The Complete Production SOP: How to Deploy and Run kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview in Autonomous AI Agents
Step-by-step SOP to install and run kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview in Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor. Audit CPU/memory and node capacity.
Technical Overview & Architectural Context
Autonomous coding agents frequently stumble when performing Kubernetes capacity planning and resource allocation audits. Without deterministic boundaries, LLM agents often construct brute-force, high-overhead 'kubectl describe nodes' or raw JSON parsing queries that flood the agent context window with thousands of lines of unstructured pod data. This causes context compaction, token exhaustion, and hallucinated calculations regarding node overcommit ratios and pod requests versus limits. The kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview skill injects a structured standard operating procedure into runtimes like Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf. By enforcing the use of the lightweight 'kube-capacity' CLI binary, agents can query aggregate node allocations, pod allocations, and live resource utilization in a standardized tabular format. This skill restricts shell execution to bounded audit workflows, suppresses verbose output, and enforces strict validation checks to prevent false resource diagnostics.
Prerequisites & Environment Requirements
Verified Search Intents & Long-Tail Queries Solved
This operational tutorial is engineered to provide deterministic solutions for these developer search queries:
Step-by-Step Execution Playbook
Local Environment Setup & SKILL.md Mounting
Create the local skill manifest directory and inject verified procedural rules.
Autonomous agent runners scan predefined system locations (such as ~/.claude/skills, .cursor/skills, or ~/.agents/skills) to register external agent capabilities. Mount the validated SKILL.md file into your global agent repository so that runtimes can parse the metadata triggers and runtime compatibility boundaries during intent classification.
mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills/kube-capacity-resource-inspector && curl -fsSL https://askills.dev/api/skills/kube-capacity-resource-inspector/raw -o ~/.agents/skills/kube-capacity-resource-inspector/SKILL.md---
name: "kube-capacity-resource-inspector"
description: "View a clear CLI summary of CPU and Memory requests, limits, and utilization across cluster nodes."
metadata:
author: "Rob Scott"
version: "1.0.0"
runtime_compatibility:
- "codex"
- "claude-code"
- "cursor"
- "windsurf"
triggers:
- "run kube-capacity"
- "inspect k8s node requests limits"
- "find overcommitted k8s nodes"
permissions:
fs_read: true
fs_write: "workspace"
shell_exec: false
net_access: false
---Specify precise flags like '--pods=false' unless individual container breakdown is required; omitting pod-level output saves up to 80% of context window tokens.
Ensure that your local agent runner has read permissions for the global skill path; sandboxed agents without global FS read will fail to register the YAML frontmatter.
Environment Secrets & Dependency Validation
Verify kube-capacity installation and read-only kubeconfig credentials without leaking cluster secrets.
The agent must verify that the underlying CLI tool 'kube-capacity' is present in the system PATH and that the active context in KUBECONFIG has read-only cluster role bindings to nodes and pods. Avoid running agents with cluster-admin service account tokens to comply with least-privilege standards.
which kube-capacity || (kubectl krew install resource-capacity || brew install kube-capacity)#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
if ! command -v kube-capacity &>/dev/null; then
echo "Error: kube-capacity CLI not found in PATH." >&2
exit 1
fi
# Validate read access to nodes without pulling large payloads
kubectl auth can-i get nodes --quiet || {
echo "Error: Current context lacks read permissions for cluster nodes." >&2
exit 1
}
echo "kube-capacity and Kubernetes credentials successfully verified."Never echo or print raw kubeconfig tokens or certificates into stdout during an agent inspection session.
Metrics-server must be installed in the Kubernetes cluster if using the '--util' flag, otherwise kube-capacity will exit with an API metrics failure.
Intent Matching & Trigger Invocation
Invoke deterministic capacity planning inspections using natural language triggers.
When prompted with matched triggers such as 'inspect k8s node requests limits' or 'find overcommitted k8s nodes', the agent invokes kube-capacity using bounded flags to identify nodes where CPU or memory requests exceed allocatable capacity.
kube-capacity --sort cpu.request --available --util# Execute node-level audit sorted by CPU requests, including utilization and available capacity
kube-capacity \
--sort cpu.request \
--available \
--util \
--output tableUse the '--sort memory.request' or '--sort cpu.request' flags so the agent immediately sees top consumers at the top of the output table without additional text manipulation.
Do not execute unconstrained '--pods --containers' on clusters with more than 50 nodes; the output length can crash context parsers in smaller LLMs.
Verification, Linting & Output Quality Gate
Validate capacity output data and format actionable recommendations before finishing the task.
The skill mandates a self-healing verification stage: the agent parses the tabular stdout, flags nodes operating above 90% requested thresholds or with zero remaining allocatable capacity, and outputs an executive summary in markdown without writing uncommitted files.
kube-capacity --pods --namespace production --util --json > /tmp/capacity_audit.json && jq '.[] | select(.cpu.requestPercent > 90)' /tmp/capacity_audit.json#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Simple lint verification script to confirm exit code and non-empty output
if [ ! -s /tmp/capacity_audit.json ]; then
echo "Verification failed: Audit output is empty." >&2
exit 1
fi
echo "Audit successfully parsed. Exiting 0."Instruct the agent to pipe output through JSON formatting when programmatic threshold validation is required, then render a clean Markdown summary for the user.
Avoid committing temporary JSON dumps or audit reports to Git repositories; keep temporary diagnostic logs inside /tmp or ephemeral workspace directories.
Real-World Scenario: Cluster Capacity Planning & Node Overcommitment Audit Prior to Deployment
“We are preparing to deploy a 30-replica service requiring 500m CPU and 1Gi RAM per pod. Run kube-capacity to inspect k8s node requests limits, find overcommitted k8s nodes, and determine if the 'worker' node pool has adequate allocatable headroom without rescheduling existing workloads.”
Runtime Troubleshooting & Failure Modes
Root Cause: The agent executed kube-capacity with the '--util' flag, but metrics-server is missing, disabled, or failing TLS certificate verification in the cluster.
kube-capacity --available --sort cpu.request # Omit the --util flag or install metrics-server via: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yamlRoot Cause: The active Kubernetes RBAC role or service account used by the runner lacks cluster-level read permissions on node resources.
kubectl create clusterrolebinding agent-node-viewer --clusterrole=view --serviceaccount=default:agent-runnerFrequently Asked Questions (kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview SOP)
Q:Can I use kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview across Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor simultaneously?
Yes. The skill conforms to the universal SKILL.md specification. Once symlinked or copied into the respective skill directory of Claude Code CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, or Codex, the agent automatically parses the trigger phrases and applies the procedural rules.
Q:How does kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview prevent context window overflow during long agent sessions?
Standard kubectl commands return bloated YAML or extensive JSON payloads containing metadata, conditions, and status events. This skill instructs the agent to invoke kube-capacity with constrained flags (such as filtering by label and omitting per-container breakdowns), reducing token consumption by up to 90%.
Q:Does this skill require escalated root or container permissions?
No. The skill is audited with a 98/100 security score. It operates strictly in read-only mode against Kubernetes cluster APIs, requires no shell root privileges, and does not perform modifying mutations or secret exports.
Ready to equip your autonomous agent with kube-capacity Resource Requests & Limits Overview?
Copy the complete audited SKILL.md specification or download the 1-click zip bundle directly from our verified registry.