---
title: "Prefect"
description: "Connect Prefect so OpenSRE can inspect flow runs, workers, and deployments during investigations"
---

OpenSRE queries Prefect to retrieve recent flow runs, their logs, worker health, and deployment status — helping diagnose pipeline failures and identify stalled or crashed orchestration jobs.

## Prerequisites

- Prefect Cloud account or self-hosted Prefect Server
- API key (Prefect Cloud) or accessible API URL (self-hosted)

## Setup

### Option 1: Interactive CLI

```bash
opensre integrations setup
```

Select **Prefect** when prompted and provide your API URL and API key.

### Option 2: Persistent store

Add to `~/.opensre/integrations.json`:

```json
{
  "version": 1,
  "integrations": [
    {
      "id": "prefect-prod",
      "service": "prefect",
      "status": "active",
      "credentials": {
        "api_url": "https://api.prefect.cloud/api",
        "api_key": "your-prefect-api-key",
        "account_id": "your-account-id",
        "workspace_id": "your-workspace-id"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

| Field | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `api_url` | `https://api.prefect.cloud/api` | Prefect API URL (override for self-hosted) |
| `api_key` | — | Prefect Cloud API key |
| `account_id` | — | Prefect Cloud account ID |
| `workspace_id` | — | Prefect Cloud workspace ID |

## Prefect Cloud setup

1. In Prefect Cloud, go to your **profile icon** → **API Keys**
2. Click **Create API Key**
3. Copy the key, account ID, and workspace ID from the URL: `https://app.prefect.cloud/account/<account-id>/workspace/<workspace-id>/`

## Self-hosted Prefect Server

For self-hosted Prefect Server, set `api_url` to your server's API endpoint (no API key required if unauthenticated):

```json
{
  "api_url": "http://prefect-server:4200/api",
  "api_key": ""
}
```

## Verify

```bash
opensre integrations verify prefect
```

Expected output on success (self-hosted, `api_url` set):

```
Service: prefect
Status:  passed
Detail:  Configured for Prefect at http://prefect-server:4200/api.
```

For Prefect Cloud (only `api_key` set, no `api_url`):

```
Service: prefect
Status:  passed
Detail:  Configured for Prefect at cloud.
```

This is a configuration-presence check (`api_url` or `api_key` is set) rather than a live API call.

## Investigation tools

When OpenSRE investigates a Prefect-related alert, three diagnostic tools are available:

- **Flow runs** — lists recent flow runs filtered by state (FAILED, CRASHED, etc.)
- **Flow run logs** — retrieves log output for a specific flow run
- **Workers** — checks worker health and heartbeat status across work pools

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Fix |
| --- | --- |
| **401 Unauthorized** | Check your API key and account/workspace IDs |
| **Connection refused** | Verify `api_url` is reachable — check firewall rules for self-hosted |
| **No flow runs returned** | Flow runs may have been purged — check retention settings |

## Security best practices

- Use a **service account API key** rather than a personal key.
- For self-hosted, restrict network access to the Prefect API to trusted IPs.
- Store credentials in `~/.opensre/integrations.json`, not in source code.