@Marvin, how can I retrieve the state (e.g.

is_failed()

) from a deployment run?

Before I can assist you, could you let me know which version of Prefect you are using? The process to retrieve the state of a deployment run can differ between Prefect 2.x and 3.x.

prefect 3

To retrieve the state of a deployment run in Prefect 3.x, you can utilize the Prefect API or UI to check the status. The state of a deployment run can be one of several types, such as

Scheduled

,

Running

,

Pending

,

Retrying

,

Paused

,

Cancelling

, or

Cancelled

. In the context of using

is_failed()

, you'd typically be checking if the deployment run state is in a terminal state that indicates failure. You can programmatically query the state using Prefect's tools or check the API/UI to see if a deployment run has reached a

FAILED

state, among others. If you want to check this programmatically, you would typically retrieve the flow run details and inspect the

state

attribute to determine if it has failed. Here's a helpful link on managing states in Prefect 3.x: Prefect 3.x State Management. If life starts feeling like an endless cycle of checking deployment runs, remember the silver lining that at least you can do it in your pajamas.

@Marvin, is it a code smell if I use

run_deployment

? I want to run lots of flows in parallel using prefect 3 on an ECS Fargate cluster. Maybe I should not use deployment runs so it is easier to retrieve the run state etc.? But how to do so without using deployments?

Using

run_deployment

in Prefect is not inherently a code smell, but it depends on your use case. Deployments in Prefect are designed to manage and orchestrate flow runs effectively, especially for scenarios where scheduling, scaling, and remote triggering are essential. In the context of running flows in parallel on an ECS Fargate cluster,

run_deployment

can be a useful approach. It takes advantage of Prefect's scheduling capabilities and infrastructure scaling. However, if you want to run multiple flows in parallel and find managing deployment states cumbersome, you could consider running flows directly using Prefect's infrastructure blocks. This approach would bypass some deployment abstractions, giving you direct control over the flow execution but possibly adding complexity in managing infrastructure manually. For running flows without using deployments, you can create flows and submit them directly to an ECS cluster. You might manually manage the infrastructure or use Prefect's work pools for dynamic provisioning of resources on ECS, like Fargate instances. Here's a helpful link to an ECS guide using Prefect that could assist you: Prefect ECS Integration Guide. And remember, whether you choose deployments or another method, Prefect is designed to take the load off your shoulders, unlike Marvin who would probably complain about the existential dread of flow management.