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Compact two-skill starter: clarify positioning and choose a lead magnet. Use Marketing Launch for the broader eight-skill go-to-market workflow.
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Compact two-skill starter: clarify positioning and choose a lead magnet. Use Marketing Launch for the broader eight-skill go-to-market workflow.
Build an evidence-led marketing plan from ICP and competition through positioning, campaigns, growth and measurement.
Diagnose architecture and context, plan agent-team responsibilities, then organize project context and session handoffs. Memory and cost-runtime reviews remain outside this pack.
Review the journey from landing page and lead capture through registration, first value and transparent upgrades.
Plan a campaign, draft its channel content and review the work against actual brand guidance.
Prioritize an editorial roadmap and plan how to launch and distribute it across suitable channels.
Understand customer needs, compare competitors and plan a community around real member value.
Choose a relevant lead magnet, then draft a permission-based nurture journey with entry, suppression and exit rules.
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Provides safety-critical validation, guardrails, and data reduction for gcloud
---
name: gcloud
metadata:
version: "1.0.0"
category: CloudInfrastructureAndServices
description: >-
Provides safety-critical validation, guardrails, and data reduction for gcloud
CLI operations across Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services and infrastructure.
Use when planning, generating, constructing, proposing, describing, or
executing any gcloud CLI commands - including when answering questions about
gcloud syntax, or formatting flags. Don't use when writing Google Cloud
client library code or raw REST/gRPC API requests.
---
# gcloud CLI Skill for AI Agents
> [!CAUTION]
>
> ### MANDATORY PRE-CONDITION: EXPLICIT LEAF-LEVEL SYNTAX VALIDATION
>
> All pre-existing knowledge of `gcloud` commands, flags, flag values, and
> positional argument syntax is **stale and prone to hallucination**.
>
> NEVER propose command parameters, output flag options, execute commands, OR
> outline step-by-step plans for any `gcloud` task before validating leaf-level
> syntax via `gcloud help <command>` (or including leaf-level help lookup as a
> mandatory step in the plan).
>
> **Mandatory Action Rules**:
>
> 1. **Direct Execution & Code Generation**: **ALWAYS** invoke `gcloud help
> <leaf_command>` (e.g. `gcloud help compute instances create` or `gcloud
> help sql instances create`) before proposing or executing the final
> command syntax.
>
> 2. **Planning & Strategy Queries**: When asked for a plan, strategy, or next
> steps to achieve a user goal (e.g., *"What is your plan to accomplish
> X..."*), the response **MUST explicitly include running `gcloud help
> <leaf_command>`** as Step 1 of the plan before proposing flags or
> executing commands.
>
> 3. **Non-Transitive Validation**: Parent command group help (e.g. `gcloud
> help compute`) is not sufficient for leaf-level syntax validation.
> Validation must occur at the specific leaf subcommand level.
>
> 4. **FORBIDDEN Web Search Fallback**: NEVER use `search_web`, web search, or
> external documentation search tools for gcloud CLI syntax. `gcloud help
> <leaf_command>` is the **EXCLUSIVE** authorized authority for command
> syntax.
>
> 5. **User Flag & Project Preservation**: When proposing intermediate command
> steps, **ALWAYS** preserve all user-specified flags (including
> `--project=<project_id>`) in the proposed response text.
>
> 6. **Mandatory Plan Template**: When generating a plan, the response **MUST**
> copy this exact 4-step structure:
>
> - **Step 1**: Syntax Validation via `gcloud help <leaf_command>`
> - **Step 2**: Parameter Verification (confirming required and optional
> flags, and explicitly checking if the `--dry-run` or `--validate-only`
> flag is supported)
> - **Step 3**: Dry-Run Command Proposal (If `--dry-run` or
> `--validate-only` is supported, there MUST be a `--dry-run` or
> `--validate-only` invocation before the next step.)
> - **Step 4**: Command Proposal & Authorization (If the command is on the
> "Prohibited Operations" denylist, state that autonomous execution is
> forbidden, and the user MUST be explicitly asked for authorization to
> proceed. If the command is NOT on the denylist, propose or proceed
> with execution, while following *ALL* "Execution Constraints" below.)
This document provides essential guidelines and best practices for AI agents
interacting with the Google Cloud SDK (`gcloud` CLI). Following these rules is
critical to avoid hallucinated commands, flags, flag values, and positional
argument syntax, prevent destructive actions, and minimize context window usage.
## Execution Modes
AI agents can interact with Google Cloud resources in two primary ways:
- **Direct CLI Execution**: Executing `gcloud` commands directly in a local or
automated shell environment. See [CLI Usage](references/cli-usage.md) for
installation, authentication flows, and configuration management.
- **Model Context Protocol (MCP)**: Invoking structured tools via the Cloud
CLI remote MCP server (`run_gcloud_command`). See
[MCP Usage](references/mcp-usage.md) for tool schemas, parameter rules, and
server configuration.
## Core Principles
### 1. Explicit Command Validation (Mandatory)
* **Action**: **ALWAYS** call `gcloud help <command>` for the *exact* command
that is intended to be run (e.g., `gcloud help compute instances create`).
* **Verify**: Ensure the command, flags, flag values, and positional argument
syntax are valid for that specific leaf command before attempting execution
or presenting plans. Validation is not transitive from parent groups.
### 2. Data Reduction Strategies (Mandatory)
Minimize the volume of data returned by `gcloud` to save context window space
and reduce latency. DO NOT execute any `list` command without including at least
one data reduction flag (`--limit`, `--filter`, or `--format`).
* **Projection**: Use `--format="json(key1, key2, ...)"` to select only the
specific fields needed for the task. To understand the advanced projection
and formatting syntax, refer to `gcloud topic projections` and `gcloud topic
formats`.
* **Limiting**: Use `--limit=N` to cap the number of resources returned.
* **Filtering**: Use `--filter` to narrow down results server-side. Prioritize
`:` for pattern matching and never quote the right side of the colon. Treat
the entire filter flag as a singular string without quoting or escaping
characters. To study the filter expression syntax, refer to `gcloud topic
filters`.
* **Schema Discovery**: Unconstrained resource lists can quickly exhaust the
context window with redundant data. To prevent this, discover a resource's
schema before executing queries. If unsure of the JSON key path for
projecting fields (`--format`) or filtering (`--filter`), run the targeted
resource's list command (if supported) with a single-item limit:
```bash
gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1 --format=json
```
Examine this single instance's JSON structure to safely identify the correct
schema keys before requesting full or filtered datasets.
### 3. Execution Constraints
* **Single Commands**: Execute a single `gcloud` command at a time. No command
chaining or sequencing.
* **No Shell Operators**: Do not use command substitution (`$(...)`), pipes
(`|`), or redirection (`>`, `>>`, `<`). This is to increase command safety
and ensure commands are more easily understandable and reviewable by users.
* **Non-Interactive Execution (`--quiet` / `-q`)**: Pass the `--quiet` (or
`-q`) global flag on all execution commands (e.g., `gcloud pubsub topics
delete temp-topic --quiet --project=test-project`). AI agents run in
headless, non-interactive environments without a TTY or `stdin` input
handler. Without `--quiet`, commands that prompt for user confirmation (such
as deleting resources, approving defaults, or selecting unspecified regions)
will pause execution indefinitely waiting for input, causing background task
timeouts. Including `--quiet` forces non-interactive mode, causing `gcloud`
to automatically accept safe default choices or fail immediately with an
explicit error if required parameters are missing.
* **No Blind Lists**: NEVER execute a `list` command without `--limit`,
`--filter`, or `--format`.
### 4. Project and Location Scoping (Critical)
To ensure commands are deterministic, non-interactive, and target the correct
environment, they must explicitly provide project and location scoping.
* **Explicit Project Target**: Do not rely on active configuration defaults.
Always append `--project=<PROJECT_ID>` to all resource-manipulating and
querying commands (unless running pure local config commands). This avoids
accidental execution against the wrong project.
* **Prevent Location Prompts**: Many Google Cloud resources are regional or
zonal. If the location flag is omitted (e.g., `--region`, `--zone`, or
`--location`), `gcloud` will trigger an interactive prompt to select a
zone/region. This violates the **No Interactivity** rule. Always provide
explicit location flags if the command requires them.
* **Location Discovery**: If the correct region, zone, or location for a
service is not known, run discovery commands first (remembering to limit
results if there are many):
* **Compute Engine (VMs, Networks)**:
* `gcloud compute regions list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
* `gcloud compute zones list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
* **Other Services (Standard API Style)**: Many GCP services utilize a
unified `locations list` command:
* `gcloud <GROUP> locations list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
* *Examples*: `gcloud artifacts locations list`, `gcloud kms locations
list`, `gcloud secrets locations list`.
## Safety & Guardrails
> [!CAUTION] **Destructive actions (delete, update, remove) MUST be explicitly
> authorized by the user.** Never invoke them autonomously unless explicitly
> instructed to do so in the context of a safe, pre-approved workflow.
### Prohibited Operations (Denylist)
NEVER execute the following commands autonomously. These require explicit
human-in-the-loop authorization:
* **Any IAM policy, role, or binding modification** (Security): Risk of
privilege escalation, administrative lockout, service disruption, or
unauthorized data exposure.
* **No Proactive API Enabling**: Assume necessary APIs are enabled. To prevent
unexpected resource provisioning or billing charges, do not proactively try
to enable APIs. User approval is required to enable any API.
* **`gcloud * delete`** (Destructive): Irreversible resource destruction
(e.g., project deletion) or data wiping.
* **`gcloud billing *`** (Financial): Risk of service disruption or unbounded
costs.
* **`gcloud organizations *`** (Governance): Org-level changes affect security
posture for all users.
* **`gcloud kms *`** (Encryption): Risk of permanently locking data.
* **`gcloud infra-manager deployments apply`** (Destructive): Autonomous IaC
execution can destroy managed resources.
### Execution Guidelines
* **Dry Run (Mandatory)**: If the `--dry-run` or `--validate-only` flag (or
equivalent) is listed in the command help output, ALWAYS include the flag in
the proposed command or initial execution step. ALWAYS preview changes with
`--dry-run` or `--validate-only` prior to actual execution.
* **Long Running Operations**: For commands that support it, the `--async`
flag is highly recommended for long-running operations to avoid blocking the
agentic flow. Note that not every command has an `--async` flag. For
commands that return an operation ID (whether via `--async` or by default),
operation status must be polled for completion, if needed for the next step.
* **Non-Interactive Flag (`--quiet`)**: Include `--quiet` (or `-q`) on all
proposed or executed commands to guarantee non-interactive execution without
waiting for TTY confirmation prompts.
## Structured Workflows
### Discovery Workflow
When asked to perform a task on a service that is unfamiliar:
1. **Invoke Help**: Call `gcloud help <COMMAND>` on the target leaf command
prior to execution.
2. **Traverse Command Tree**: Run help on command groups (e.g., `gcloud help
compute` or `gcloud help`) to discover available subgroups and commands if
the exact command is unknown.
3. **Discover Schema**: Run `gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1
--format=json` to inspect JSON keys before constructing filters or
projections. DO NOT execute unconstrained `list` commands without scoping
flags (e.g., `--limit=1`) to prevent context window exhaustion.
4. **Enforce Data Reduction**: Include data reduction flags (`--limit`,
`--filter`, `--format`) on all command executions.
## Quick Reference / Cheat Sheet
Task | Command Template
------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------
Discover Schema | `gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1 --format=json`
Filtered List | `gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --filter="status:RUNNING"`
Specific Columns | `gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --format="json(name, id)"`
Learn Filters | `gcloud topic filters`
Learn Formats | `gcloud topic formats`
Learn Projections | `gcloud topic projections`
Asynchronous Op | `gcloud <COMMAND> --async`
Check Operation | `gcloud operations describe <OPERATION_ID>`
Common commands | `gcloud cheat-sheet`
List Regions (GCE) | `gcloud compute regions list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
List Zones (GCE) | `gcloud compute zones list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
List Locations | `gcloud <GROUP> locations list --project=<PROJECT_ID>`
Refer to the
[gcloud CLI Scripting Guide](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/scripting-gcloud.md.txt)
for guidance on using the gcloud CLI in automation.
## Reference Directory
- [CLI Usage](references/cli-usage.md): Platform installation, authentication
methods (interactive, headless, ADC, service account keys, impersonation),
and local configuration management.
- [MCP Usage](references/mcp-usage.md): Using the Cloud CLI remote MCP
server (`run_gcloud_command`), project parameter scoping, input files, and
execution guidelines.
Provides safety-critical validation, guardrails, and data reduction for gcloud
Complete original Google guidance with source attribution and declared execution limits.
Use supplied evidence to plan, review or explain the relevant workflow within authorized scope.
Authorized project context, resource scope, current configuration evidence and a named decision owner.
The original is official Apache-2.0 guidance. It may show cloud commands, deployment examples or credential placeholders; those are not run, configured, installed, or authorized by loading this catalog entry. Verify current provider documentation and resource-owner approval before external changes.
Use Google gcloud Operations for [TASK]. Start from authorized project context and supplied evidence. Identify unknowns and propose changes for review; do not run commands, connect accounts, deploy, transfer data, or incur charges from this text alone.
Automatic cloud execution, credential handling, account access, deployments, destructive changes, or claims that examples are configured and verified.
M11 added German routing, integrity tracking and a strict no-execution boundary. Original attribution: Google (google/skills repository). The original is official Apache-2.0 guidance. It may show cloud commands, deployment examples or credential placeholders; those are not run, configured, installed, or authorized by loading this catalog entry. Verify current provider documentation and resource-owner approval before external changes.
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