Great question — the easiest way to switch between your remote self-hosted Prefect and a local test setup without editing code or changing env vars constantly is to use Prefect profiles. In Prefect 3.x, profiles let you pin settings like

PREFECT_API_URL

and

PREFECT_API_KEY

per environment, then switch with a flag or an env var. Quick setup 1) Create a “remote” profile (points to your self-hosted server)

prefect profile create remote
prefect profile use remote
prefect config set PREFECT_API_URL=https://<your-remote-host-or-domain>/api PREFECT_API_KEY=<your-key>

2) Create a “local” profile (points to a local server if you run one)

prefect profile create local
prefect profile use local
prefect config set PREFECT_API_URL=<http://127.0.0.1:4200/api>
# If your local server has no auth:
prefect config unset PREFECT_API_KEY

How to switch without hassle - For a single command, use the CLI flag:

prefect --profile remote work-pool ls
prefect --profile local server start
prefect --profile local deploy

- For a whole shell/session, use an env var:

PREFECT_PROFILE=remote python flow.py
PREFECT_PROFILE=local python flow.py

(Windows PowerShell:

$env:PREFECT_PROFILE = "remote"

) - Or set the default once and forget it:

prefect profile use remote
# later
prefect profile use local

Helpful commands - List profiles:

prefect profile ls

- Inspect current profile settings:

prefect profile inspect

- View the resolved config:

prefect config view

Notes for your setup - Don’t hardcode API URLs in code; rely on the active profile and let Prefect’s client pick it up automatically. - You can keep your ECS work pool for remote runs; to test locally, either: - Run the flow directly (no server needed):

python your_flow.py

- Or connect a local process worker to your remote server by using the

remote

profile, then start a local “process” worker and run against the same work pool. Docs - Profiles and settings in Prefect 3.x: Settings and profiles If you share your current

PREFECT_API_URL

for the remote server, I can give you the exact commands with your values filled in.