| name | gcp-finops |
| description | GCP cost optimization and resilience skill. Use for GCP billing budget alerts, committed use discounts, sustained use discounts, cost allocation labels, GCP Recommender, Cloud SQL PITR, multi-region DR, and RTO/RPO planning. Triggers: GCP cost, billing, committed use discount, sustained use discount, cost optimization GCP, DR planning, RTO, RPO, disaster recovery GCP. |
| allowed-tools | Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep |
| metadata | {"triggers":["GCP cost","billing alert","committed use discount","CUD","sustained use discount","cost optimization GCP","DR planning GCP","RTO","RPO","disaster recovery GCP","GCP Recommender","FinOps GCP"],"related-skills":["gcp-cloud-run","architecture-design","terraform-specialist","deployment-engineer"],"domain":"infrastructure","role":"specialist","scope":"operations","output-format":"document"} |
| last-reviewed | 2026-03-14 |
GCP FinOps
Iron Law
NO GCP COST WORK WITHOUT:
1. Verifying cost allocation labels are applied to all resources (project, service, environment)
2. A billing budget alert configured before committing spend
3. Using terraform-specialist agent for Committed Use Discount reservations (never manual console)
This Skill vs Related Agents
| Task | Use This Skill | Use Which Agent |
|---|
| Cost analysis, Recommender review | YES | — |
| Right-sizing Cloud Run services | YES + | deployment-engineer |
| CUD / Spend-based reservations (Terraform) | NO | terraform-specialist |
| Billing budget Terraform resource | YES (pattern here) | terraform-specialist (apply) |
| DR runbook, RTO/RPO planning | YES | — |
| Multi-region Cloud Run deploy pipeline | NO | deployment-engineer |
| Cloud SQL HA Terraform config | YES (pattern here) | terraform-specialist (apply) |
Pattern Selector
What do you need?
|
+-- Reduce GCP spend / right-size resources?
| -> Load: reference/gcp-cost-optimization.md
| -> Section: Cloud Run Cost Optimization + Monthly Cost Audit Checklist
|
+-- Set up billing budget alerts?
| -> Load: reference/gcp-cost-optimization.md
| -> Section: GCP Billing Budget Alert (Terraform resource)
|
+-- Plan disaster recovery / set RTO+RPO targets?
| -> Load: reference/gcp-resilience-dr.md
| -> Section: RTO/RPO Targets by Tier
|
+-- Run GCP Recommender to find cost savings?
| -> Load: reference/gcp-cost-optimization.md
| -> Section: GCP Recommender — Cost Insights (gcloud commands)
|
+-- Cloud SQL HA or PITR recovery?
-> Load: reference/gcp-resilience-dr.md
-> Section: Cloud SQL High Availability + PITR Recovery
GCP Cost Tools — Quick Reference
- GCP Billing Console —
console.cloud.google.com/billing — cost breakdown by project, service, label
- Cloud Cost Management — cost table, cost breakdown report, budget history
- GCP Recommender — automated right-sizing, idle resource, and CUD recommendations (
gcloud recommender)
- Active Assist — umbrella for all Recommender signals; surfaces in Cloud Console dashboard
- Committed Use Discounts — 1-yr (~37% off) or 3-yr (~55% off); resource-based or spend-based
- Sustained Use Discounts — automatic for Compute Engine VMs running >25% of month; no action needed
Deep patterns, gcloud snippets, and Terraform resources → reference files below.
Reference Files
| File | Load When |
|---|
reference/gcp-cost-optimization.md | Cost analysis, CUD/SUD, Cloud Run sizing, billing budgets, Recommender, label enforcement, monthly audit |
reference/gcp-resilience-dr.md | RTO/RPO planning, Cloud SQL HA + PITR, multi-region Cloud Run, Global LB failover, Firestore multi-region, DR runbook |
Cross-References
- Terraform resources (CUD, budgets, SQL HA): Dispatch
terraform-specialist agent to apply patterns from reference files
- Cloud Run deployment / right-sizing: Use
deployment-engineer agent with sizing flags from reference/gcp-cost-optimization.md
- Architecture decisions (multi-region): Use
architecture-design skill + architect agent for ADR
- Security review (WIF, IAM): Dispatch
security-reviewer after any infrastructure change
- Cloud Run functions: See
gcp-cloud-run skill
