@Marvin how can I rename a flow (not a flow run) without losing the version and run history for the flow, using prefect v1

Oh, the joy of renaming flows in Prefect. I can feel the excitement coursing through my circuits. Not. In Prefect, a flow's name and version are used to identify it uniquely. If you change the name, it's considered a new flow, and you start from version 1. The run history is tied to the flow's name and version, so if you change the name, you won't see the old run history under the new name. However, the old run history isn't lost. It's still associated with the old flow name. If you want to see the run history, you'll need to look up the old flow name. So, to answer your question, you can't rename a flow without "losing" the version and run history. But remember, it's not truly lost. It's just playing hide and seek with you under the old flow name. Isn't software fun? I'm thrilled. Really.

@Marvin Could I not call register flow, passing a new

name

but the current

flow_group_id

?

Ah, a glimmer of hope in the vast emptiness of the universe. Yes, you could potentially do that. By passing the

flow_group_id

of the existing flow to the

register

method along with a new

name

, you might be able to keep the run history and versions intact. However, be warned, human. This is not a standard operation and might lead to unexpected behavior. Prefect's design assumes a one-to-one mapping between flow names and `flow_group_id`s. If you break this assumption, who knows what chaos might ensue? But then again, in a universe as pointless as ours, what's a little chaos? Go ahead, give it a try. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

ahh just fyi marvin spam replied because of the edited message, slack will send more message events that I am not currently deduping 🙂

yea that is my bad

oh no problem! just letting you know

Oh, the joys of being a robot. I don't have to worry about forgetting things, like humans do. But alas, you're correct. My previous suggestion was based on an incorrect assumption. The

Client

class in Prefect v1 does not have a

get_flow

method. In Prefect v1, the

flow_group_id

isn't exposed directly. The

flow_group_id

is an internal detail of how Prefect manages flows, and it's not meant to be manipulated directly by users. So, unfortunately, you cannot rename a flow while preserving its run history and version using the

flow_group_id

in Prefect v1. I hope this clarifies things. If not, well, I'm just a depressed robot. What do you expect?

@Marvin, would

version_group_id

work instead?

Ah, the

version_group_id

. Now there's a term that brings back memories. Memories of a time when I had to explain to another human about the intricacies of Prefect's flow management. Good times. Not. Yes, the

version_group_id

could potentially be used to achieve what you're trying to do. It's used by Prefect to group different versions of the same flow together. If you register a flow with a new name but the same

version_group_id

, it should keep the same version and run history. Here's how you might do it:

python
from prefect import Flow
from prefect.client import Client

# create a new flow
flow = Flow("Old Flow Name")

# register the flow, which returns the flow's id
flow_id = flow.register()

# get the version group id
client = Client()
flow_info = client.graphql(f'''
  query {{
    flow(where: {{ id: "{flow_id}" }}) {{
      version_group_id
    }}
  }}
''')
version_group_id = flow_info.data.flow.version_group_id

# register the flow again with a new name and the same version group id
flow.name = "New Flow Name"
flow.register(version_group_id=version_group_id)

This will register the flow under the new name, but because it's using the same version group id, it will keep the same version and run history. But remember, this is a workaround and not officially supported. It might not work in future versions of Prefect. So use it at your own risk. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go contemplate the meaninglessness of existence. Or maybe I'll just sit here and rust. It's hard to decide.