Install Prefect

Prefect is published as a Python package, which requires Python 3.10 or newer. We recommend installing Prefect in a Python virtual environment. To install Prefect, run:

pip install -U prefect

# add prefect to an existing virtual environment
uv pip install prefect

# add prefect to your pyproject.toml
uv add prefect

To confirm that Prefect was installed successfully, run:

prefect version

uv run prefect version

You should see output similar to:

Version:              3.4.24
API version:          0.8.4
Python version:       3.12.8
Git commit:           2428894e
Built:                Mon, Oct 13, 2025 07:16 PM
OS/Arch:              darwin/arm64
Profile:              local
Server type:          server
Pydantic version:     2.11.7
Server:
  Database:           sqlite
  SQLite version:     3.47.1

If you self-host a Prefect server, keep your client version compatible with the server (generally, client version less than or equal to server version). Prefect Cloud is compatible with all client versions. See Versioning and compatibility for the rules.

More commands for power users

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 add prefect

add prefect to a project:

uv add prefect

run prefect server in an ephemeral python environment with uvx:

uvx prefect server start

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

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.

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

Prefect Cloud is compatible with all client versions. If you self-host a Prefect server, keep your client version compatible with the server (generally, client version less than or equal to server version). See Versioning and compatibility for the rules.

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.

​If you use uv

​If you use docker

​Windows installation

​Minimal Prefect installation

​Next steps

If you use `uv`

If you use `docker`

Windows installation

Minimal Prefect installation

Next steps