diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 186f92f4eb..b0a5618de2 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Release History
 
 9.6.0
 -----
+*03 December 2024*
 
 * Add support for idwikivoyage (:phab:`T381082`)
 * Add docstrings of :class:`tools.classproperty` methods (:phab:`T380628`)
diff --git a/ROADMAP.rst b/ROADMAP.rst
index a2b2b64d60..756468cfce 100644
--- a/ROADMAP.rst
+++ b/ROADMAP.rst
@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
 Current Release Changes
 =======================
 
+**Improvements**
+
 * (no changes yet)
 
+**Bugfixes**
+
+* (no changes yet)
+
+**Breaking changes and code cleanups**
+
+* Python 3.7 support was dropped (:phab:`T378893`)
+
+
 Current Deprecations
 ====================
 
@@ -35,6 +46,10 @@ Current Deprecations
 * 9.0.0: ``SequenceOutputter.output()`` is deprecated in favour of :attr:`tools.formatter.SequenceOutputter.out`
   property
 * 9.0.0: *nullcontext* context manager and *SimpleQueue* queue of :mod:`backports` are derecated
+
+Pending removal in Pywikibot 11
+-------------------------------
+
 * 8.4.0: *modules_only_mode* parameter of :class:`data.api.ParamInfo`, its *paraminfo_keys* class attribute
   and its preloaded_modules property will be removed
 * 8.4.0: *dropdelay* and *releasepid* attributes of :class:`throttle.Throttle` will be removed
@@ -65,7 +80,6 @@ Current Deprecations
 Pending removal in Pywikibot 10
 -------------------------------
 
-* 9.6.0: Python 3.7 support is deprecated and will be dropped with Pywikibot 10
 * 9.1.0: :func:`version.svn_rev_info` and :func:`version.getversion_svn` will be removed. SVN is no longer supported.
   (:phab:`T362484`)
 * 7.7.0: :mod:`tools.threading` classes should no longer imported from :mod:`tools`
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index ea1163c8c7..228bc7b74b 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ system that has a compatible version of Python installed. To check
 whether you have Python installed and to find its version, just type
 ``python`` at the CMD or shell prompt.
 
-Python 3.7 or higher is currently required to run the bot but Python 3.8 or
-higher is recommended. Python 3.7 support will be dropped with Pywikibot 10 soon.
+Python 3.8 or higher is currently required to run.
 
 Pywikibot and this documentation are licensed under the
 :ref:`MIT license`;
diff --git a/pwb.py b/pwb.py
index 809af165cb..077d9a36d5 100755
--- a/pwb.py
+++ b/pwb.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 .. versionadded:: 8.0
 """
 #
-# (C) Pywikibot team, 2022
+# (C) Pywikibot team, 2022-2024
 #
 # Distributed under the terms of the MIT license.
 #
@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@
 Pywikibot is not available on:
 {version}
 
-This version of Pywikibot only supports Python 3.7+.
+This version of Pywikibot only supports Python 3.8+.
 """
 
 
 def python_is_supported():
     """Check that Python is supported."""
-    return sys.version_info[:3] >= (3, 7)
+    return sys.version_info[:3] >= (3, 8)
 
 
 if not python_is_supported():  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index df9b092db9..4f2613b9af 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ maintainers = [
     {name = "The Pywikibot team", email = "pywikibot@lists.wikimedia.org"},
 ]
 description = "Python MediaWiki Bot Framework"
-requires-python = ">=3.7.0"
+requires-python = ">=3.8.0"
 keywords = [
     "API", "bot", "client", "framework", "mediawiki", "pwb", "pybot", "python",
     "pywiki", "pywikibase", "pywikibot", "pywikipedia", "pywikipediabot",
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@ classifiers=[
     "Programming Language :: Python",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
-    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
@@ -171,7 +170,7 @@ disable = [
 
 
 [tool.isort]
-py_version = 37
+py_version = 38
 add_imports = ["from __future__ import annotations"]
 atomic = true
 ensure_newline_before_comments = true
@@ -183,7 +182,7 @@ use_parentheses = true
 
 
 [tool.mypy]
-python_version = 3.7
+python_version = 3.8
 enable_error_code = [
     "ignore-without-code",
 ]
diff --git a/pywikibot/README.rst b/pywikibot/README.rst
index 4e90b044a5..0de43580c8 100644
--- a/pywikibot/README.rst
+++ b/pywikibot/README.rst
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ are not installed by default on some Linux distributions:
   * python-tkinter (optional, used by some experimental GUI stuff)
 
 
-You need to have at least Python version `3.7 <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_
+You need to have at least Python version `3.8 <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_
 or newer installed on your computer to be able to run any of the code in this
 package. Please refer the manual at mediawiki for further details and
 restrictions.
diff --git a/pywikibot/backports.py b/pywikibot/backports.py
index 901f3156f5..986786b5c3 100644
--- a/pywikibot/backports.py
+++ b/pywikibot/backports.py
@@ -36,9 +36,7 @@
     )
 
 
-if PYTHON_VERSION < (3, 7, 2):
-    from typing import Dict as OrderedDict
-elif PYTHON_VERSION < (3, 9):
+if PYTHON_VERSION < (3, 9):
     from typing import OrderedDict
 else:
     from collections import OrderedDict
diff --git a/pywikibot/userinterfaces/gui.py b/pywikibot/userinterfaces/gui.py
index 64bcbcfaf0..909104426d 100644
--- a/pywikibot/userinterfaces/gui.py
+++ b/pywikibot/userinterfaces/gui.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import pywikibot
-from pywikibot.tools import PYTHON_VERSION
 
 
 # Some Python distributions have tkinter but the underlying _tkinter
@@ -93,28 +92,17 @@ def _initialize_config(theme):
             'width': idleConf.GetOption('main', 'EditorWindow', 'width'),
             'height': idleConf.GetOption('main', 'EditorWindow', 'height'),
         }
-        if PYTHON_VERSION >= (3, 7, 4):  # T241216
-            config['foreground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'normal')['foreground']
-            config['background'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'normal')['background']
-            config['highlightcolor'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'hilite')['foreground']
-            config['highlightbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'hilite')['background']
-            config['insertbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'cursor')['foreground']
-        else:
-            config['foreground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'normal', fgBg='fg')
-            config['background'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'normal', fgBg='bg')
-            config['highlightcolor'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'hilite', fgBg='fg')
-            config['highlightbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'hilite', fgBg='bg')
-            config['insertbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
-                theme, 'cursor', fgBg='fg')
+
+        config['foreground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
+            theme, 'normal')['foreground']
+        config['background'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
+            theme, 'normal')['background']
+        config['highlightcolor'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
+            theme, 'hilite')['foreground']
+        config['highlightbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
+            theme, 'hilite')['background']
+        config['insertbackground'] = idleConf.GetHighlight(
+            theme, 'cursor')['foreground']
         return config
 
     def add_bindings(self) -> None:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 4193d61c53..41d2834736 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 # $ awk -F '[#>=]' '{print $1}' requirements.txt | xargs apt-cache search
 
 # mandatory dependencies, others are optional
-importlib_metadata ; python_version < '3.8'
 mwparserfromhell>=0.5.2
 packaging
 requests>=2.21.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3f3953eafb..f360bf86b6 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@
 # ------- setup install_requires ------- #
 # packages which are mandatory
 dependencies = [
-    'importlib_metadata ; python_version < "3.8"',
     'mwparserfromhell>=0.5.2',
     'packaging',
     'requests>=2.21.0',