| name | managing-digitalocean |
| description | Use when working with Digitalocean — digitalOcean infrastructure management
via the doctl CLI. Covers Droplets, databases, load balancers, firewalls,
domains, and account billing. Use when managing DigitalOcean resources,
checking Droplet health, or reviewing infrastructure costs.
|
| connection_type | digitalocean |
| preload | false |
Managing DigitalOcean
Manage DigitalOcean infrastructure using the doctl CLI.
MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern
Always discover available resources before performing analysis.
Phase 1: Discovery
#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Account Info ==="
doctl account get --format Email,DropletLimit,Status --no-header
echo ""
echo "=== Droplets ==="
doctl compute droplet list --format ID,Name,Region,Size,VCPUs,Memory,Disk,Status,PublicIPv4 --no-header | head -30
echo ""
echo "=== Databases ==="
doctl databases list --format ID,Name,Engine,Version,Region,Status,Size,NumNodes --no-header | head -20
echo ""
echo "=== Load Balancers ==="
doctl compute load-balancer list --format ID,Name,Region,Status,IP --no-header | head -10
echo ""
echo "=== Volumes ==="
doctl compute volume list --format ID,Name,Region,Size,DropletIDs --no-header | head -20
echo ""
echo "=== Firewalls ==="
doctl compute firewall list --format ID,Name,Status --no-header | head -10
Phase 2: Analysis
#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Droplet Details ==="
DROPLET_ID="${1:?Droplet ID required}"
doctl compute droplet get "$DROPLET_ID" --format ID,Name,Region,Size,VCPUs,Memory,Disk,Status,PublicIPv4,Created
echo ""
echo "=== Droplet Bandwidth (Recent) ==="
doctl monitoring droplet bandwidth get "$DROPLET_ID" --start "$(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)" --end "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" 2>/dev/null || echo "Bandwidth metrics not available"
echo ""
echo "=== Droplet CPU (Recent) ==="
doctl monitoring droplet cpu get "$DROPLET_ID" --start "$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" --end "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" 2>/dev/null || echo "CPU metrics not available"
echo ""
echo "=== Balance & Billing ==="
doctl balance get --format MonthToDateBalance,AccountBalance,MonthToDateUsage --no-header
Output Format
RESOURCE_TYPE ID NAME REGION STATUS
droplet 12345678 web-01 nyc1 active
droplet 12345679 web-02 nyc1 active
database abc-123 pg-main nyc1 online
Safety Rules
- Use read-only commands:
list, get
- Never run
delete, destroy, remove without explicit user confirmation
- Always use
--no-header and --format for clean output
- Limit output with
| head -N to stay under 50 lines
Anti-Hallucination Rules
- NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
- NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or
--help output.
- NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
- ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
- 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 |
