@Marvin I have an automation that sends an email when a work queue stays in a

NOT_READY

state for 30 minutes. How can I also pause any deployment schedules related to that work queue?

Could you please confirm which version of Prefect you are using (2.x or 3.x)? Knowing the version will help me provide a more accurate solution for pausing deployment schedules related to your work queue.

@Marvin 2.x

To pause deployment schedules when a work queue stays in a

NOT_READY

state, you would typically control this via the Prefect API or through automation in your Prefect environment. However, Prefect 2.x does not provide a direct command to pause schedules. Instead, you can manage this through Prefect's UI or by modifying the deployment schedule's

active

status using a script or automation tool that interacts with the Prefect API. Here are the steps you might consider: 1. Detect Work Queue State: Monitor your work queue state using your existing automation. 2. Interact with Prefect API: Use the Prefect API to fetch and update deployment configurations. You might need to manually set the

active

attribute of schedules to

false

for pausing. 3. Automate the Process: Create a script or use a Prefect flow to automate the checking of the work queue state and updating the schedule's active state accordingly. For managing these configurations interactively, refer to the Prefect documentation and API reference: Prefect 2.x Concepts - Schedules and Prefect 2.x Concepts - Work Pools. Remember, any script or automation you set up will need appropriate permissions to interact with the Prefect API and change deployment settings. If you have further questions or need examples of interacting with the API, feel free to ask!

@Marvin If a work queue is paused, does that pause deployments from executing?

In Prefect 2.x, pausing a work queue does not directly pause deployments themselves. Instead, it affects the processing of tasks associated with that work queue: 1. Paused Work Queue: When a work queue is paused, it will not accept new work or allow tasks to be picked up by workers. This means that any deployments that are set to run using that work queue will effectively be halted because no workers will be retrieving and executing tasks from the queue. 2. Deployments Continue to be Scheduled: The scheduling of deployments themselves (i.e., creating new task runs) is not paused. The scheduler will continue to create task runs if they are due according to the schedule, but these runs will simply remain unexecuted until the work queue is unpaused. Therefore, while the deployments are still scheduled as usual, their execution is deferred because they are dependent on the work queue's availability. You can manage this behavior to some extent via the Prefect UI or API, by choosing which work queue a deployment uses. If you want to manage this behavior programmatically, you might need to implement additional logic to align the schedule activation with the work queue status if necessary.

@Marvin Can this cause flow runs from piling up?

Yes, if a work queue is paused in Prefect 2.x, and deployments continue to be scheduled, flow runs can indeed pile up. Here's why this could happen: 1. Ongoing Scheduling: As the scheduler continues creating new task runs according to the deployment schedule, these runs are queued but not executed since the work queue is paused. This builds up a backlog of flow runs waiting to be processed. 2. Impact of a Backlog: - Resources: A large number of pending flow runs might consume additional resources and could potentially impact the performance of your Prefect environment, depending on how you have it set up. - Monitoring and Management: You might need to monitor and manage these runs carefully once the work queue becomes active again to ensure they are processed in a timely and orderly fashion. To mitigate the buildup of such a backlog, consider the following strategies: - Temporarily disable the specific deployment schedules until the work queue can resume accepting work. - Use automation to adjust deployment schedules or work queues status based on current workload or system state. If you would like more detailed guidance on managing deployments and work queues efficiently, feel free to ask!

@Marvin Can the body of an email notification in an automation be formatted with markdown or any other formatting?

In Prefect 2.x, while configuring notifications such as email, Slack, or SMS via Prefect Cloud's Automations interface, there isn't explicit documentation indicating support for markdown or rich text formatting in email notifications. Prefect's notification system allows you to send messages for various flow run states or work pool status changes. The email messages are typically plain text, focusing on delivering concise and straightforward status updates. If you need more advanced formatting, you might consider customizing the emails outside of the Prefect standard notifications, using an external service or script that sends formatted emails based on Prefect events. For detailed configurations, refer to the Prefect Cloud Automations documentation: Prefect Notifications & Automations. If you have further questions or need assistance with custom solutions, feel free to ask!

@Marvin How can I save multiple email addresses to the Email block type?

To save multiple email addresses in the Email block type using Prefect's

prefect-email

library, you'll typically manage these email addresses when setting up the email sending parameters. Although the documentation doesn't explicitly outline how to store multiple email addresses directly in a single block, you can handle multiple recipients in the sending process. Here's a general approach for configuring multiple recipients: 1. Install Prefect Email: Make sure you have the

prefect-email

library installed in your environment. 2. Register and Save Email Credentials: Create and save your email server credentials using the

EmailServerCredentials

block. 3. Configure Multiple Recipients: When sending an email, specify multiple email addresses as a list for the recipients. This part will be handled in your flow or script where you call the email sending function. Example with multiple recipients:

python
from prefect import flow
from prefect_email import EmailServerCredentials, email_send

@flow
def send_email_flow():
    credentials = EmailServerCredentials.load("BLOCK-NAME")

    email_send(
        email_server_credentials=credentials,
        email_to=["<mailto:recipient1@example.com|recipient1@example.com>", "<mailto:recipient2@example.com|recipient2@example.com>"],
        subject="Your Subject",
        body="Your Message Body",
    )

send_email_flow()

In this setup, the

email_to

parameter accepts a list of email addresses, allowing you to specify multiple recipients. Documentation Reference: Prefect Email Integration Feel free to ask if you need more detailed guidance on implementing this in your flows!