---
name: gke-cluster-creation
description: >-
  Plans and executes GKE cluster creation, provisioning, and production
  readiness audits. Use when creating GKE clusters, provisioning GKE
  environments, or auditing GKE clusters. Don't use for application
  onboarding or deployment configuration (use gke-app-onboarding instead).
metadata:
  category: Containers
---

# GKE Cluster Creation

This reference guides creating GKE clusters. The **golden path Autopilot**
configuration is the default for all new clusters.

> **MCP Tools:** `list_clusters`, `create_cluster`, `get_cluster`,
> `list_operations`, `get_operation`

## Workflow

1.  **Discover context**: Use `list_clusters` to see existing clusters. Use
    `gcloud config get-value project` if project unknown.
2.  **Gather inputs**: project_id, region, cluster_name, environment type
3.  **Select mode**: Autopilot (default) vs Standard
4.  **Configure networking**: auto-create subnet (default) or bring-your-own
5.  **Review golden path settings**: present the config and confirm with user
6.  **Create**: Use MCP `create_cluster` tool. Fall back to `gcloud` CLI only if
    MCP is unavailable.
7.  **Track**: Use `get_operation` to monitor creation progress
8.  **Verify**: Use `get_cluster` with `readMask="*"` to confirm golden path
    settings applied

## Mode Selection

| Criteria           | Autopilot (Golden Path)   | Standard                  |
| ------------------ | ------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| Node management    | Google-managed            | Self-managed              |
| Pricing            | Pay per pod resource      | Pay per node (VM)         |
:                    : request                   :                           :
| Node customization | Via ComputeClasses        | Full control              |
| DaemonSets         | Allowed (with             | Full control              |
:                    : restrictions)             :                           :
| GPU/TPU            | Supported via             | Supported via node pools  |
:                    : ComputeClasses            :                           :
| Best for           | Most production workloads | Kernel tuning, custom OS, |
:                    :                           : privileged workloads      :

> **Rule**: Default to Autopilot unless the customer has a specific requirement
> that Autopilot cannot satisfy.

## Templates

### 1. Golden Path Autopilot (Production)

This is the default. All settings match
`../gke-golden-path/assets/golden-path-autopilot.yaml`.

**Via gcloud:**

```bash
gcloud container clusters create-auto <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --project <PROJECT_ID> \
  --release-channel regular \
  --enable-private-nodes \
  --enable-master-authorized-networks \
  --enable-dns-access \
  --enable-secret-manager \
  --secret-manager-rotation-interval=120s \
  --scoped-rbs-bindings \
  --monitoring=SYSTEM,API_SERVER,SCHEDULER,CONTROLLER_MANAGER,STORAGE,POD,DEPLOYMENT,STATEFULSET,DAEMONSET,HPA,CADVISOR,KUBELET,DCGM \
  --quiet
```

**Via MCP (`create_cluster`):**

```json
{
  "parent": "projects/<PROJECT_ID>/locations/<REGION>",
  "cluster": {
    "name": "<CLUSTER_NAME>",
    "autopilot": { "enabled": true },
    "privateClusterConfig": { "enablePrivateNodes": true },
    "masterAuthorizedNetworksConfig": {
      "privateEndpointEnforcementEnabled": true
    },
    "releaseChannel": { "channel": "REGULAR" },
    "secretManagerConfig": {
      "enabled": true,
      "rotationConfig": { "enabled": true, "rotationInterval": "120s" }
    },
    "rbacBindingConfig": {
      "enableInsecureBindingSystemAuthenticated": false,
      "enableInsecureBindingSystemUnauthenticated": false
    }
  }
}
```

### 2. Autopilot Dev/Test

Relaxes some golden path defaults for cost savings and easier access in
non-production.

```bash
gcloud container clusters create-auto <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --project <PROJECT_ID> \
  --release-channel rapid \
  --quiet
```

> **Warning**: This does not apply golden path security hardening. Suitable for
> dev/test only.

### 3. Standard Regional (When Autopilot is Not an Option)

```bash
gcloud container clusters create <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --project <PROJECT_ID> \
  --num-nodes 3 \
  --machine-type e2-standard-4 \
  --disk-type pd-balanced \
  --enable-autoscaling --min-nodes 1 --max-nodes 10 \
  --enable-shielded-nodes --enable-secure-boot \
  --workload-pool=<PROJECT_ID>.svc.id.goog \
  --enable-private-nodes \
  --enable-master-authorized-networks \
  --enable-vertical-pod-autoscaling \
  --enable-dataplane-v2 \
  --release-channel regular \
  --quiet
```

### 4. GPU/AI Workloads (Autopilot with ComputeClass)

Create a golden path Autopilot cluster, then apply a ComputeClass for GPU
workloads:

```bash
# 1. Create golden path cluster (same as template 1)
gcloud container clusters create-auto <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> --project <PROJECT_ID> \
  --enable-private-nodes --enable-master-authorized-networks \
  --enable-dns-access --enable-secret-manager --scoped-rbs-bindings \
  --quiet

# 2. Apply GPU ComputeClass (see gke-compute-classes.md)
kubectl apply -f gpu-compute-class.yaml

# 3. Or use GIQ for inference (see gke-inference.md)
gcloud container ai profiles manifests create \
  --model=gemma-2-9b-it --model-server=vllm --accelerator-type=nvidia-l4 --quiet > inference.yaml
kubectl apply -f inference.yaml
```

## Instructions

-   **ALWAYS** ask for `project_id` if not in context
-   **ALWAYS** ask for `region`
-   **ALWAYS** ask for a unique `cluster_name`
-   **DEFAULT** to golden path Autopilot unless customer specifies otherwise
-   **WARN** about Day-0 decisions (networking, private nodes) that are hard to
    change later
-   **WARN** about cost for GPU or multi-region clusters
-   When using MCP `create_cluster`, the `cluster.name` should be the **short
    name** (e.g., `my-cluster`), not the full resource path