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Not in use tags are still present in the search bar of the UI #66827
Description
Under which category would you file this issue?
Airflow Core
Apache Airflow version
3.1.8
What happened and how to reproduce it?
The "Filter by tag" drop-down includes all tags, not just tags that are present on dags that are currently in the deployment.
To reproduce create a dag with a tag, then remove that dag from the deployment. The tag will still appear in the drop-down. This can make it difficult to sift through tags that are out of date.
What you think should happen instead?
Tags associated with dags that no longer exist should be removed.
The dag_tags table in the metadata database is very simplistic, and includes a list of every tag name and the associated dag. I think that we should introduce some way to either remove entries that are associated with deleted dags, or a way to filter what appears in the UI to only tags assocaited with current dags.
Operating System
mac 26.3.1
Deployment
Astronomer
Apache Airflow Provider(s)
No response
Versions of Apache Airflow Providers
No response
Official Helm Chart version
Not Applicable
Kubernetes Version
No response
Helm Chart configuration
No response
Docker Image customizations
No response
Anything else?
A now closed issue was created regarding this issue; 31184
Are you willing to submit PR?
- Yes I am willing to submit a PR!
Code of Conduct
- I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct
Activity
[-]Not in use tags are still present in the search feture of the UI[/-][+]Not in use tags are still present in the search bar of the UI[/+]SkanderD1999 commentedon May 12, 2026
I was able to reproduce this on Apache Airflow 3.2.1 with the official Docker Compose setup on Windows 11.
I created a test DAG called
test_tag_cleanupwith the tagtemporary_test_tag. The DAG appeared correctly in the UI, and the tag was also available in the “Filter by tag” dropdown.After deleting the DAG file from the
dags/folder and refreshing the UI, the DAG was no longer displayed, but the tag was still present in the tag filter. When selecting this tag, the UI shows0 DAGs found.Environment:
I attached a screenshot showing the tag still available while no DAGs are associated with it.
kimsuyeon0916 commentedon May 13, 2026
Hi! I'd like to help investigate this issue.
I'll try to reproduce the behavior locally by:
If I can reproduce it, I'll look into whether the stale tags should be filtered out from the UI/API response or cleaned up from the metadata database, and share my findings here.
Thanks!
Add newsfragment for stale Dag tags (apache#66827)
Remove stale Dag tags newsfragment (apache#66827)
Filter stale Dag tags from public API (#66827) (#69156)
Filter stale Dag tags from public API (#66827) (#69156) (#70746)
Filter stale Dag tags from public API (#66827) (#69156) (#70746)