Step 3 — Install the new FAB into the provider venv

uv --project providers/fab sync installs the new pin. Confirm the installed version:

uv run --project providers/fab python -c \
  "import importlib.metadata as m; print(m.version('flask-appbuilder'))"

Step 4 — Regenerate uv.lock (pinned uv!)

The lock must be regenerated with the repo's pinned uv version, or it drifts hundreds of unrelated marker lines:

AIRFLOW_UV_VERSION=$(grep -oE 'AIRFLOW_UV_VERSION=[0-9.]+' Dockerfile.ci | head -1 | cut -d= -f2)
uvx --from uv==$AIRFLOW_UV_VERSION uv lock

If a conflict is irrecoverable, delete uv.lock and re-run uv lock with the pinned version. Confirm the diff is limited to the FAB bump, not a wholesale marker rewrite.

Step 5 — Run the alignment test and reconcile override.py

uv run --project providers/fab pytest \
  providers/fab/tests/unit/fab/auth_manager/security_manager/test_fab_alignment.py -xvs

Under the host sandbox the test needs a writable AIRFLOW_HOME and the rerun-failures socket disabled — if it errors on a socket bind or on ~/airflow, run it as:

AIRFLOW_HOME="$TMPDIR/fab_home" uv run --project providers/fab pytest \
  providers/fab/tests/.../test_fab_alignment.py -q -p no:rerunfailures

The four tests and how to fix each:

1. test_fab_version_matches_expected — trips on the version mismatch. It passes once EXPECTED_FAB_VERSION == installed version, but only after you have done the review below.
2. test_no_unaudited_fab_methods — a new FAB public method exists that is neither implemented in override.py nor listed in AUDITED_EXCLUSIONS. Fix: either implement/override it in override.py, or add it to AUDITED_EXCLUSIONS with a justification comment.
3. test_no_stale_exclusions — AUDITED_EXCLUSIONS lists a method the new FAB no longer has. Fix: remove that entry.
4. test_shared_method_signatures_compatible — FAB changed a method signature (new required param). Fix: update the override.py signature, or add to KNOWN_SIGNATURE_DEVIATIONS if the divergence is intentional.

The manual review that the test cannot fully automate: diff the vendored override.py against the new FAB's flask_appbuilder/security/sqla/manager.py and BaseSecurityManager and transplant behavioural changes (bug fixes, new auth event hooks), not just signatures — the test only checks method presence and required params. Locate the installed source:

uv run --project providers/fab python -c \
  "import flask_appbuilder.security.sqla.manager as m; print(m.__file__)"

Step 6 — Re-vendor static assets / templates (only if changed)

If the new FAB changed frontend assets that Airflow vendors under providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/www/ (templates in templates/appbuilder/, static JS/CSS), re-vendor them, then regenerate the fingerprint:

prek run compile-fab-assets --all-files

This runs scripts/ci/prek/compile_provider_assets.py fab (pnpm build over www/) and rewrites providers/fab/www-hash.txt. A patch bump usually does not touch assets — skip this step unless FAB's templates/static changed. Commit the regenerated www-hash.txt if it changed.

Step 7 — DB migrations (only if FAB ships them)

If the new FAB adds/changes security-model tables, add the corresponding migration under providers/fab/src/airflow/providers/fab/migrations/versions/ and run:

prek run update-migration-references-fab check-revision-heads-map-fab --all-files

Patch bumps normally have no migrations — skip unless the release notes mention schema changes.

Step 8 — Static checks + tests

prek run --from-ref main --stage pre-commit
uv run --project providers/fab pytest providers/fab/tests/unit/fab/auth_manager -xvs

The pre-commit stage runs sync-provider-readme (regenerating README.rst) and other FAB hooks. Re-run the alignment test until all four tests pass. The full provider suite is breeze testing providers-tests --test-type "Providers[fab]".

Step 9 — Self-review and commit

• git diff main...HEAD — verify only the intended files changed, and uv.lock is a clean FAB-scoped diff.
• Commit subject in imperative mood, plain prose, no Conventional-Commits prefix, e.g. Bump flask-appbuilder to X.Y.Z in FAB provider. Body explains why (what upstream changes were mirrored), not what.
• No newsfragment, no changelog edit (provider release manager regenerates from git log).
• Prepend your PR to the history list in providers/fab/CONTRIBUTING.rst so the FAB-upgrade record stays current.
• Push to origin and open the PR per the repo's PR conventions.

Gotchas

• EXPECTED_FAB_VERSION is a second pin. Forgetting it makes test_fab_alignment.py fail even when everything else is correct.
• uv.lock marker drift. Always use the pinned uv (Step 4) — a bare uv lock rewrites hundreds of environment-marker lines and buries the real diff.
• The alignment test uses AST, not import, to read FAB's SecurityManager (to avoid SQLAlchemy model-registry collisions with Airflow's vendored models). A green test proves structural alignment; it does not prove behavioural parity — Step 5's manual transplant review is still required.
• docs/index.rst dependency table may look auto-generated but the reference PR edited it by hand; if a docs-regen prek hook rewrites it, let the hook win.
• README.rst is generated, but the sync hook is per-commit. Don't hand-edit it; run prek run sync-provider-readme (or the full pre-commit stage) after bumping pyproject.toml — CI fails on the drift otherwise.
• Don't touch providers/fab/docs/upgrading.rst — that is end-user guidance for upgrading the provider package in a deployment, not the developer bump workflow.

Worked example — 5.2.1 to 5.2.2 (patch)

A patch bump that needed no override.py change, but only after a real behavioural review — the green alignment test alone was not sufficient evidence:

• FAB 5.2.2 shipped three security-manager fixes: LDAP search-filter escaping, OAuth email-allowlist regex anchoring (email + "$"), and API-login provider validation.
• All three touch methods Airflow vendors (_search_ldap, auth_user_ldap, auth_user_oauth) — so the alignment test passing did not mean "nothing to do". Each had to be checked by hand:
  • LDAP escaping — Airflow's vendored _search_ldap already escapes via ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars (and adds filter-parenthesis validation); it was ahead of FAB. No transplant.
  • OAuth allowlist anchoring — the match lives in FAB's AuthOAuthView (views.py), and Airflow's CustomAuthOAuthView.oauth_authorized delegates via super().oauth_authorized(), so the fix is inherited from the installed FAB 5.2.2. No transplant.
  • API-login validation / Azure-JWT warning / uuid4 — in FAB core Airflow doesn't vendor. Inherited.
• Net change set: pyproject.toml, test_fab_alignment.py, docs/index.rst, README.rst (via hook), uv.lock. Commit: Bump flask-appbuilder to 5.2.2 in FAB provider.

The lesson the skill encodes: for every security/behavioural fix in the FAB release notes, locate the method and check whether Airflow vendors it — the alignment test guards structure, you guard behaviour.