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Prefect is published as a Python package, which requires Python 3.9 or newer. We recommend installing Prefect in a Python virtual environment. To install Prefect with pip, run: 
pip install -U prefect
To confirm that Prefect was installed successfully, run: 
prefect version
You should see output similar to: 
Version:             3.1.10
API version:         0.8.4
Python version:      3.12.2
Git commit:          d6bdb075
Built:               Thu, Apr 11, 2024 6:58 PM
OS/Arch:             darwin/arm64
Profile:              local
Server type:         ephemeral
Server:
  Database:          sqlite
  SQLite version:    3.45.2

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If you use uv

start an ipython shell with python 3.12 and prefect installed:
uvx --python 3.12 --with prefect ipython
install prefect into a uv virtual environment:
uv venv --python 3.12 && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -U prefect
add prefect to an active project:
uv add prefect
run prefect server in an ephemeral python environment with uvx:
uvx prefect server start

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If you use docker

run prefect server in a container port-forwarded to your local machine’s 4200 port:
docker run -d -p 4200:4200 prefecthq/prefect:3-latest -- prefect server start --host 0.0.0.0

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Windows installation

You can install and run Prefect via Windows PowerShell, the Windows Command Prompt, or conda. After installation, you may need to manually add the Python local packages Scripts folder to your Path environment variable. The Scripts folder path looks something like: 
C:\Users\MyUserNameHere\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.11_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python311\Scripts
Review the pip install output messages for the Scripts folder path on your system.

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Minimal Prefect installation

The prefect-client library is a minimal installation of Prefect designed for interacting with Prefect Cloud or a remote self-hosted Prefect server instance. prefect-client enables a subset of Prefect’s capabilities with a smaller installation size, making it ideal for use in lightweight, resource-constrained, or ephemeral environments. It omits all CLI and server components found in the prefect library. To install the latest release of prefect-client, run: 
pip install -U prefect-client

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Next steps

You also need an API server, either:
  • Prefect Cloud, a managed solution that provides strong scaling, performance, and security, or
  • Self-hosted Prefect server, an API server that you run on your own infrastructure where you are responsible for scaling and any authentication and authorization.
Now that you have Prefect installed, go through the quickstart to try it out. See the full history of Prefect releases on GitHub. See our Contributing docs for instructions on installing Prefect for development.