# gcp-compute

Deploys and manages Google Cloud Compute Engine instances, instance templates, and auto-scaling groups through gcloud CLI commands and Terraform.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 328 installs · ★ 1177
- Author: devops-skills
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills/tree/HEAD/infrastructure/cloud-gcp/gcp-compute/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-05-22
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/gcp-compute

## What it does

The skill equips coding agents with reference `gcloud` commands and Terraform blocks for Compute Engine. It covers single instance creation with Shielded VM security settings, startup scripts, and persistent disk attachments like `pd-balanced` or `pd-ssd`.

It also provides templates for regional managed instance groups (MIGs). These include HTTP health checks, rolling updates, and CPU-based autoscaling policies. Workloads requiring cost cuts use Spot VM configurations with `--provisioning-model=SPOT`.

Every command relies on an authenticated `gcloud` CLI with `roles/compute.admin` permissions, meaning operations fail immediately without proper GCP project access.

## Requirements
- Works with: Terraform

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gcp-compute -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/gcp-compute/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/gcp-compute/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gcp-compute -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/gcp-compute/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gcp-compute -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/gcp-compute/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills gcp-compute
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/gcp-compute/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gcp-compute -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --path infrastructure/cloud-gcp/gcp-compute
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/gcp-compute/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills --skill gcp-compute -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills/tree/HEAD/infrastructure/cloud-gcp/gcp-compute/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- provision Google Cloud VMs with Shielded VM settings and startup scripts
- configure regional managed instance groups with health checks and autoscaling
- set up Spot VMs and batch instance templates to lower compute costs
- automate disk backups with scheduled snapshot policies

## Example prompts
- Create an e2-medium Debian 12 instance with a startup script and Shielded VM enabled
- Generate a gcloud command for a regional MIG with autoscaling up to 10 replicas
- Write a Terraform configuration for a Compute Engine instance with a pd-balanced boot disk

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 803e9296b1be6fa9.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 803e9296b1be6fa9
````text
---
name: gcp-compute
description: Manage Compute Engine instances and instance templates. Configure managed instance groups and preemptible VMs. Use when deploying compute resources on GCP.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: devops-skills
  version: "1.0"
---

# GCP Compute Engine

Deploy, manage, and scale Compute Engine virtual machines on Google Cloud Platform.

## When to Use

- Deploying web servers, application backends, or batch-processing workloads on GCP
- Running workloads that need full OS-level control (unlike Cloud Run or App Engine)
- Creating managed instance groups for auto-healing and auto-scaling behind a load balancer
- Provisioning GPU-attached VMs for ML training or rendering pipelines
- Cost-optimizing non-critical workloads with preemptible or spot VMs

## Prerequisites

- Google Cloud SDK (`gcloud`) installed and authenticated
- A GCP project with the Compute Engine API enabled
- IAM role `roles/compute.admin` or scoped roles for instance management

```bash
gcloud auth list
gcloud config set project $PROJECT_ID
gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
```

## Machine Types Reference

| Family | Example | vCPUs | Memory | Use Case |
|--------|---------|-------|--------|----------|
| E2 | e2-micro | 0.25 | 1 GB | Dev/test, microservices |
| E2 | e2-medium | 1 | 4 GB | Light web servers |
| N2 | n2-standard-4 | 4 | 16 GB | General-purpose production |
| N2 | n2-highmem-8 | 8 | 64 GB | In-memory caches, databases |
| C2 | c2-standard-16 | 16 | 64 GB | Compute-intensive, HPC |

```bash
# List machine types available in a zone
gcloud compute machine-types list --zones=us-central1-a --filter="name~'e2-'"

# Create a custom machine type (6 vCPUs, 24 GB RAM)
gcloud compute instances create custom-vm \
  --custom-cpu=6 --custom-memory=24GB \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --image-family=debian-12 --image-project=debian-cloud
```

## Create an Instance

```bash
# Production instance with shielded VM and startup script
gcloud compute instances create web-server \
  --machine-type=e2-medium \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --image-family=debian-12 \
  --image-project=debian-cloud \
  --boot-disk-size=20GB \
  --boot-disk-type=pd-balanced \
  --tags=http-server,https-server \
  --labels=env=production,team=backend \
  --metadata=enable-oslogin=TRUE \
  --shielded-secure-boot \
  --shielded-vtpm \
  --shielded-integrity-monitoring

# Instance with a startup script and service account
gcloud compute instances create app-server \
  --machine-type=e2-standard-2 \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \
  --boot-disk-size=50GB \
  --metadata-from-file=startup-script=startup.sh \
  --service-account=app-sa@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --scopes=cloud-platform
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 803e9296b1be6fa9

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