# GKE Infrastructure Skills Available in the Google Skills Repository

> Explore GKE infrastructure skills in the Google Skills repository. Learn troubleshooting, security, autoscaling, maintenance, monitoring, migration, and deployment techniques for robust GKE management.

- Repository: [Google/skills](https://github.com/google/skills)
- Tags: getting-started
- Published: 2026-09-05

---

**The Google Skills repository maintains eight production-ready GKE infrastructure skills spanning workload troubleshooting, security hardening, autoscaling, cluster maintenance, monitoring, AI migration, enterprise search deployment, and multi-agent security architectures.**

The `google/skills` repository hosts self-contained **SKILL** markdown files that provide operational guidance for managing Google Kubernetes Engine resources. These GKE infrastructure skills reside under `skills/cloud/` and contain executable `gcloud` and `kubectl` commands, architectural patterns, and troubleshooting workflows designed for production-grade cluster management.

## Core Workload Management Skills

### GKE Workload Troubleshooting

Located at [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md), this skill diagnoses common pod failures including **CrashLoopBackOff**, **OOMKilled**, **ImagePullBackOff**, and **Pending** states. It aggregates container logs, Kubernetes events, and Cloud Logging queries to identify root causes.

```bash

# List failing pods in the current namespace

kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Failed

# Retrieve recent logs from a specific container

kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name> --tail=100

# Query Cloud Logging for GKE events

gcloud logging read 'resource.type="k8s_container"' --limit=50 --format="json"

```

### GKE Workload Security

The [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-security/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-security/SKILL.md) file implements defense-in-depth strategies including **Workload Identity**, **GKE Sandbox** (gVisor), **Shielded Nodes**, **Network Policies**, and **Pod Security Standards**.

Enable Workload Identity on existing clusters:

```bash
gcloud container clusters update $CLUSTER \
  --workload-pool="${PROJECT}.svc.id.goog"

```

Apply restricted Pod Security Standards:

```bash
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: policy/v1beta1
kind: PodSecurityPolicy
metadata:
  name: restricted
spec:
  privileged: false
  seLinux:
    rule: RunAsAny
  runAsUser:
    rule: MustRunAsNonRoot
  supplementalGroups:
    rule: MustRunAs
  fsGroup:
    rule: MustRunAs
  volumes:
  - "configMap"
  - "secret"
  - "emptyDir"
EOF

```

### GKE Workload Scaling

Found in [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-scaling/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-scaling/SKILL.md), this skill configures **Horizontal Pod Autoscaler** (HPA), **Vertical Pod Autoscaler** (VPA), and custom metrics for elastic workloads.

Example HPA configuration targeting 65% CPU utilization:

```yaml
apiVersion: autoscaling/v2
kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler
metadata:
  name: web-hpa
spec:
  scaleTargetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: web
  minReplicas: 2
  maxReplicas: 10
  metrics:
  - type: Resource
    resource:
      name: cpu
      target:
        type: Utilization
        averageUtilization: 65

```

```bash
kubectl apply -f horizontal-pod-autoscaler.yaml

```

## Cluster Lifecycle and Observability

### GKE Upgrades and Maintenance

The [`skills/cloud/gke-upgrades/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-upgrades/SKILL.md) file provides workflows for planning and executing control-plane and node-pool upgrades. It covers release channels, maintenance windows, and rollback procedures for GKE infrastructure skills related to cluster lifecycle.

Enable automatic upgrades via the Regular release channel:

```bash
gcloud container clusters update $CLUSTER --release-channel=regular

```

Perform manual control plane upgrades:

```bash
gcloud container clusters upgrade $CLUSTER \
  --master --cluster-version=1.30.3-gke.1234000

```

### GKE Alert Configuration

Located at [`skills/cloud/gke-alert-configuration/references/gke_configuration_prerequisites.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-alert-configuration/references/gke_configuration_prerequisites.md), this skill establishes **Cloud Monitoring** alerts for CPU saturation, memory pressure, and node-pool health events.

Create infrastructure health alerts:

```bash
gcloud monitoring policies create \
  --policy-from-file=alerts/gke-cpu-saturation.json

```

## Advanced Architecture Skills

### Guided GKE AI Migration

The [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md) skill migrates AI workloads from Cloud Run or Gemini API to self-hosted inference on GKE. It covers cluster discovery, Workload Identity configuration, GPU/TPU provisioning, and Gateway API exposure.

Discover clusters and deploy inference services:

```bash

# List available clusters

gcloud container clusters list

# Check accelerator availability in target zone

gcloud compute accelerator-types list --filter="zones:$ZONE"

# Deploy vLLM inference service

kubectl apply -f assets/vllm-deployment.yaml.tmpl

```

### RAG Enterprise Search on GKE and AlloyDB

Found in [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-rag-enterprise-search-gke-sqldb/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-rag-enterprise-search-gke-sqldb/SKILL.md), this skill deploys **Retrieval-Augmented Generation** stacks using GKE Autopilot clusters with Ray workers, Cloud Storage FUSE, and AlloyDB vector search.

Provision the RAG infrastructure:

```bash

# Create GKE Autopilot cluster

gcloud container clusters create-auto rag-cluster \
  --region=$REGION --project=$PROJECT

# Deploy Ray workers for chunking operations

kubectl apply -f assets/ray-cluster.yaml.tmpl

# Provision AlloyDB instance with private IP

gcloud alloydb instances create rag-db --region=$REGION --private-ip

```

### Multi-Agent Security with GKE Internal Load Balancing

The [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-multi-agent-security/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-multi-agent-security/SKILL.md) skill configures private GKE internal load balancers for MCP tool servers, enabling secure egress in multi-agent architectures.

Configure the internal load balancer:

```bash

# Reserve static internal IP

gcloud compute addresses create gke-ilb-ip \
  --region=$REGION --subnet=$SUBNET --addresses=10.0.1.50

# Deploy internal load balancer service

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: mcp-internal-lb
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  loadBalancerIP: 10.0.1.50
  selector:
    app: mcp-tool
  ports:
  - port: 443
    targetPort: 8443
EOF

```

## Summary

The Google Skills repository provides eight specialized GKE infrastructure skills for comprehensive cluster management:

- **GKE Workload Troubleshooting**: Diagnoses pod failures using logs, events, and Cloud Logging queries at [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md)
- **GKE Workload Security**: Implements Workload Identity, Sandbox, and Pod Security Standards at [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-security/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-security/SKILL.md)
- **GKE Workload Scaling**: Configures HPA, VPA, and custom metrics for elastic capacity at [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-scaling/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-scaling/SKILL.md)
- **GKE Upgrades and Maintenance**: Manages control-plane upgrades and release channels at [`skills/cloud/gke-upgrades/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-upgrades/SKILL.md)
- **GKE Alert Configuration**: Establishes Cloud Monitoring alerts for infrastructure health at [`skills/cloud/gke-alert-configuration/references/gke_configuration_prerequisites.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-alert-configuration/references/gke_configuration_prerequisites.md)
- **Guided GKE AI Migration**: Migrates AI workloads to GKE with GPU/TPU support at [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md)
- **RAG Enterprise Search**: Deploys vector search architectures with Ray and AlloyDB at [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-rag-enterprise-search-gke-sqldb/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-rag-enterprise-search-gke-sqldb/SKILL.md)
- **Multi-Agent Security**: Configures internal load balancers for secure agent communication at [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-multi-agent-security/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-multi-agent-security/SKILL.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What are GKE infrastructure skills in the Google Skills repository?

GKE infrastructure skills are self-contained markdown files stored in `skills/cloud/` that provide executable operational guidance for Google Kubernetes Engine. Each skill contains specific `gcloud` and `kubectl` commands, architectural patterns, and troubleshooting procedures designed for agent consumption or direct operator use.

### How do I troubleshoot CrashLoopBackOff using the GKE infrastructure skills?

According to [`skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/gke-workload-troubleshooting/SKILL.md), first identify failing pods with `kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Failed`, then inspect logs using `kubectl logs <pod-name> --tail=100`, and correlate events with Cloud Logging queries targeting `resource.type="k8s_container"`.

### Which skill handles AI workload migration to GKE?

The **Guided GKE AI Migration** skill at [`skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/skills/cloud/google-cloud-solution-guided-gke-ai-migration/SKILL.md) manages migration from Cloud Run or Gemini API to self-hosted inference, including GPU/TPU node pool configuration and Gateway API exposure for external traffic.

### Where are the GKE skill files located in the repository?

All GKE infrastructure skills reside under the `skills/cloud/` directory in the `google/skills` repository, with each skill stored in its own subdirectory containing a [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) file and optional `references/` folder for supplementary documentation such as version tables and CSI driver guides.