Prefect
Prefect is an open-source workflow orchestration platform designed for building, scheduling, and monitoring data pipelines and workflows. It provides a Python-based framework that enables developers to define complex workflows as code, with features for handling dependencies, retries, and error management. The platform includes a cloud-hosted service (Prefect Cloud) and a self-hosted option (Prefect Server) for managing and visualizing workflow execution.
Developers should learn Prefect when they need to automate and orchestrate data-intensive workflows, such as ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, machine learning pipelines, or batch data processing tasks. It is particularly useful in scenarios requiring robust error handling, dynamic scheduling, and real-time monitoring, as it simplifies the management of complex dependencies and ensures reliable execution in production environments. Prefect's Python-native approach makes it accessible for data engineers and scientists familiar with Python ecosystems.