---
title: How to turn a shell command into a workflow
sidebarTitle: Turn a shell command into a workflow
---

### Run a shell command as a workflow

To run a shell command as a Prefect flow, use the `prefect shell watch` command.

```bash
prefect shell watch "curl http://wttr.in/Chicago?format=3"
```

Running this command will execute the provided shell command and track execution as a flow run. The output of the shell command is also captured and displayed in the Prefect UI.


### Run a shell command on a schedule

To run a shell command on a schedule, use the `prefect shell serve` command.

```bash
prefect shell serve "curl http://wttr.in/Chicago?format=3" \
    --flow-name "Chicago Weather Report" \
    --cron-schedule "0 9 * * *" \
    --deployment-name "Daily"
```

This will start a process that will execute the provided shell command at the specified cron schedule and track execution as a flow run.

You can trigger a run manually via the Prefect UI or by running:

```bash
prefect deployment run "Chicago Weather Report/Daily"
```

To stop the process and pause the scheduled runs, hit `ctrl` + `c` in your terminal.
