managing-prefect-deep

name	managing-prefect-deep
description	Use when working with Prefect Deep — prefect deep workflow orchestration management covering flow inventory, flow run monitoring, deployment health, work pool status, block configuration, automation rules, and agent/worker health checks. Use when investigating flow run failures, analyzing task concurrency, monitoring infrastructure health, or auditing Prefect configurations.
connection_type	prefect
preload	false

Prefect Deep Management Skill

Manage and monitor Prefect flow orchestration, deployments, work pools, and infrastructure.

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always list flows and work pools before querying specific flow runs.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

PREFECT_API="${PREFECT_API_URL:-https://api.prefect.cloud/api}"

prefect_api() {
    curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PREFECT_API_KEY" \
         -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
         "${PREFECT_API}/accounts/${PREFECT_ACCOUNT_ID}/workspaces/${PREFECT_WORKSPACE_ID}/${1}" \
         ${2:+-d "$2"}
}

echo "=== Prefect Workspace ==="
prefect_api "" | jq '{workspace: .name, handle: .handle}'

echo ""
echo "=== Flows ==="
prefect_api "flows/filter" '{"limit": 30}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.id)\t\(.name)\t\(.created)"
' | column -t | head -30

echo ""
echo "=== Work Pools ==="
prefect_api "work_pools/filter" '{}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.type)\t\(.status // "unknown")\t\(.is_paused)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Deployments ==="
prefect_api "deployments/filter" '{"limit": 30}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.flow_id)\t\(.is_schedule_active)\t\(.work_pool_name // "default")"
' | column -t | head -20

Phase 2: Analysis

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Failed Flow Runs (last 24h) ==="
YESTERDAY=$(date -u -d '24 hours ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -v-24H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
prefect_api "flow_runs/filter" "{\"flow_runs\":{\"state\":{\"type\":{\"any_\":[\"FAILED\",\"CRASHED\"]}},\"start_time\":{\"after_\":\"${YESTERDAY}\"}},\"limit\":20}" | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.state_type)\t\(.total_task_run_count) tasks\t\(.start_time)"
' | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Work Pool Health ==="
prefect_api "work_pools/filter" '{}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.type)\tpaused=\(.is_paused)\tlast_polled=\(.last_polled // "never")"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Late Flow Runs ==="
prefect_api "flow_runs/filter" '{"flow_runs":{"state":{"type":{"any_":["LATE"]}}}, "limit":10}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.state_type)\t\(.expected_start_time)\tDeployment: \(.deployment_id)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Blocks ==="
prefect_api "block_documents/filter" '{"limit": 20}' | jq -r '
    .[] |
    "\(.name)\t\(.block_type.slug)\t\(.is_anonymous)"
' | column -t | head -15

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
• Use state type filters to focus on problem runs
• Never dump full flow run logs -- extract state messages and error summaries

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Prefect Deep Report
════════════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Work pool polling: Workers must actively poll work pools -- stale last_polled indicates dead workers
• Late runs: LATE state means scheduled run was not picked up -- check worker availability
• Concurrency limits: Global and tag-based concurrency limits can cause runs to queue
• Block secrets: Block documents may contain credentials -- never dump full block data
• Infrastructure mismatches: Deployment infrastructure type must match work pool type
• Result persistence: Without result persistence configured, task results are lost on failure
• Subflows: Parent flow failures can orphan child flow runs -- check nested runs
• Automations: Automation rules can pause deployments or cancel runs -- review active automations