castai-local-dev-loop

name	castai-local-dev-loop
description	Set up a local Kubernetes development loop with CAST AI cost monitoring. Use when building cost-aware deployments, testing autoscaler policies, or iterating on Terraform CAST AI configurations locally. Trigger with phrases like "cast ai dev setup", "cast ai local testing", "develop with cast ai", "cast ai terraform dev".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash(kubectl:*), Bash(helm:*), Bash(terraform:*), Grep
version	1.0.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","kubernetes","cost-optimization","castai"]
compatible-with	claude-code

CAST AI Local Dev Loop

Overview

Fast iteration workflow for CAST AI integrations: test autoscaler policies in a dev cluster, validate Terraform modules before applying to production, and use the CAST AI API to measure savings impact during development.

Prerequisites

• Completed castai-install-auth setup
• A development Kubernetes cluster (kind, minikube, or cloud dev cluster)
• kubectl, helm, and optionally terraform installed

Instructions

Step 1: Project Structure

my-castai-infra/
├── terraform/
│   ├── environments/
│   │   ├── dev.tfvars
│   │   ├── staging.tfvars
│   │   └── prod.tfvars
│   ├── modules/
│   │   └── castai-cluster/
│   │       ├── main.tf
│   │       ├── variables.tf
│   │       └── outputs.tf
│   └── main.tf
├── policies/
│   ├── dev-policy.json
│   └── prod-policy.json
├── scripts/
│   ├── check-savings.sh
│   └── validate-policies.sh
├── .env.dev            # Dev API key (git-ignored)
└── .env.example

Step 2: Dev Cluster with Relaxed Policies

# Connect your dev cluster (read-only first)
helm upgrade --install castai-agent castai-helm/castai-agent \
  -n castai-agent --create-namespace \
  --set apiKey="${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  --set provider="eks"

# Apply development-safe autoscaler policy
curl -X PUT -H "X-API-Key: ${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://api.cast.ai/v1/kubernetes/clusters/${CASTAI_CLUSTER_ID}/policies" \
  -d '{
    "enabled": true,
    "unschedulablePods": { "enabled": true },
    "nodeDownscaler": {
      "enabled": true,
      "emptyNodes": { "enabled": true, "delaySeconds": 300 }
    },
    "clusterLimits": {
      "enabled": true,
      "cpu": { "minCores": 2, "maxCores": 16 }
    }
  }'

Step 3: Quick Savings Check Script

#!/bin/bash
# scripts/check-savings.sh
set -euo pipefail

API_KEY="${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}"
CLUSTER_ID=

 
curl -s -H  \
   \
  | jq