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Accepting New Community Providers
==================================

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   :depth: 3
   :local:

The Airflow community welcomes new provider contributions. All new providers enter through the
**Incubation** stage (unless specifically accelerated by the PMC) to ensure alignment with ASF
guidelines and community principles.

For details on the incubation stage and graduation criteria, see
`Provider Governance <PROVIDER_GOVERNANCE.rst#incubation-stage>`_.

Prerequisites for proposing a new provider
------------------------------------------

1. **Working codebase**: A functional implementation demonstrating the integration
2. **Stewardship commitment**: At least two individuals willing to serve as stewards
3. **Committer sponsorship**: At least one existing Airflow Committer willing to sponsor the stewards
4. **Quality standards**: Code, tests, and documentation meeting the Contributing Guide standards

Approval process
-----------------

Accepting new community providers requires a ``[DISCUSSION]`` followed by ``[VOTE]`` thread at the
Airflow `devlist <https://airflow.apache.org/community/#mailing-list>`_.

For integrations with well-established open-source software (Apache Software Foundation, Linux
Foundation, or similar organizations with established governance), a ``[LAZY CONSENSUS]`` process
may be sufficient, provided the PR includes comprehensive test coverage and documentation.

The ``[DISCUSSION]`` thread should include:

* Description of the integration and its value to the Airflow ecosystem
* Identification of the proposed stewards and their sponsoring committer(s)
* Commitment to meet incubation health metrics within 6 months
* Plan for participating in quarterly governance updates

The ``[VOTE]`` follows the usual Apache Software Foundation voting rules concerning
`Votes on Code Modification <https://www.apache.org/foundation/voting.html#votes-on-code-modification>`_

Alternative: 3rd-party managed providers
-----------------------------------------

For service providers or systems integrators with dedicated teams to manage their provider and who wish to not participate
in the Airflow community, we encourage considering 3rd-party management of providers. The
`Ecosystem page <https://airflow.apache.org/ecosystem/#third-party-airflow-plugins-and-providers>`_
provides visibility for 3rd-party providers, and this approach allows service providers or systems integrators to:

* Synchronize releases with their service updates
* Maintain direct control over the integration
* Support older Airflow versions if needed

There is no difference in technical capabilities between community and 3rd-party providers.
See `3rd-party providers <THIRD_PARTY_PROVIDERS.rst>`_ for more details.

Historical examples
--------------------

* Huawei Cloud provider - `Discussion <https://lists.apache.org/thread/f5tk9c734wlyv616vyy8r34ymth3dqbc>`_
* Cloudera provider - `Discussion <https://lists.apache.org/thread/2z0lvgj466ksxxrbvofx41qvn03jrwwb>`_, `Vote <https://lists.apache.org/thread/8b1jvld3npgzz2z0o3gv14lvtornbdrm>`_
