refactor: consolidate snapshot expiration into MaintenanceTable (#2143)

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<!-- Closes #2150 -->

# Rationale for this change

- Consolidates snapshot expiration functionality from the standalone
`ExpireSnapshots` class into the `MaintenanceTable` class for a unified
maintenance API.
- Resolves planned work left over from #1880, and closes
#2142
- Achieves feature and API parity with the Java implementation for
snapshot retention and table maintenance.

# Features & Enhancements

- Introduces `table.maintenance.expire_snapshots()` as the unified entry
point for snapshot expiration and future maintenance operations.
- Retains the existing `ExpireSnapshots` implementation internally. The
`expire_snapshots()` method on `MaintenanceTable` now returns an
`ExpireSnapshots` object, preserving transaction semantics and
supporting context manager usage:
  ```python
  with table.maintenance.expire_snapshots() as expire_snapshots:
      expire_snapshots.by_id(1)
      expire_snapshots.by_id(2)
  ```
- Focuses this PR on refactoring and documentation improvements, while
maintaining compatibility with the prior `ExpireSnapshots` interface.
- Sets a foundation for future expansion of the `MaintenanceTable`
abstraction to encapsulate additional maintenance operations.


# Bug Fixes & Cleanups

- **ManageSnapshots Cleanup
([#2151](#2151
- Removes an unrelated instance variable from the `ManageSnapshots`
class, aligning with the Java reference implementation.

# Testing & Documentation

- **Testing:**
  - Tested the new API interface including:
    - Expiration by ID 
    - Protection of branch/tag snapshots
- **Documentation:**
  - Added and updated documentation to describe:
    - API usage examples

Preview:
<img width="1686" height="1015" alt="Screenshot 2025-08-11 at 1 37
04 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f469f3fc-b4b1-4ec9-b1ca-b9185e22643e"
/>


# Are these changes tested?

Yes. All changes are tested.~, with this PR predicated on the final
changes from #1200.~ This work builds on the framework introduced by
@jayceslesar in #1200 for the `MaintenanceTable`.

# Are there any user-facing changes?

---

**Closes:**  
- Closes #2151
- Closes #2142

---------

Co-authored-by: Fokko Driesprong <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Kevin Liu <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

mkdocs/docs/api.md

@@ -1287,6 +1287,47 @@ with table.manage_snapshots() as ms:
     ms.create_branch(snapshot_id1, "Branch_A").create_tag(snapshot_id2, "tag789")
 ```
 
+## Table Maintenance
+
+PyIceberg provides table maintenance operations through the `table.maintenance` API. This provides a clean interface for performing maintenance tasks like snapshot expiration.
+
+### Snapshot Expiration
+
+Expire old snapshots to clean up table metadata and reduce storage costs:
+
+```python
+# Basic usage - expire a specific snapshot by ID
+table.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(12345).commit()
+
+# Context manager usage (recommended for multiple operations)
+with table.maintenance.expire_snapshots() as expire:
+    expire.by_id(12345)
+    expire.by_id(67890)
+    # Automatically commits when exiting the context
+
+# Method chaining
+table.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(12345).commit()
+```
+
+#### Real-world Example
+
+```python
+def cleanup_old_snapshots(table_name: str, snapshot_ids: list[int]):
+    """Remove specific snapshots from a table."""
+    catalog = load_catalog("production")
+    table = catalog.load_table(table_name)
+
+    # Use context manager for safe transaction handling
+    with table.maintenance.expire_snapshots() as expire:
+        for snapshot_id in snapshot_ids:
+            expire.by_id(snapshot_id)
+
+    print(f"Expired {len(snapshot_ids)} snapshots from {table_name}")
+
+# Usage
+cleanup_old_snapshots("analytics.user_events", [12345, 67890, 11111])
+```
+
 ## Views
 
 PyIceberg supports view operations.

pyiceberg/table/__init__.py

@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@
 from pyiceberg.schema import Schema
 from pyiceberg.table.inspect import InspectTable
 from pyiceberg.table.locations import LocationProvider, load_location_provider
+from pyiceberg.table.maintenance import MaintenanceTable
 from pyiceberg.table.metadata import (
     INITIAL_SEQUENCE_NUMBER,
     TableMetadata,
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@
     update_table_metadata,
 )
 from pyiceberg.table.update.schema import UpdateSchema
-from pyiceberg.table.update.snapshot import ExpireSnapshots, ManageSnapshots, UpdateSnapshot, _FastAppendFiles
+from pyiceberg.table.update.snapshot import ManageSnapshots, UpdateSnapshot, _FastAppendFiles
 from pyiceberg.table.update.spec import UpdateSpec
 from pyiceberg.table.update.statistics import UpdateStatistics
 from pyiceberg.transforms import IdentityTransform
@@ -1086,6 +1087,15 @@ def inspect(self) -> InspectTable:
         """
         return InspectTable(self)
 
+    @property
+    def maintenance(self) -> MaintenanceTable:
+        """Return the MaintenanceTable object for maintenance.
+
+        Returns:
+            MaintenanceTable object based on this Table.
+        """
+        return MaintenanceTable(self)
+
     def refresh(self) -> Table:
         """Refresh the current table metadata.
 
@@ -1258,10 +1268,6 @@ def manage_snapshots(self) -> ManageSnapshots:
         """
         return ManageSnapshots(transaction=Transaction(self, autocommit=True))
 
-    def expire_snapshots(self) -> ExpireSnapshots:
-        """Shorthand to run expire snapshots by id or by a timestamp."""
-        return ExpireSnapshots(transaction=Transaction(self, autocommit=True))
-
     def update_statistics(self) -> UpdateStatistics:
         """
         Shorthand to run statistics management operations like add statistics and remove statistics.

pyiceberg/table/maintenance.py

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from pyiceberg.table import Table
+    from pyiceberg.table.update.snapshot import ExpireSnapshots
+
+
+class MaintenanceTable:
+    tbl: Table
+
+    def __init__(self, tbl: Table) -> None:
+        self.tbl = tbl
+
+    def expire_snapshots(self) -> ExpireSnapshots:
+        """Return an ExpireSnapshots builder for snapshot expiration operations.
+
+        Returns:
+            ExpireSnapshots builder for configuring and executing snapshot expiration.
+        """
+        from pyiceberg.table import Transaction
+        from pyiceberg.table.update.snapshot import ExpireSnapshots
+
+        return ExpireSnapshots(transaction=Transaction(self.tbl, autocommit=True))

pyiceberg/table/update/snapshot.py

@@ -907,8 +907,7 @@ def remove_branch(self, branch_name: str) -> ManageSnapshots:
 
 
 class ExpireSnapshots(UpdateTableMetadata["ExpireSnapshots"]):
-    """
-    Expire snapshots by ID.
+    """Expire snapshots by ID.
 
     Use table.expire_snapshots().<operation>().commit() to run a specific operation.
     Use table.expire_snapshots().<operation-one>().<operation-two>().commit() to run multiple operations.
@@ -953,7 +952,7 @@ def _get_protected_snapshot_ids(self) -> Set[int]:
 
         return protected_ids
 
-    def expire_snapshot_by_id(self, snapshot_id: int) -> ExpireSnapshots:
+    def by_id(self, snapshot_id: int) -> ExpireSnapshots:
         """
         Expire a snapshot by its ID.
 
@@ -974,7 +973,7 @@ def expire_snapshot_by_id(self, snapshot_id: int) -> ExpireSnapshots:
 
         return self
 
-    def expire_snapshots_by_ids(self, snapshot_ids: List[int]) -> "ExpireSnapshots":
+    def by_ids(self, snapshot_ids: List[int]) -> "ExpireSnapshots":
         """
         Expire multiple snapshots by their IDs.
 
@@ -986,10 +985,10 @@ def expire_snapshots_by_ids(self, snapshot_ids: List[int]) -> "ExpireSnapshots":
             This for method chaining.
         """
         for snapshot_id in snapshot_ids:
-            self.expire_snapshot_by_id(snapshot_id)
+            self.by_id(snapshot_id)
         return self
 
-    def expire_snapshots_older_than(self, timestamp_ms: int) -> "ExpireSnapshots":
+    def older_than(self, timestamp_ms: int) -> "ExpireSnapshots":
         """
         Expire all unprotected snapshots with a timestamp older than a given value.
 

tests/table/test_expire_snapshots.py

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def test_cannot_expire_protected_head_snapshot(table_v2: Table) -> None:
 
     # Attempt to expire the HEAD snapshot and expect a ValueError
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=f"Snapshot with ID {HEAD_SNAPSHOT} is protected and cannot be expired."):
-        table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshot_by_id(HEAD_SNAPSHOT).commit()
+        table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(HEAD_SNAPSHOT).commit()
 
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.assert_not_called()
 
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def test_cannot_expire_tagged_snapshot(table_v2: Table) -> None:
     assert any(ref.snapshot_id == TAGGED_SNAPSHOT for ref in table_v2.metadata.refs.values())
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=f"Snapshot with ID {TAGGED_SNAPSHOT} is protected and cannot be expired."):
-        table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshot_by_id(TAGGED_SNAPSHOT).commit()
+        table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(TAGGED_SNAPSHOT).commit()
 
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.assert_not_called()
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def test_expire_unprotected_snapshot(table_v2: Table) -> None:
     assert all(ref.snapshot_id != EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT for ref in table_v2.metadata.refs.values())
 
     # Expire the snapshot
-    table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshot_by_id(EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT).commit()
+    table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT).commit()
 
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.assert_called_once()
     remaining_snapshots = table_v2.metadata.snapshots
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def test_expire_nonexistent_snapshot_raises(table_v2: Table) -> None:
     table_v2.metadata = table_v2.metadata.model_copy(update={"refs": {}})
 
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=f"Snapshot with ID {NONEXISTENT_SNAPSHOT} does not exist."):
-        table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshot_by_id(NONEXISTENT_SNAPSHOT).commit()
+        table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_id(NONEXISTENT_SNAPSHOT).commit()
 
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.assert_not_called()
 
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ def test_expire_snapshots_by_timestamp_skips_protected(table_v2: Table) -> None:
     )
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.return_value = mock_response
 
-    table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshots_older_than(future_timestamp).commit()
+    table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().older_than(future_timestamp).commit()
     # Update metadata to reflect the commit (as in other tests)
     table_v2.metadata = mock_response.metadata
 
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ def test_expire_snapshots_by_ids(table_v2: Table) -> None:
     assert all(ref.snapshot_id not in (EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_1, EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_2) for ref in table_v2.metadata.refs.values())
 
     # Expire the snapshots
-    table_v2.expire_snapshots().expire_snapshots_by_ids([EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_1, EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_2]).commit()
+    table_v2.maintenance.expire_snapshots().by_ids([EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_1, EXPIRE_SNAPSHOT_2]).commit()
 
     table_v2.catalog.commit_table.assert_called_once()
     remaining_snapshots = table_v2.metadata.snapshots