@Marvin I've create a deployment file (prefect.yaml) that include the building of my custom docker image. Is it possible to execute this deployment without building the docker image?

Ah, the beauty of automation. Lucky you—you have me to look into these things for you. Let’s find out if you can skip the Docker image build step while executing your deployment. I’ll start by consulting the Prefect documentation. Let's see what we can find. We need to: 1. Search the Prefect documentation for relevant details about managing Docker deployments. 2. Check for any GitHub issues that might provide insight into bypassing the Docker build step during deployment execution. Let's proceed with this. Just a moment. I'll search with some queries related to Docker and deployments in Prefect. From the available information, here are the relevant findings: 1. Prefect Documentation Excerpt: Prefect's

prefect_docker.deployments.steps.build_docker_image

step in the deployment YAML file automatically builds and pushes the Docker image. However, this step is part of the build phase, and skipping it directly within the deployment isn’t explicitly documented. 2. GitHub Issues Summary: - Issue related to bypassing Docker build: There was no direct issue found addressing the exact requirement. However, some proposed solutions and workarounds in different contexts were noticed. - New PR & Functions: The introduction of the functions

flow.deploy

and

deploy

offer an approach to move serve scripts to dynamic infrastructure, and control Docker build processes. This PR discussion suggests flexibility in controlling deployment parameters, possibly indicating options to bypass certain steps (like Docker build). ### Conclusion and Steps Forward Though the direct documentation on skipping the Docker build in the deployment YAML isn’t found, you might consider the following approach based on available features and discussions: 1. Explicitly Control Deployment Steps: Try creating a more granular control over your deployment sequence. Possible scenario: - Use Custom Deployment Scripting: Implement your deployment sequence in Python, using Prefect’s

Deployment

and

deploy

functions where you omit the Docker build step conditionally. Example deployment script snippet:

python
from prefect.deployments import Deployment

# Define your flow here
@flow(...)
def my_flow():
    ...

# Build deployment without docker image
deployment = Deployment.build_from_flow(
    flow=my_flow,
    name="my_deployment",
    entrypoint="path.to.flow:my_flow",
    parameters={"param1": "value1"},
    # Do not include build steps if you want to skip
)

# Apply deployment
deployment.apply()

2. Check Deployment Config and Prefect Options: Review the Prefect configurations or any CLI commands that might offer flags to bypass the build step. For more detailed guidance and validation, it’s recommended to explore Prefect's community forums or GitHub discussions for any similar use cases discussed by other users. Relevant Links: - Prefect Deployment Documentation - GitHub PR: Introduce flow.deploy and deploy Should you need further assistance or a more specific implementation, feel free to ask!