@Marvin: My project utilizes Starlink, which occasionally experiences connectivity dropouts. As a result, I'm encountering errors when attempting to run workflows, specifically receiving the message:

ConnectError: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known.

Does Prefect not accommodate intermittent connectivity issues? Does it require a constant internet connection?

Prefect documentation doesn't seem to explicitly mention handling intermittent connectivity. However, the general lack of direct references suggests that Prefect might not be robust to handle such issues natively and requires a constant internet connection, especially for Prefect Cloud services. This aligns with the error message you received (ConnectError: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known), which typically indicates DNS resolution issues due to network instability. For environments with unreliable connectivity, you might want to consider: 1. Local Execution: Run flows locally or close to the data source to mitigate network interruptions. 2. Retry Policies: Implement retry policies in your workflows for transient connectivity issues. 3. Caching/Buffering: Buffer data and states locally and sync with remote endpoints when the connection stabilizes. For further details and potential updates, it's best to refer directly to Prefect documentation.

@Marvin: guide me on the below solution you provided: 3. Caching/Buffering: Buffer data and states locally and sync with remote endpoints when the connection stabilizes.

To implement caching and buffering using Prefect, you can follow these steps: 1. Create a task for local caching: Store task results locally when the internet is down. 2. Check connectivity: Attempt to sync the results with Prefect Cloud or other remote endpoints when the connection is restored. 3. Retry logic: Use built-in retry mechanisms to handle intermittent connectivity issues. Here's a basic example to illustrate these concepts:

python
from prefect import flow, task, Flow
from prefect.engine.state import Failed
import time
import os

# Function to simulate connectivity check
def is_connected():
    # Simulate network check (replace with actual check)
    return os.system("ping -c 1 <http://google.com|google.com>") == 0

# Local cache for temporarily storing results
local_cache = []

@task(retries=3, retry_delay_seconds=5)
def process_data(data: int):
    if not is_connected():
        raise Exception("No internet connection")
    # Process data (placeholder for actual processing logic)
    result = data * 2
    return result

@task
def cache_data_locally(data: int):
    local_cache.append(data)
    return data

@task
def sync_data():
    if is_connected():
        for data in local_cache:
            process_data.submit(data)
        local_cache.clear()

@flow
def my_flow(data: int):
    try:
        result = process_data(data)
    except Failed:
        result = cache_data_locally(data)
    
    sync_data()

# To run the flow
if __name__ == "__main__":
    my_flow(5)

This example includes: - A connectivity check (replace with an actual network check). - A process_data task that doubles the input value, with retry logic. - A cache_data_locally task to store the data in a local list if the connection is down. - A sync_data task to process and clear the local cache when connectivity is restored. Feel free to adapt this to your specific requirements, and refer to the Prefect documentation for more advanced use cases.