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Google Cloud Networking Observability

Diagnoses GCP network traffic issues using flow, firewall, NAT, threat logs, metrics and connectivity tests

Source Download skill
Repository
google/skills
Stars
21,782
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
10 files

What it does

Once installed, the agent knows how to investigate Google Cloud networking problems such as dropped packets, blocked connections, NAT port exhaustion, and latency. It is guided to pick the right data source (VPC Flow Logs, firewall logs, Cloud NAT logs, threat logs, metrics or Connectivity Tests), run a minimal query, show the answer quickly, and read detailed reference guides only when needed. It also helps estimate VPC Flow Logs cost.

Great for

  • Cloud or network engineers troubleshooting blocked or dropped traffic in a Google Cloud project
  • Teams auditing firewall rules, NAT gateways or Private Service Connect traffic
  • Engineers who want a fast answer about traffic volume, top talkers or latency without writing queries from scratch

Skip it if

  • General VM provisioning or non-networking tasks, which the skill explicitly excludes
  • Users without access to a Google Cloud project, since it queries live logs and metrics that need credentials
  • Production changes made on the agent's suggestion alone, because it can run gcloud and bq commands against real infrastructure and its guidance favours speed over cross-checking

Try asking

  • “Why are packets being dropped between my VM in us-central1 and my Cloud SQL instance?”
  • “Which firewall rules are denying the most traffic in project my-prod-project this week?”
  • “Estimate the monthly cost of turning on VPC Flow Logs for my subnet”
  • “Check whether my Cloud NAT gateway is running out of ports”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Google Cloud Networking ObservabilityInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 10 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    google-cloud-networking-observability.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip google-cloud-networking-observability.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip google-cloud-networking-observability.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give the agent the project ID, resource name and time window up front so it can run one targeted query.
  • Ask it to print the generated SQL first, as the skill requires, and review it before execution.
  • Use a read-only IAM role to limit what the agent can see and run, since it executes gcloud and bq commands.

What's inside

  • references/attribution.md
  • references/cloud-nat-analysis.md
  • references/connectivity-tests.md
  • references/firewall-analysis.md
  • references/mcp-usage.md
  • references/metrics-analysis.md
  • references/threat-analysis.md
  • references/vpc-flow-analysis.md
  • references/vpc-flow-logs-cost-estimation.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from google/skills under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.