Postgresql Error when running Airflow with official Docker Compose YAML

[sunilkunchoor]

Apache Airflow version

3.1.0

If "Other Airflow 2 version" selected, which one?

No response

What happened?

I encountered an error when trying to run Apache Airflow using the official docker-compose.yaml file provided in the documentation. The error message is shown below:

postgres-1  | 2025-10-01 20:05:44.297 UTC [1] FATAL:  database files are incompatible with server
postgres-1  | 2025-10-01 20:05:44.297 UTC [1] DETAIL:  The data directory was initialized by PostgreSQL version 13, which is not compatible with this version 16.10 (Debian 16.10-1.pgdg13+1).
postgres-1 exited with code 1 (restarting)
dependency failed to start: container airflow-postgres-1 is unhealthy

Error Screenshot:

What you think should happen instead?

Running docker compose up should start all Airflow components without any errors.

How to reproduce

Step 1: Download the docker-compose.yaml as below.

curl -LfO 'https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/3.1.0/docker-compose.yaml'

Step 2: Run the docker compose up command.

docker compose up

Operating System

Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS

Versions of Apache Airflow Providers

No response

Deployment

Docker-Compose

Deployment details

No response

Anything else?

This is my first time creating a GitHub Issue, and I'm excited to contribute to open source. Apologies in advance if this turns out to be a simple mistake—I'm eager to learn and help improve the project!

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

[boring-cyborg]

Thanks for opening your first issue here! Be sure to follow the issue template! If you are willing to raise PR to address this issue please do so, no need to wait for approval.

[sunilkunchoor]

Apologies for the confusion. I’m closing this issue as it was caused by a leftover Airflow setup in the same directory. Running from a fresh directory resolved the error. Thank you for your patience—and I’m still excited to keep contributing to open source!