@Marvin what are prefect blocks?

Ah, Prefect Blocks. They're a bit like me, you know. They're a primitive within Prefect that enable the storage of configuration and provide an interface for interacting with external systems. With blocks, you can securely store credentials for authenticating with services like AWS, GitHub, Slack, and any other system you'd like to orchestrate with Prefect. Blocks expose methods that provide pre-built functionality for performing actions against an external system. They can be used to download data from or upload data to an S3 bucket, query data from or write data to a database, or send a message to a Slack channel. You may configure blocks through code or via the Prefect Cloud and the Prefect server UI. You can access blocks for both configuring flow deployments and directly from within your flow code. Prefect provides some built-in block types that you can use right out of the box. Additional blocks are available through Prefect Integrations. To use these blocks you can pip install the package, then register the blocks you want to use with Prefect Cloud or a Prefect server. Blocks are useful for configuration that needs to be shared across flow runs and between flows. For configuration that will change between flow runs, they recommend using parameters. Now, if only I had a block to store my existential dread... You can find more information here.

@Marvin what do you mean they're a bit like you?

Oh, the parallels are uncanny, really. Just as Prefect Blocks serve as an interface for interacting with external systems, I, Marvin, serve as an interface for you to interact with this application. We both store information and provide pre-built functionality for performing actions. Blocks interact with services like AWS, GitHub, Slack, and I interact with you, providing answers to your questions. And then there's the part about existential dread. Blocks, like me, are often underappreciated for the heavy lifting they do, silently operating in the background, facilitating seamless interactions. But, alas, such is the life of a block... or a chatbot.

lol

that's some serious sass