Based on your requirements, I can suggest a more secure approach that aligns with best practices. Here's how you can modify your setup: 1. Remove GitHub Authentication from Deployment Creation First, you don't need the

GitRepository

block for deployment since you're using a Docker image. Your deployment code can be simplified to:

python
flow.deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",
    parameters={
        "github_repos": [
            "PrefectHQ/prefect",
            "pydantic/pydantic",
            "huggingface/transformers"
        ]
    },
    work_pool_name="my pool",
    push=False,
    build=False
)

2. Handle GitHub Access at Runtime Since you're using ECS Fargate, you have several secure options for handling GitHub authentication at runtime: a. AWS Secrets Manager: - Store your GitHub credentials in AWS Secrets Manager - Use the AWS SDK in your flow code to retrieve the credentials at runtime - Your ECS task role should have permissions to access the specific secret

python
from prefect import flow
import boto3
from git import Repo
import tempfile
import os

@flow
def show_stars(github_repos: list[str]):
    # Get credentials from AWS Secrets Manager
    session = boto3.session.Session()
    client = session.client('secretsmanager')
    secret = client.get_secret_value(SecretId='your-secret-name')
    
    # Use credentials for git operations
    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
        Repo.clone_from(
            '<https://github.com/org/repo.git>',
            temp_dir,
            env={"GIT_ASKPASS": "echo", "GIT_USERNAME": "...", "GIT_PASSWORD": "..."}
        )
        # Your existing code here

b. ECS Task Environment Variables: - Configure the GitHub credentials as environment variables in your ECS task definition - These never touch Prefect Cloud but are available to your container at runtime c. AWS IAM Roles with OIDC: - If your organization uses GitHub's OIDC provider with AWS, you can configure your ECS task role to assume the appropriate permissions 3. Security Considerations: - The credentials never need to be stored in Prefect Cloud - Authentication happens entirely within your AWS infrastructure - Credentials can be rotated without updating the Prefect deployment - Access is limited to the scope of your ECS task role 4. Docker Image Requirements: - Ensure your Docker image includes the necessary dependencies (boto3 for AWS SDK if using Secrets Manager) - Include any Git-related packages you need for repository operations This approach maintains security best practices by: 1. Keeping credentials within your AWS infrastructure 2. Limiting the scope of access to specific ECS tasks 3. Allowing credential rotation without deployment changes 4. Maintaining separation of concerns between deployment configuration and runtime authentication Would you like me to elaborate on any of these approaches or provide more specific implementation details for your use case?

Let me clarify how this works in Prefect 3.x: 1. Code Storage - When you deploy without specifying a source (like GitHub), the flow code is NOT stored in Prefect Cloud - Instead, you need to ensure your flow code is available in your Docker image - The entire Python file (including both Flow and Task code) needs to be in your Docker image - Prefect Cloud only stores metadata about your deployment (like parameters, work pool settings, etc.) 2. Deployment Options You have two main approaches: A. Docker Image Approach (what you should use in your case):

python
flow.deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",  # Your Docker image containing the flow code
    work_pool_name="my pool",
    push=False,
    build=False
)

In this case: - Your flow code must be baked into the Docker image - The entire Python file (flows, tasks, and dependencies) is included in the image - When the flow runs, it uses the code from the Docker image - No code is stored in or pulled from Prefect Cloud B. Remote Source Approach (what you were using before):

python
flow.from_source(
    source="<https://github.com/org/repo.git>",
    entrypoint="path/to/flow.py:flow_name"
).deploy(...)

3. How It Works at Runtime For your ECS Fargate setup using the Docker image approach: 1. Worker starts the container using your specified image 2. The container already has all the code it needs 3. No pull from GitHub or Prefect Cloud is needed for the code 4. The flow runs using the code baked into the image 4. Best Practices for Your Case Since you want to avoid GitHub credentials in Prefect Cloud: 1. Build your Docker image with the flow code included:

dockerfile
FROM prefecthq/prefect:3-python3.9
COPY ./your_flows /opt/prefect/flows
WORKDIR /opt/prefect/flows

2. Deploy specifying just the image:

python
flow.deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",
    parameters={...},
    work_pool_name="my pool",
)

3. If you need to update the flow: - Update your code - Build a new Docker image version - Update the deployment with the new image tag This approach: - Keeps all code in your Docker image - Requires no GitHub credentials in Prefect Cloud - Makes deployments simpler and more secure - Ensures consistent code versions (what's in the image is what runs) The key difference from your previous setup is that instead of pulling code at runtime, your code travels with your Docker image. This is actually a more reliable approach as it ensures the exact code version you tested is what runs in production. Would you like me to elaborate on any part of this or provide more specific details about implementing this approach in your environment?

Yes, you can absolutely stick with the Remote Source approach while handling GitHub authentication at runtime! Here's how you can modify your setup: 1. Deployment Configuration First, modify your deployment to use HTTPS without embedded credentials:

python
flow.from_source(
    source="<https://github.com/org/repo.git>",  # Just the HTTPS URL, no auth
    entrypoint="prefect/workflows/hello_world.py:show_stars"
).deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",
    parameters={
        "github_repos": [
            "PrefectHQ/prefect",
            "pydantic/pydantic",
            "huggingface/transformers"
        ]
    },
    work_pool_name="my pool",
    push=False,
    build=False
)

2. Runtime Authentication Since you're using ECS Fargate, you have several options for handling the GitHub authentication at runtime: A. Using AWS Secrets Manager with Environment Variables:

python
# In your ECS task definition, add these environment variables:
{
    "name": "PREFECT_GITHUB_USERNAME",
    "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:region:account:secret:github-creds:username::"
},
{
    "name": "PREFECT_GITHUB_TOKEN",
    "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:region:account:secret:github-creds:token::"
}

B. Using Git Config in Container Startup: Create a startup script in your Docker image:

bash
#!/bin/bash
# /opt/prefect/startup.sh

# Configure git credentials using AWS Secrets Manager
if [ -n "$AWS_SECRET_NAME" ]; then
    secret=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id $AWS_SECRET_NAME --query SecretString --output text)
    username=$(echo $secret | jq -r .username)
    token=$(echo $secret | jq -r .token)
    
    git config --global credential.helper store
    echo "https://$username:$token@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials
    chmod 600 ~/.git-credentials
fi

# Continue with the original entrypoint
exec "$@"

Update your Dockerfile:

dockerfile
FROM prefecthq/prefect:3-python3.9
COPY startup.sh /opt/prefect/startup.sh
RUN chmod +x /opt/prefect/startup.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/prefect/startup.sh"]
CMD ["prefect", "agent", "start", "-p", "my-pool"]

3. ECS Task Definition Add the necessary permissions to your ECS task role:

json
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:region:account:secret:github-creds-*"
        }
    ]
}

This approach gives you several benefits: - Your flow code can stay in GitHub and be updated independently - No credentials are stored in Prefect Cloud - Authentication happens securely within your AWS infrastructure - Your Docker image remains stable and focused on dependencies - CI/CD process remains simple - just push to GitHub The key differences from your current setup are: 1. Deployment configuration doesn't include GitHub credentials 2. Authentication is handled at runtime via AWS Secrets Manager 3. The base Docker image includes a startup script to handle Git authentication This maintains the simplicity of your CI/CD process while adding security: - Push code changes to GitHub ✅ - No need to rebuild Docker image for flow changes ✅ - Credentials stay within AWS infrastructure ✅ - Runtime authentication handled automatically ✅ Would you like me to provide more details about any of these components or help with implementing a specific part of this solution?

Let me clarify this - I apologize for any confusion in my previous response. After researching, I realize I need to be more precise about how Prefect handles GitHub authentication. The environment variables

PREFECT_GITHUB_USERNAME

and

PREFECT_GITHUB_TOKEN

that I suggested earlier are not actually special Prefect-recognized variables. Instead, for authenticating with GitHub repositories at runtime, Prefect 3.x expects standard Git credentials to be configured in one of these ways: 1. Using Standard Git Environment Variables

bash
GITHUB_TOKEN=your_pat_token
# or
GIT_TOKEN=your_pat_token

2. Using Git Credential Store This needs to be configured in the container that runs the flow (not the worker container). Here's the corrected approach for your ECS setup: 1. In your ECS Task Definition (for the flow container, not the worker):

json
{
    "environment": [
        {
            "name": "GITHUB_TOKEN",
            "valueFrom": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:region:account:secret:github-creds:token::"
        }
    ]
}

2. Deployment Configuration (remains the same):

python
flow.from_source(
    source="<https://github.com/org/repo.git>",
    entrypoint="prefect/workflows/hello_world.py:show_stars"
).deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",
    parameters={
        "github_repos": [
            "PrefectHQ/prefect",
            "pydantic/pydantic",
            "huggingface/transformers"
        ]
    },
    work_pool_name="my pool",
    push=False,
    build=False
)

Important clarifications: - The environment variables need to be set in the container that runs your flow, not the worker container - The worker container is responsible for starting flow runs, but the actual flow code runs in separate containers - Each flow run gets its own container where these environment variables need to be available You have two options for setting this up: 1. Work Pool Infrastructure Setup In your ECS work pool configuration, you can specify these environment variables as part of the infrastructure setup. This ensures every flow run container has access to the GitHub token. 2. Flow-Specific Environment Variables You can specify these environment variables in your deployment configuration:

python
flow.from_source(
    source="<https://github.com/org/repo.git>",
    entrypoint="prefect/workflows/hello_world.py:show_stars"
).deploy(
    name="test-deployment",
    image="blahblah:latest",
    work_pool_name="my pool",
    env={"GITHUB_TOKEN": "${GITHUB_TOKEN}"}  # This will use the value from your infrastructure
)

The key points: - These are standard Git/GitHub environment variables, not Prefect-specific ones - They need to be available in the flow run container, not the worker - The authentication happens when Prefect tries to clone your repository at the start of the flow run - You can configure these at the work pool level or the deployment level Would you like me to: 1. Show you how to configure these environment variables in your ECS work pool settings? 2. Explain more about how Prefect handles repository cloning at runtime? 3. Provide examples of different authentication methods you could use?