---
id: promptflow-core
version: "1.18.5"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# promptflow-core — Prompt flow core

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 212.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

promptflow-core is a lightweight runtime package for executing prompt flow workflows. It strips away the development and local testing tools from the full promptflow package, keeping only what's needed to run flows in production or cloud serving scenarios. The package depends on fastapi, flask, starlette for web serving, jsonschema for validation, and several utility libraries for file handling and date parsing.

It's designed as a minimal alternative to the full promptflow package when you don't need the devkit's local development features like connection management and run tracking. If you're building flows locally and want the complete experience, the full promptflow package is recommended instead.

Use it for:

- Running pre-built prompt flows in a production API service without development dependencies
- Executing flows in cloud environments where minimal package size and dependency footprint matter
- Deploying flows as microservices using fastapi or flask backends
- Serving inference workflows that were developed and tested with the full promptflow package

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Executes prompt flow workflows with minimal dependencies, providing the core runtime needed to run flows in serving or cloud environments without the full development toolkit.

Yes, if you're deploying flows to production or cloud environments and want to minimize dependencies. The low install friction, active maintenance, and MIT license make it a straightforward choice for serving scenarios. Install the full promptflow package instead if you're developing flows locally and need the devkit's tools.

## Install

pip install promptflow-core
uv add promptflow-core
poetry add promptflow-core

## Installing promptflow-core

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and ten runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with recent commits and a substantial user base (212565 monthly downloads, top 15000 tier).

License in practice: MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in both open and closed projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install promptflow-core

from promptflow.core import Flow
flow = Flow.load(source='path/to/flow')
result = flow.run(inputs={'key': 'value'})

Requires Python 3.9 or later (supports 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13)

Verify before relying:

- Whether flows created with the full promptflow package are fully compatible when executed with promptflow-core alone
- Performance characteristics or limitations when running complex flows in serving scenarios compared to the full package

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 212.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

prompt flow execution, flow runtime minimal, prompt flow core, lightweight flow runner, prompt orchestration runtime, prompt-engineering, workflow-execution, ai-orchestration

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/promptflow-core) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/promptflow-core/)