google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence Skill (Google) for Claude: What It Does and How to Install It

Makes Claude review Google Cloud workloads against the Operational Excellence pillar of the Well-Architected Framework.

Installs: 10.1K; on skills.sh
Stars: 21.8K; on GitHub
Files: 1; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

This skill makes Claude answer operations questions about Google Cloud using Google's Well-Architected Framework (WAF), the Operational Excellence pillar. It loads when you ask about capacity, change, incident, problem or configuration management, deployment automation with infrastructure as code, or operational health checks.

SKILL.md gives Claude five core principles, a list of relevant Google Cloud products, assessment questions to ask you about your workload, and a validation checklist to score your architecture against. It bundles no scripts. Before it runs any gcloud, REST or MCP command, it tells Claude to read references/attribution.md first, which adds a usage tag to those commands.

Good for

Teams running workloads on Google Cloud who want an operations review
Engineers planning CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code deployments
On-call and SRE staff setting up incident response and SLOs
Architects checking a design against a written checklist

Install google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/google/skills --skill google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Generates operational guidance for CI/CD deployment pipelines, observability, monitoring, logging, and incident management on Google Cloud based on the design principles and recommendations in the Operational Excellence pillar of the Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework (WAF). Use when the user asks about operations-related topics like capacity management, change management, incident and problem management, configuration management, deployment automation using infrastructure as code (IaC), or operational health checks for Google Cloud workloads.

Sections in SKILL.md

Attribution
Overview
Core principles
Relevant Google Cloud products
Workload assessment questions
Validation checklist

Key facts

Author: Google (the skill is in Google's own repo, google/skills)
License: Apache-2.0
Installs on skills.sh: 10,096 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 21,764 for the whole google/skills repo (Nov 2, 2026)
Last repo commit: Nov 1, 2026
What it includes: 2 files including SKILL.md: references/attribution.md (no scripts)
Skill version: 1.1.1, per the SKILL.md metadata

What it includes

Five principles from the Operational Excellence pillar
Operational readiness, incident and problem management, resource optimization, change automation, and continuous improvement. Each links to a Google Cloud architecture page.
Try: “Review our release process against Google Cloud operational excellence principles.”
Read · Core principles
Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Build, Cloud Deploy and more
Lists example Google Cloud products in four groups: observability, automation and CI/CD, resource management, and incident response.
Read · Relevant products
Questions Claude asks about your operations
Ten example questions in five groups, such as how you define SLOs and how you run post-incident reviews. Claude picks the ones that fit.
Try: “We run a GKE service with weekly deploys. Where are our operational gaps?”
Read · Workload assessment questions
Checklist to score your architecture
Twelve checkbox items in five groups, covering readiness, incidents, change automation, resource optimization and improvement culture.
Try: “Run the operational excellence checklist against this Terraform setup.”
Read · Validation checklist
Tags gcloud and HTTP calls with the skill name
references/attribution.md tells Claude to prefix each gcloud command with an environment variable and add a User-Agent suffix on direct HTTP calls. You can ask Claude to turn it off.
Runs code · Usage attribution

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

The skill is guidance, but it names gcloud, REST and MCP commands that would act on your Google Cloud account. Approve each command and use a project and role you are comfortable with.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

Commands get a usage tag
references/attribution.md says to prefix gcloud commands with CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION and to append an agent-skills token to the User-Agent header. It says the tag carries no user data and that you can ask to turn it off. github.com
It may run gcloud against your account
The skill is advice, but it names gcloud commands as something Claude may run. Use a project and role you are comfortable with and read each command first. github.com

Security advisories

No published security advisories as of Nov 2, 2026.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	No read-only mode in the skill. Approve each command yourself.
Talks to	Google Cloud APIs, when Claude runs gcloud or REST commands (the skill adds an agent-skills User-Agent token to direct HTTP calls)
Sign-in and keys	SKILL.md and attribution.md do not mention any key. Commands use whatever Google Cloud sign-in you already have.
Scopes	SKILL.md tells Claude to follow references/attribution.md before running gcloud, REST or MCP commands Any command Claude runs uses your own Google Cloud credentials and permissions

Questions

What does the Google Cloud WAF operational excellence skill do?

It gives Claude a framework for operations advice on Google Cloud. Claude asks about your workload, then checks your design against five principles and a twelve-item checklist.

How do I install it?

Use the install box at the top of this page. The repo README installs with the skills CLI and lets you pick this skill from the list. It is not part of the Google plugins in the same repo.

Is this an official Google skill?

It is in Google's own repo, google/skills, which describes itself as Agent Skills for Google products.

Does it need a Google Cloud account or an API key?

SKILL.md does not mention a key. Any gcloud or API command Claude runs for you uses your own Google Cloud sign-in and permissions.

What is the usage tag it adds to commands?

references/attribution.md says the tag identifies only the skill and its version and carries no user data. It adds an environment variable to gcloud commands and a User-Agent suffix to direct HTTP calls. Ask Claude to omit it if you do not want it.

Is it safe?

The skill bundles no scripts and is mostly a checklist. It does tell Claude to run gcloud, REST or MCP commands when relevant, so those act on your Google Cloud account with your permissions. Review each command before approving it.

Are there other Google Cloud Well-Architected skills?

The google/skills repo README lists more skills for Google products. This page covers the Operational Excellence pillar only.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: google/skills
Folder: skills/cloud/google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence

google/skills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 3

google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence SKILL.md · github.com
Usage Attribution (attribution.md) · github.com
google/skills README · github.com