managing-digitalocean

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

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