Based on the research and similar issues reported, I can identify a few potential issues and solutions: 1. Authentication String Format: - The format you're using (

my-user:****

) appears correct, but make sure the password portion matches exactly what you configured on your Prefect server side with

PREFECT_SERVER_API_AUTH_STRING

. - Double-check there are no whitespace or special characters that might be causing issues. 2. Environment Variable Name: - There seems to be a potential issue with your environment variable name. Instead of

PREFECT_API_AUTH_STRING

, you should be using

PREFECT_API_KEY

for client authentication in Prefect 3.x. - Try changing your Kubernetes deployment to use:

yaml
     - name: PREFECT_API_KEY
       value: my-user:****

3. URL Configuration: - Ensure your

PREFECT_API_URL

doesn't have any trailing slashes - Make sure the URL is accessible from within the Kubernetes cluster (you might want to use the internal Kubernetes service name if the server is in the same cluster) 4. Kubernetes Network Policies: - Since you mentioned you can see the K8s job being created, verify that there are no network policies blocking the communication between your worker pods and the Prefect server - You can test this by trying to curl the API endpoint from within a pod in the same namespace To troubleshoot: 1. First, verify the connection from within a pod:

bash
   kubectl exec -it <your-pod-name> -- curl -v <your-prefect-api-url>/health

2. Check the logs of your Prefect server to see if there are any additional error messages:

bash
   kubectl logs <prefect-server-pod-name>

3. Verify that the authentication credentials are being properly injected into the pod:

bash
   kubectl exec -it <your-pod-name> -- env | grep PREFECT

The most likely issue is the environment variable name (

PREFECT_API_AUTH_STRING

vs

PREFECT_API_KEY

). Make this change first and see if it resolves the issue. If not, we can investigate further based on the results of the troubleshooting steps above.

Based on the research, here's how to properly set up the PREFECT_API_KEY for your Kubernetes worker: 1. First, create a Kubernetes Secret containing your API key:

bash
kubectl create secret generic prefect-api-key \
  --namespace=your-namespace \
  --from-literal=key=your-user:your-password

2. In your Helm values.yaml, reference the secret. There are two places where you might need to set this: a. For the Worker itself (this ensures the worker can communicate with Prefect):

yaml
   worker:
     env:
       - name: PREFECT_API_KEY
         valueFrom:
           secretKeyRef:
             name: prefect-api-key
             key: key

b. In the job template (this ensures the flow runs can communicate with Prefect):

yaml
   worker:
     config:
       kubernetes:
         job_template:
           spec:
             template:
               spec:
                 containers:
                   - name: flow
                     env:
                       - name: PREFECT_API_KEY
                         valueFrom:
                           secretKeyRef:
                             name: prefect-api-key
                             key: key

3. Apply the configuration:

bash
helm upgrade --install prefect-worker prefect/prefect-worker -f values.yaml

Important Notes: - Make sure to replace

your-namespace

with your actual Kubernetes namespace - The secret name (

prefect-api-key

) and key (

key

) can be customized, just ensure they match between your secret creation and the helm values - If you're using a self-hosted Prefect server, make sure

PREFECT_API_URL

is also correctly set in both places - Never commit the actual API key value to version control; always use Kubernetes secrets To verify the configuration: 1. Check if the secret was created:

bash
kubectl get secret prefect-api-key -n your-namespace

2. Verify the worker pod has the environment variables:

bash
kubectl exec -it <worker-pod-name> -n your-namespace -- env | grep PREFECT

If you're still seeing authentication errors after setting this up, we can troubleshoot further by: 1. Checking the worker logs 2. Verifying the secret is mounted correctly 3. Ensuring the API key value is correct 4. Confirming network connectivity to your Prefect server Would you like me to help you verify any of these aspects?