Short answer: there isn’t a built-in “terminal state” condition in Automations. Event triggers match on event topics, and there’s no alias like terminal you can use. Your options: - Enumerate the terminal flow-run events explicitly. The canonical terminal events are: -

prefect.flow-run.Completed

-

prefect.flow-run.Failed

-

prefect.flow-run.Crashed

-

prefect.flow-run.Cancelled

- Keep (optional) name variants if you care about them specifically: -

prefect.flow-run.TimedOut

(a Failed-type state with a custom name) -

prefect.flow-run.Cached

(a Completed-type state with a custom name) So your list should at least include

Cancelled

, which is missing right now:

"expect": [
  "prefect.flow-run.Completed",
  "prefect.flow-run.Failed",
  "prefect.flow-run.Crashed",
  "prefect.flow-run.Cancelled",
  "prefect.flow-run.TimedOut",   // optional, name variant
  "prefect.flow-run.Cached"      // optional, name variant
]

- If you’re okay with matching any flow-run state (not just terminal), you can use a wildcard:

"expect": ["prefect.flow-run.*"]

Note: this will also match non-terminal events like

Running

,

Scheduled

, etc. There isn’t currently a shorter pattern that safely matches only terminal events without enumerating them.

Yes. In Prefect 3.x you can (and generally should) work with state types instead of names. - Programmatic checks - Every

State

has a

type

(a

StateType

enum) and convenience helpers:

from prefect.client.schemas.objects import StateType
    from prefect.states import Completed

    s = Completed()
    s.type == StateType.COMPLETED  # True
    s.is_completed()               # True (recommended)

- Terminal checks:

from prefect.client.schemas.objects import TERMINAL_STATES
    s.type in TERMINAL_STATES      # or s.is_final()

- Filtering runs by state type

from prefect import get_client
  from prefect.client.schemas.objects import StateType
  from prefect.client.schemas.filters import (
      FlowRunFilter, FlowRunFilterState, FlowRunFilterStateType
  )

  async with get_client() as client:
      runs = await client.read_flow_runs(
          flow_run_filter=FlowRunFilter(
              state=FlowRunFilterState(
                  type=FlowRunFilterStateType(any_=[StateType.COMPLETED, StateType.FAILED])
              )
          )
      )

- Automations - Actions that change run state accept

StateType

(e.g., marking “zombie” flows as

CRASHED

). If you’re targeting automations specifically, I can share a minimal example for your setup. References - StateType enum (API reference) - FlowRunFilterStateType (API reference) - API client guide - Detect zombie flows (automation example) If you had a specific place in mind (filters, automations, custom logic), tell me and I’ll tailor the snippet.

Great question. In automations, the

trigger.expect

field matches on event names (strings), not state types. - What to put in

expect

- Use event names like

prefect.flow-run.Completed

,

prefect.flow-run.Failed

, etc. - You can use trailing wildcards, e.g.

prefect.flow-run.*

- Do not use

StateType

enums (e.g.,

StateType.COMPLETED

) or bare type strings like

COMPLETED

- Naming pattern - Flow runs:

prefect.flow-run.{StateName}

- Task runs:

prefect.task-run.{StateName}

- StateName is capitalized (e.g.,

Completed

,

Failed

,

Cancelled

,

Crashed

,

Running

,

Scheduled

,

Pending

,

Paused

,

Suspended

,

Late

,

Cancelling

) - Examples

# React to any flow-run state change
  expect:
    - prefect.flow-run.*

  # React only to failures and crashes
  expect:
    - prefect.flow-run.Failed
    - prefect.flow-run.Crashed

  # React to terminal outcomes
  expect:
    - prefect.flow-run.Completed
    - prefect.flow-run.Failed
    - prefect.flow-run.Cancelled
    - prefect.flow-run.Crashed

  # For task runs instead of flow runs
  expect:
    - prefect.task-run.Failed

If you share the exact behavior you’re targeting, I can suggest the minimal

expect

patterns for it. References - Automations concepts - Creating automations - EventTrigger (API reference) - Flow run events (list of event names)