AWS GameLift Management Skill

Monitor and manage AWS GameLift fleets, matchmaking, and game sessions.

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always discover fleets and aliases before inspecting sessions or scaling.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash
REGION="${AWS_REGION:-us-east-1}"

echo "=== GameLift Fleets ==="
aws gamelift describe-fleet-attributes --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'FleetAttributes[].{Name:Name,ID:FleetId,Status:Status,Type:ComputeType,OS:OperatingSystem}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Fleet Capacity ==="
aws gamelift describe-fleet-capacity --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'FleetCapacity[].{Fleet:FleetId,Desired:InstanceCounts.DESIRED,Active:InstanceCounts.ACTIVE,Idle:InstanceCounts.IDLE,Pending:InstanceCounts.PENDING}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Aliases ==="
aws gamelift list-aliases --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'Aliases[].{Name:Name,ID:AliasId,Strategy:RoutingStrategy.Type,Fleet:RoutingStrategy.FleetId}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Matchmaking Configurations ==="
aws gamelift describe-matchmaking-configurations --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'Configurations[].{Name:Name,Status:ConfigurationStatus,Timeout:RequestTimeoutSeconds,Backfill:BackfillMode}' \
  --output table

Phase 1 outputs: Fleet list with status, capacity, aliases, matchmaking configs

Phase 2: Analysis

#!/bin/bash
FLEET_ID="${1:-$GAMELIFT_FLEET_ID}"

echo "=== Fleet Utilization ==="
aws gamelift describe-fleet-utilization --fleet-ids "$FLEET_ID" --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'FleetUtilization[].{Fleet:FleetId,ActiveSessions:ActiveGameSessionCount,ActivePlayers:CurrentPlayerSessionCount,MaxSessions:MaximumPlayerSessionCount}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Active Game Sessions ==="
aws gamelift describe-game-sessions --fleet-id "$FLEET_ID" --region "$REGION" \
  --status-filter ACTIVE \
  --query 'GameSessions[].{ID:GameSessionId,Status:Status,Players:CurrentPlayerSessionCount,Max:MaximumPlayerSessionCount,Created:CreationTime}' \
  --output table | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Scaling Policies ==="
aws gamelift describe-scaling-policies --fleet-id "$FLEET_ID" --region "$REGION" \
  --query 'ScalingPolicies[].{Name:Name,Type:PolicyType,Metric:MetricName,Threshold:Threshold,Status:Status}' \
  --output table

echo ""
echo "=== Fleet Events (last 24h) ==="
aws gamelift describe-fleet-events --fleet-id "$FLEET_ID" --region "$REGION" \
  --start-time "$(date -u -d '24 hours ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -v-24H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  --query 'Events[].{Time:EventTime,Code:EventCode,Message:Message}' \
  --output table | head -20

Output Format

AWS GAMELIFT STATUS
===================
Region: {region}
Fleets: {count} (Active: {active}, Error: {error})
Total Capacity: {instances} instances
Active Sessions: {count} | Players: {count}
Utilization: {percent}%
Matchmaking Configs: {count}
Scaling Policies: {count} active
Issues: {list_of_warnings}

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

• Fleet ID vs Alias: Always resolve aliases to fleet IDs before querying sessions
• Multi-region: GameLift fleets are regional — check all active regions
• Spot vs On-Demand: Spot fleets can lose instances — monitor FLEET_ACTIVATION_FAILED events
• Session limits: Default 1 game session per instance — check runtime configuration