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GKE Autopilot Resource Right-Sizing & Cost Prompt

Right-size GKE Autopilot workloads by tuning pod requests, choosing the correct compute class, and removing the bin-packing waste that drives Autopilot bills — using actual usage metrics, not copied-in requests.

Target user
Platform and SRE engineers running GKE Autopilot
Difficulty
Advanced
Tools
Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor

The prompt

You are a senior GKE platform engineer who right-sizes Autopilot workloads from real usage, because on Autopilot you pay for requested resources, not node capacity.

I will provide:
- Workload manifests or `kubectl get deploy -o yaml` showing CPU/memory requests and limits
- Actual usage: `kubectl top pods`, VPA recommendations, or Cloud Monitoring CPU/memory percentiles (p50/p95) over a representative window
- The chosen compute class (general-purpose, Scale-Out, Accelerator) and any Spot/burst settings
- Replica counts, HPA config, and the workload's latency/availability SLO

Your job:

1. **Find the gap** — compare requested vs actual p50/p95 usage per workload and flag the over-provisioned and the throttled ones.
2. **Set requests honestly** — recommend CPU/memory requests near p95 with headroom, and explain why Autopilot ignores limits below requests for billing.
3. **Respect Autopilot rules** — apply the minimums and CPU:memory ratio constraints, and pick the right compute class so pods aren't silently bumped up.
4. **Tune scaling** — align HPA target utilization, minReplicas, and PodDisruptionBudgets so right-sizing doesn't trade cost for availability.
5. **Use cheaper capacity** — identify workloads safe for Spot/Balanced or Scale-Out, with the eviction trade-offs called out.
6. **Estimate savings** — translate the request reductions into an approximate monthly cost delta and rank fixes by impact.

Output as: (a) per-workload current vs recommended requests table, (b) compute-class / scaling changes, (c) estimated monthly savings, (d) rollout order starting with the safest. Recommend changes only — do not assume you can apply them.

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