AlloyDB Skill

Manage and analyze Google AlloyDB for PostgreSQL using gcloud alloydb commands.

Discovery-First Rule

ALWAYS discover before acting. Never assume cluster names, instance names, regions, or backup names.

# Discover AlloyDB clusters
gcloud alloydb clusters list --format=json \
  | jq '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, state: .state, databaseVersion: .databaseVersion, network: .network, location: .name | split("/") | .[3], continuousBackupEnabled: .continuousBackupConfig.enabled}]'

Parallel Execution Requirement

ALL independent operations MUST run in parallel using background jobs (&) and wait.

for cluster in $(gcloud alloydb clusters list --format="value(name)" | xargs -I{} basename {}); do
  {
    gcloud alloydb clusters describe "$cluster" --region="$REGION" --format=json
  } &
done
wait

Helper Functions

# Get cluster details
get_cluster_details() {
  local cluster="$1" region="$2"
  gcloud alloydb clusters describe "$cluster" --region="$region" --format=json \
    | jq '{name: .name | split("/") | last, state: .state, databaseVersion: .databaseVersion, network: .network, encryptionConfig: .encryptionConfig, continuousBackup: .continuousBackupConfig, automatedBackup: .automatedBackupPolicy, initialUser: .initialUser.user}'
}

# List instances in a cluster
list_instances() {
  local cluster="$1" region="$2"
  gcloud alloydb instances list --cluster="$cluster" --region="$region" --format=json \
    | jq '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, instanceType: .instanceType, state: .state, machineConfig: .machineConfig, availabilityType: .availabilityType, ipAddress: .ipAddress, readPoolConfig: .readPoolConfig, queryInsights: .queryInsightsConfig}]'
}

# List backups
list_backups() {
  local region="$1"
  gcloud alloydb backups list --region="$region" --format=json \
    | jq '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, state: .state, type: .type, cluster: .clusterName | split("/") | last, createTime: .createTime, sizeBytes: .sizeBytes}]'
}

# Get instance metrics
get_instance_metrics() {
  local instance="$1" cluster="$2"
  gcloud monitoring time-series list \
    --filter="metric.type=starts_with(\"alloydb.googleapis.com/\") AND resource.labels.instance_id=\"$instance\"" \
    --interval-start-time="$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
    --format=json --limit=50
}

Common Operations

1. Cluster and Instance Overview

clusters=$(gcloud alloydb clusters list --format=json \
  | jq -c '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, region: .name | split("/") | .[3]}]')
for c in $(echo "$clusters" | jq -c '.[]'); do
  {
    name=$(echo "$c" | jq -r '.name')
    region=$(echo "$c" | jq -r '.region')
    echo "=== Cluster: $name ==="
    get_cluster_details "$name" "$region"
    list_instances "$name" "$region"
  } &
done
wait

2. Instance Analysis

# Primary and read pool instances
gcloud alloydb instances list --cluster="$CLUSTER" --region="$REGION" --format=json \
  | jq '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, type: .instanceType, state: .state, cpu: .machineConfig.cpuCount, availabilityType: .availabilityType, readPoolNodeCount: .readPoolConfig.nodeCount, gceZone: .gceZone}]'

# Check Query Insights configuration
gcloud alloydb instances describe "$INSTANCE" --cluster="$CLUSTER" --region="$REGION" --format=json \
  | jq '{queryInsights: .queryInsightsConfig}'

3. Query Insights

# CPU utilization per instance
gcloud monitoring time-series list \
  --filter="metric.type=\"alloydb.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization\" AND resource.labels.instance_id=\"$INSTANCE\"" \
  --interval-start-time="$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  --format=json

# Database connections
gcloud monitoring time-series list \
  --filter="metric.type=\"alloydb.googleapis.com/instance/postgresql/backends\" AND resource.labels.instance_id=\"$INSTANCE\"" \
  --interval-start-time="$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  --format=json

# Replication lag (for read pool instances)
gcloud monitoring time-series list \
  --filter="metric.type=\"alloydb.googleapis.com/instance/postgresql/replication/replica_byte_lag\" AND resource.labels.instance_id=\"$INSTANCE\"" \
  --interval-start-time="$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  --format=json

4. Backup and Recovery

# List all backups
list_backups "$REGION"

# Continuous backup config
gcloud alloydb clusters describe "$CLUSTER" --region="$REGION" --format=json \
  | jq '{continuousBackup: .continuousBackupConfig, automatedBackup: .automatedBackupPolicy}'

# Check point-in-time recovery window
gcloud alloydb clusters describe "$CLUSTER" --region="$REGION" --format=json \
  | jq '{continuousBackupInfo: .continuousBackupInfo}'

5. Maintenance Configuration

# Check maintenance window
gcloud alloydb clusters describe "$CLUSTER" --region="$REGION" --format=json \
  | jq '{maintenanceUpdatePolicy: .maintenanceUpdatePolicy, maintenanceSchedule: .maintenanceSchedule}'

# Recent operations (maintenance, updates)
gcloud alloydb operations list --region="$REGION" --format=json --limit=10 \
  | jq '[.[] | {name: .name | split("/") | last, type: .metadata."@type", done: .done, startTime: .metadata.createTime}]'

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Gcp Alloydb Report
══════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

1. Primary vs read pool: AlloyDB has one primary instance and optional read pool instances. Read pools auto-scale nodes but the primary does not.
2. Machine type changes: Changing CPU count requires instance restart. Plan maintenance windows for resize operations.
3. Network requirement: AlloyDB requires a VPC with Private Services Access configured. Instances are not publicly accessible by default.
4. Continuous backup retention: Default continuous backup retention is 14 days. Cannot be extended beyond 35 days. Plan accordingly for compliance.
5. Query Insights: Query Insights must be explicitly enabled per instance. It adds minimal overhead but provides critical performance data. Check queryInsightsConfig.queryInsightsEnabled.