For a self-hosted Prefect server (which it sounds like you're using), here's how to set up the authentication string: 1. Use the

prefect config set

command to set the authentication string:

bash
prefect config set PREFECT_API_AUTH_STRING="your_auth_string_here"

2. You can verify the setting was applied correctly by running:

bash
prefect config view

Important notes: - Make sure you don't have

PREFECT_API_KEY

set in your environment, as this is only for Prefect Cloud and can cause authentication conflicts - The auth string should match what you configured on your Prefect server - If you prefer, you can also set this as an environment variable:

bash
  export PREFECT_API_AUTH_STRING="your_auth_string_here"

After setting the authentication string, you should be able to use the Prefect CLI to interact with your server. You can test the connection by running a simple command like:

bash
prefect work-pool ls

If you get any authentication errors, double-check that: 1. The auth string matches exactly what's configured on your server 2. You don't have any conflicting Prefect Cloud authentication settings 3. Your server URL is correctly configured (

PREFECT_API_URL

) Would you like me to help you troubleshoot if you're still having issues connecting?