Gke Productionize

GKE Productionize Skill

This skill acts as a high-level orchestrator for preparing a GKE cluster and its

workloads for production readiness.

> [!IMPORTANT] This is a meta-skill or orchestrator skill. You are

> expected to invoke and run many other specialized skills listed in this

> document as part of the overall productionization process. Do not attempt to

> implement all production readiness features directly within this skill;

> instead, use this skill to assess the environment and then delegate to the

> specific skills for each domain.

Scope

This skill is adaptable to:

• A single application (already on Kubernetes or not).
• A set of applications.
• A target cluster.

Workflow

1. Discovery Phase

Before making recommendations, discover the current state of the environment.

Cluster Discovery

Run these commands to understand the cluster setup:

• Check cluster details: `gcloud container clusters describe {cluster_name}

--location {location} --project {project}`

• Check for Autopilot vs Standard: Look for autopilot: true in the describe

output.

• Check release channel: Look for releaseChannel.

Workload Discovery

If a specific application is targeted, discover its configuration:

• Get deployment/statefulset details: `kubectl get deployment {app_name} -n

{namespace} -o yaml`

• Check for dedicated namespace and labels: `kubectl get namespace {namespace}

-o yaml` (Look for Pod Security Standards labels).

• Check for dedicated service account usage: `kubectl get pods -n {namespace}

-o

custom-columns="NAME:.metadata.name,SERVICE_ACCOUNT:.spec.serviceAccountName"`

• Check for resource requests and limits.
• Check for liveness, readiness, and startup probes.
• Check for HPA: kubectl get hpa -n {namespace}
• Check for PDB: kubectl get pdb -n {namespace}
• Check for NetworkPolicies: kubectl get networkpolicy -n {namespace}

2. Production Readiness Assessment

**Before implementation, you MUST run the skills for each relevant specialized

area listed below and incorporate its guidance into your assessment and plan.

Failure to do so will result in a non-compliant production configuration.**

A. App Onboarding (Pre-Kubernetes)

If the application is not yet running on GKE, you MUST run the

gke-app-onboarding skill for planning containerization, image building, and

basic deployment.

B. Scalability & Resource Management

Ensure workloads have appropriate resources and autoscaling.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-workload-scaling skill for configuring

HPA, VPA, and resource limits.

C. Observability

Ensure adequate logging and monitoring are in place.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-observability skill for setting up Cloud

Logging, Monitoring, and Managed Prometheus.

D. Reliability

Ensure high availability and graceful degradation.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-reliability skill for configuring

regional clusters, PDBs, and health probes.

E. Security

Harden the cluster and workloads.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-platform-security and

gke-workload-security skills for Workload Identity, Network Policies, and

Shielded Nodes.

• Namespace Isolation: Ensure workloads run in dedicated namespaces with

Pod Security Standards (PSS) enforced via labels.

• Least Privilege: Ensure workloads use dedicated ServiceAccounts instead

of the default ServiceAccount.

F. Backup & Disaster Recovery

Ensure stateful data is protected.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-backup-dr skill for configuring Backup

for GKE and restore procedures.

G. Edge Security & Ingress

Secure external access.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-service-networking skill for Gateway API,

Ingress, and Cloud Armor.

H. Cost Optimization

Ensure efficient use of resources.

• Action: You MUST run the gke-cost-optimization skill for strategies on

rightsizing, quotas, and Spot VMs.

3. Production Readiness Scoring

After the assessment, provide a summary report with a RAG (Red, Amber, Green)

status for each area and an overall readiness score. This helps prioritize

remediation efforts.

Adaptability Guidelines

• Single App: Focus on Health Probes, HPA, Resource Limits, PDB, and

Workload Identity for that specific app.

• Cluster Wide: Focus on Cluster Autoscaler, Multi-zonal setup, Release

Channels, Maintenance Windows, and default Network Policies.

• Proactive Execution: Proactively execute relevant skills (e.g.,

observability, security, scaling, reliability) to assess and propose

improvements, seeking user confirmation before applying state-changing

implementations.