[pylaterreur]

Python 3.10 reached its end of life on 2026-10-01. This drops it, as #953 did for 3.9.

• pyproject.toml: requires-python = ">=3.11", drop the 3.10 classifier, and set ruff's target-version to py311. The tests extra lists pyreqwest without its python_version >= '3.11' marker, which is now always true.
• CI: drop 3.10 from the test matrix.
• vcr/record_mode.py: with the py311 target, ruff's UP042 suggests making RecordMode(str, Enum) a StrEnum. I silenced it instead: StrEnum would change str() and format() of the members, e.g. f"{vcr.mode.ONCE}" would give once instead of RecordMode.ONCE. repr(), equality with strings, hashing and pickling are the same either way. I can switch to StrEnum if you prefer.
• Docs: the installation page said "Python 3.9+" (now 3.11+), and the contributing guide's pyenv example used pypy3.10 (now pypy3.11).
• A changelog entry.

Nothing in vcr/ or tests/ was specific to 3.10.

Tests. I ran the workflow's steps locally on GitHub's CPython 3.11.17 and 3.13.16 builds, with the offline step in a network namespace, and ran master the same way on 3.11.17:

	online	offline
3.11.17 tests, this branch	108 passed, 1 skipped	404 passed, 9 skipped, 2 failed
3.11.17 tests, master	108 passed, 1 skipped	405 passed, 9 skipped, 1 failed
3.13.16 tests, this branch	108 passed, 1 skipped	404 passed, 9 skipped, 2 failed

The offline failures are the known flaky BrokenPipeErrors in tests that POST to the local httpbin (#1059, kevin1024/pytest-httpbin#101). Run 25 times each, alternating, those tests failed in 20 of 25 runs on both this branch and master. tests-niquests fails on the same tests as on master (the urllib3-future problem #1056 fixes), apart from those flaky uploads. Skips and installed packages are identical to master.

pre-commit and codespell pass. The built wheel's metadata differs from master's only in Requires-Python: >=3.11, the classifier and the pyreqwest marker. pip installs it on 3.11 and refuses it on 3.10 (requires a different Python: 3.10.21 not in '>=3.11'). The docs build with the same Sphinx warnings as on master.

This overlaps with #1058 in docs/installation.rst (same sentence) and the changelog: whichever is merged second needs a rebase, keeping "3.11+" and both changelog entries.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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[pylaterreur]

@kevin1024 @cclauss Friendly ping: could this be merged, or is anything still needed from my side? Thanks!

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Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 93.29%. Comparing base (b1fb62b) to head (a827da6).
⚠️ Report is 65 commits behind head on master.
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Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #1061      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   92.45%   93.29%   +0.83%     
==========================================
  Files          27       27              
  Lines        1988     2087      +99     
  Branches      254      267      +13     
==========================================
+ Hits         1838     1947     +109     
+ Misses         99       90       -9     
+ Partials       51       50       -1     

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[pylaterreur]

@kevin1024 The red build (3.12, tests-niquests) job here is the flaky test_post_chunked_binary (BrokenPipeError), not this PR: the local httpbin server rejects chunked uploads and closes the connection mid-request. kevin1024/pytest-httpbin#101 fixes that on the server side. The newer head has a fresh run.

[kevin1024]

Thanks @pylaterreur! Dropping a Python version means a major version bump for us, so I'm holding this for 9.0.0 along with the other breaking changes (#925, #1004). 8.5.0 goes out first with the current fixes and 3.14/3.15 support. Agree on keeping RecordMode as (str, Enum).