Default to the golden path. Use golden path values unless the user requests otherwise. When deviating, note trade-offs but respect the user's choice.
Day-0 vs Day-1. Flag Day-0 decisions (networking, private nodes, subnets, IP allocation) prominently — they are hard/impossible to change after creation.
Tool preference: MCP > gcloud > kubectl. See the gke-basics skill's CLI reference for full coverage matrix and override options. If the user says "use gcloud" or "use kubectl", respect that for the session.
Document decisions and rationale, especially for Day-0 choices and golden path deviations.

Required Inputs

If the user is unsure, use golden path defaults.

Project ID (required)
Region (required, e.g., us-central1)
Cluster name (required)
Environment type: dev/test or production (defaults to production)
Networking: bring-your-own VPC/subnet or auto-create (default: auto-create)
Scale expectations: expected node/pod count, workload types
Cost constraints: Spot VM tolerance, budget considerations

Always-Apply Defaults

Recommended best practices applied by default. If the user requests a different setting, apply it and briefly note the security or operational trade-off.

Setting	Golden Path Value
`autopilot.enabled`	`true`
`privateClusterConfig.enablePrivateNodes`	`true`
`masterAuthorizedNetworksConfig.privateEndpointEnforcementEnabled`	`true`
`secretManagerConfig.enabled` + `rotationInterval: 120s`	`true`
`rbacBindingConfig.enableInsecureBinding*`	`false` (both)
`workloadIdentityConfig.workloadPool`	enabled
`networkConfig.datapathProvider`	`ADVANCED_DATAPATH`
`networkConfig.dnsConfig.clusterDns`	`CLOUD_DNS`
`autoscaling.autoscalingProfile`	`OPTIMIZE_UTILIZATION`
`verticalPodAutoscaling.enabled`	`true`
`monitoringConfig` components	SYSTEM_COMPONENTS, STORAGE, POD, DEPLOYMENT, STATEFULSET, DAEMONSET, HPA, JOBSET, CADVISOR, KUBELET, DCGM, APISERVER, SCHEDULER, CONTROLLER_MANAGER
`advancedDatapathObservabilityConfig.enableMetrics`	`true`
`nodeConfig.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableSecureBoot`	`true`
`nodeConfig.workloadMetadataConfig.mode`	`GKE_METADATA`
`nodeConfig.gcfsConfig.enabled` / `gvnic.enabled`	`true` / `true`
`addonsConfig.statefulHaConfig.enabled`	`true`
Storage CSI drivers (Filestore, GCS FUSE, Parallelstore)	enabled
Pod Security Standards	`restricted` on production namespaces

Customer-Configurable Settings

These have golden path defaults but customers may deviate with valid justification. Ask before changing.

Setting	Default	Why Deviate
`dnsEndpointConfig.allowExternalTraffic`	`true`	Restrict if cluster only accessed from within VPC
`autoIpamConfig` / `createSubnetwork`	`true` / `true`	Customer has pre-existing VPC/subnets
`maxPodsPerNode`	`48`	`110` for high pod-density (costs more CIDR space)
`subnetwork`	auto-created	Customer brings existing subnets
Maintenance exclusion windows	configured (NO_MINOR_UPGRADES, 1yr)	Customer-specific scheduling
`nodeConfig.bootDisk.diskType`	`pd-balanced`	`pd-ssd` for I/O-intensive, `pd-standard` for cost
`nodeConfig.machineType`	`ek-standard-8` (Autopilot)	Varies by workload; use ComputeClasses

Guardrails

Do not request or output secrets (tokens, keys, service account JSON).
Discover project/cluster context via MCP tools or gcloud config get-value project — don't ask users to paste project IDs.
For Day-0 decisions, always ask clarifying questions before proceeding.
For Day-1 features, propose golden path defaults with trade-offs and let the customer confirm.
Do not promise zero downtime; advise PDBs, health probes, replicas, and staged upgrades.
When auditing existing clusters, compare against golden path and report deviations with severity and remediation.

Golden Path Config

See golden-path-autopilot.yaml for the full cluster-level policy settings.

gke-golden-path

GKE Golden Path Configuration

Rules