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GKE Alert Configuration

Write and validate Terraform alert policies for GKE clusters using PromQL and Managed Prometheus.

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Repository
google/skills
Stars
21,782
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
6 files

What it does

When installed, the agent follows guidance for building Terraform alerting policies that watch Google Kubernetes Engine clusters and workloads, covering latency, traffic, error rates, memory saturation and cluster health such as CrashLoopBackOff and Node NotReady. It favours low-noise, cost-aware alerts built on native GKE metrics, and it refuses to set up alerts for standalone Compute Engine VMs or Cloud Run services, redirecting those requests instead. Before editing Terraform files on disk, it drafts a change plan and runs a bundled Python script that lints PromQL and checks for duplicate alert targets.

Great for

  • DevOps or SRE engineers who manage GKE clusters with Terraform and Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus
  • Platform teams who want consistent, low-noise alerting policies across GKE workloads
  • Engineers reviewing or validating existing PromQL-based alert policies before deployment

Skip it if

  • Standalone Compute Engine VMs or Cloud Run services without GKE, which the skill explicitly declines to cover (use standard Cloud Monitoring metrics instead)
  • Teams not using Terraform or Managed Service for Prometheus, since the workflow assumes both
  • Alerts that depend on kube-state-metrics without budget approval, because those metrics add billable ingestion costs and the skill requires permission first

Try asking

  • “Write Terraform alerting policies for GKE service p99 latency and 5xx error-rate SLO burn-rate alerts”
  • “Validate my changes.json plan and PromQL queries before I merge the alert policy changes”
  • “Add a memory saturation alert for my GKE workloads using cAdvisor metrics instead of kube-state-metrics”
  • “Set up CrashLoopBackOff and Node NotReady alerts for my GKE cluster in Terraform”
Step-by-step guide: how to use GKE Alert ConfigurationInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 6 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    gke-alert-configuration.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip gke-alert-configuration.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip gke-alert-configuration.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Describe your cluster and the service you want to monitor so the agent can pick Tier 1 native metrics and avoid kube-state-metrics costs.
  • Review the change plan (changes.json) and the validator output before allowing any files to be edited on disk.
  • If you need kube-state-metrics alerts, approve the cost explicitly and ask for a metricRelabeling allowlist to limit ingestion.

What's inside

  • references/attribution.md
  • references/gke_configuration_prerequisites.md
  • references/metrics_and_alerts_catalog.md
  • references/promql_queries.md
  • scripts/validate_config.py
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from google/skills under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.