Short answer: yes. In Prefect 3.x you can set a global default so you don’t have to pass

cache_policy=NO_CACHE

on every task. Options: - Per-profile / environment (recommended) - Default all tasks to no-cache unless explicitly overridden:

prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true

or set the env var:

export PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true

- Hard-disable caching everywhere (ignore any task’s cache policy):

prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

or

export PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

- Code-level convenience (project-local) - Create a wrapper so you don’t repeat the argument:

from functools import partial
    from prefect import task
    from prefect.cache_policies import NO_CACHE

    nocache_task = partial(task, cache_policy=NO_CACHE)

    @nocache_task
    def some_task():
        do_something

Notes: -

PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true

sets the default to

NO_CACHE

for tasks that don’t specify a policy; any task that explicitly sets a

cache_policy

will still use that. -

PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

is stronger: it turns off all cache reads/writes regardless of any task’s settings. If you can share whether you want this applied globally across your whole environment or just within a single project/run, I can tailor the setup steps further.

Great—here are concise examples for both ways. Assumes Prefect 3.x. 1) Global (profile/environment) examples - Default tasks to NO_CACHE (unless a task explicitly sets a cache policy) - Persist in the active Prefect profile:

prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true

- Or set via environment variable (for a single shell/session):

export PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true     # bash/zsh
    # PowerShell: $env:PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE = 'true'

- For just one run:

PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true python my_flow.py

- Hard-disable caching everywhere (ignore any task’s cache policy) - Persist in the active Prefect profile:

prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

- Or set via environment variable:

export PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true      # bash/zsh
    # PowerShell: $env:PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING = 'true'

- For just one run:

PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true python my_flow.py

2) Project-local code wrapper (don’t repeat cache_policy) - Create a local decorator you can reuse:

from functools import partial
  from prefect import task, flow
  from prefect.cache_policies import NO_CACHE, DEFAULT

  # Project-local decorator that sets NO_CACHE by default
  nocache_task = partial(task, cache_policy=NO_CACHE)

  @nocache_task
  def compute_a(x: int) -> int:
      return x + 1

  # You can still override per-task when needed
  @task(cache_policy=DEFAULT)
  def compute_b(x: int) -> int:
      return x * 2

  @flow
  def my_flow():
      a = compute_a(1)
      b = compute_b(a)
      return b

  if __name__ == "__main__":
      my_flow()

Notes: -

PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true

sets the default to NO_CACHE for tasks that don’t specify a

cache_policy

. -

PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

is stronger and turns off all caching reads/writes regardless of individual task settings. If you want this applied only in CI or only for a specific deployment, I can share examples tailored to those environments too.

Perfect—here are CI-friendly examples for both approaches. Note: these settings affect the environment where flows RUN. If your CI only creates deployments and your flows run later on workers, be sure to set the env vars in the worker runtime (container, VM, Helm values, etc.), not just in CI. A) Default all tasks to NO_CACHE (unless a task explicitly sets a cache policy) GitHub Actions (job-level env for a single run/deploy)

name: Deploy Prefect flows

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      PREFECT_API_URL: ${{ secrets.PREFECT_API_URL }}
      PREFECT_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PREFECT_API_KEY }}
      PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE: "true"   # key line
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.11"
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: prefect config validate
      - run: prefect deploy ./flows/my_flow.py:my_flow -n my-deployment

GitLab CI (job-level env)

deploy:
  image: python:3.11
  variables:
    PREFECT_API_URL: $PREFECT_API_URL
    PREFECT_API_KEY: $PREFECT_API_KEY
    PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE: "true"   # key line
  script:
    - pip install -r requirements.txt
    - prefect config validate
    - prefect deploy ./flows/my_flow.py:my_flow -n my-deployment

Dockerfile for your runtime image (ensures flows always run with NO_CACHE)

FROM python:3.11-slim
ENV PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true
# ...install deps, copy code, etc.

Kubernetes worker (Helm values or Pod env for your worker container)

# values.yaml snippet for a worker
env:
  - name: PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE
    value: "true"

B) Hard-disable caching everywhere (ignore any task’s cache policy) GitHub Actions

env:
  PREFECT_API_URL: ${{ secrets.PREFECT_API_URL }}
  PREFECT_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PREFECT_API_KEY }}
  PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING: "true"    # key line

GitLab CI

variables:
  PREFECT_API_URL: $PREFECT_API_URL
  PREFECT_API_KEY: $PREFECT_API_KEY
  PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING: "true"    # key line

Dockerfile

ENV PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

Kubernetes worker

env:
  - name: PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING
    value: "true"

Optional: persist in the CI runner’s Prefect profile (ephemeral, but useful for the CI job itself)

prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DEFAULT_NO_CACHE=true
# or
prefect config set PREFECT_TASKS_DISABLE_CACHING=true

Quick guidance - If your flows are executed by a long-running worker (process, Docker, or Kubernetes): set the env var where the worker runs (Dockerfile, Helm chart, systemd env). - If you run flows directly in CI (e.g., ad hoc

python my_flow.py

or

prefect run deployment

within the pipeline): set the env var in the CI job. - Choose DEFAULT_NO_CACHE if you still want the option for specific tasks to opt-in to caching. Choose DISABLE_CACHING to turn caching off completely.