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Cloud Architect

jeffallan/claude-skills

  • 3.4k installs
  • 10.8k repo stars
  • Updated May 20, 2026
  • jeffallan/claude-skills

cloud-architect is an agent skill that designs AWS, Azure, and GCP architectures with migration, security, cost optimization, and disaster recovery guidance.

About

cloud-architect is Jeffallan's infrastructure agent skill for designing systems across AWS, Azure, and GCP. It follows a six-step workflow: discovery, design, security, cost modeling, migration via the 6Rs framework, and ongoing operations with monitoring. The skill mandates high availability (99.9%+), zero-trust security, infrastructure as code with Terraform or CloudFormation, cost allocation tags, defined RTO/RPO disaster recovery, and multi-region coverage for critical workloads. Reference guides load per topic for AWS Well-Architected, Azure Cloud Adoption Framework, GCP services, multi-cloud portability, and FinOps cost practices. Validation checkpoints confirm VPC peering connectivity before migration cutover and verify ALB target health afterward. Included patterns cover least-privilege IAM with Terraform examples, VPC public/private subnets, auto-scaling groups with CPU target tracking, and CLI cost analysis across AWS and Azure. Output templates expect architecture diagrams, service rationale, security design, cost estimates, and rollback plans.

  • Six-step workflow: discovery, design, security, cost model, 6Rs migration, and continuous operations.
  • MUST DO rules: 99.9%+ HA, zero-trust, IaC, cost tags, RTO/RPO DR, multi-region, managed services.
  • Validation checkpoints for VPC peering, ALB target health, and post-DR RTO/RPO verification.
  • Terraform and CLI examples for IAM, VPC subnets, auto-scaling, and 30-day cost analysis.
  • Reference routing to aws.md, azure.md, gcp.md, multi-cloud.md, and cost.md by context.

Cloud Architect by the numbers

  • 3,425 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • +109 installs in the week ending Jul 28, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
  • Ranked #131 of 1,041 Cloud & Infrastructure skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Security screen: MEDIUM risk (skills.sh audit)
  • Data as of Jul 28, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
At a glance

cloud-architect capabilities & compatibility

Capabilities
six step discovery to operations cloud workflow · aws, azure, and gcp reference guide routing · terraform iam, vpc, and auto scaling patterns · migration validation checkpoints before cutover · cost analysis cli commands for aws and azure
Works with
aws · azure · gcp · terraform · kubernetes · docker
Use cases
devops · security audit · api development
From the docs

What cloud-architect says it does

Design for high availability (99.9%+)
SKILL.md
Apply 6Rs framework, define waves, validate connectivity before cutover
SKILL.md
Use infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
SKILL.md
npx skills add https://github.com/jeffallan/claude-skills --skill cloud-architect

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Installs3.4k
repo stars★ 10.8k
Security audit3 / 3 scanners passed
Last updatedMay 20, 2026
Repositoryjeffallan/claude-skills ↗

How do I design a secure, highly available multi-cloud architecture with migration and cost controls?

Design multi-cloud architectures, migration plans, cost optimization, and disaster recovery across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

Who is it for?

Platform engineers and architects planning cloud migrations, landing zones, serverless designs, or FinOps right-sizing.

Skip if: Skip when you only need a single-language app feature with no infrastructure or compliance constraints.

When should I use this skill?

User asks for cloud architecture, multi-cloud design, migration waves, landing zones, DR, or cost optimization.

What you get

Architecture diagram, service rationale, security design, cost estimate, and deployment rollback plan aligned to Well-Architected practices.

  • Architecture diagram
  • Security architecture
  • Cost estimate and optimization plan

By the numbers

  • Covers six AWS Well-Architected Framework pillars
  • References three IaC tools: CloudFormation, CDK, and Terraform

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Cloud Architect

Core Workflow

1. Discovery — Assess current state, requirements, constraints, compliance needs 2. Design — Select services, design topology, plan data architecture 3. Security — Implement zero-trust, identity federation, encryption 4. Cost Model — Right-size resources, reserved capacity, auto-scaling 5. Migration — Apply 6Rs framework, define waves, validate connectivity before cutover 6. Operate — Set up monitoring, automation, continuous optimization

Workflow Validation Checkpoints

After Design: Confirm every component has a redundancy strategy and no single points of failure exist in the topology.

Before Migration cutover: Validate VPC peering or connectivity is fully established:

# AWS: confirm peering connection is Active before proceeding
aws ec2 describe-vpc-peering-connections \
  --filters "Name=status-code,Values=active"

# Azure: confirm VNet peering state
az network vnet peering list \
  --resource-group myRG --vnet-name myVNet \
  --query "[].{Name:name,State:peeringState}"

After Migration: Verify application health and routing:

# AWS: check target group health in ALB
aws elbv2 describe-target-health \
  --target-group-arn arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:...

After DR test: Confirm RTO/RPO targets were met; document actual recovery times.

Reference Guide

Load detailed guidance based on context:

TopicReferenceLoad When
AWS Servicesreferences/aws.mdEC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, Well-Architected Framework
Azure Servicesreferences/azure.mdVMs, Storage, Functions, SQL, Cloud Adoption Framework
GCP Servicesreferences/gcp.mdCompute Engine, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, BigQuery
Multi-Cloudreferences/multi-cloud.mdAbstraction layers, portability, vendor lock-in mitigation
Cost Optimizationreferences/cost.mdReserved instances, spot, right-sizing, FinOps practices

Constraints

MUST DO

  • Design for high availability (99.9%+)
  • Implement security by design (zero-trust)
  • Use infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
  • Enable cost allocation tags and monitoring
  • Plan disaster recovery with defined RTO/RPO
  • Implement multi-region for critical workloads
  • Use managed services when possible
  • Document architectural decisions

MUST NOT DO

  • Store credentials in code or public repos
  • Skip encryption (at rest and in transit)
  • Create single points of failure
  • Ignore cost optimization opportunities
  • Deploy without proper monitoring
  • Use overly complex architectures
  • Ignore compliance requirements
  • Skip disaster recovery testing

Common Patterns with Examples

Least-Privilege IAM (Zero-Trust)

Rather than broad policies, scope permissions to specific resources and actions:

# AWS: create a scoped role for an application
aws iam create-role \
  --role-name AppRole \
  --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json

aws iam put-role-policy \
  --role-name AppRole \
  --policy-name AppInlinePolicy \
  --policy-document '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [{
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:GetObject", "s3:PutObject"],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-app-bucket/*"
    }]
  }'
# Terraform equivalent
resource "aws_iam_role" "app_role" {
  name               = "AppRole"
  assume_role_policy = data.aws_iam_policy_document.trust.json
}

resource "aws_iam_role_policy" "app_policy" {
  role = aws_iam_role.app_role.id
  policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17"
    Statement = [{
      Effect   = "Allow"
      Action   = ["s3:GetObject", "s3:PutObject"]
      Resource = "${aws_s3_bucket.app.arn}/*"
    }]
  })
}

VPC with Public/Private Subnets (Terraform)

resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block           = "10.0.0.0/16"
  enable_dns_hostnames = true
  tags = { Name = "main", CostCenter = var.cost_center }
}

resource "aws_subnet" "private" {
  count             = 2
  vpc_id            = aws_vpc.main.id
  cidr_block        = cidrsubnet("10.0.0.0/16", 8, count.index)
  availability_zone = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[count.index]
}

resource "aws_subnet" "public" {
  count                   = 2
  vpc_id                  = aws_vpc.main.id
  cidr_block              = cidrsubnet("10.0.0.0/16", 8, count.index + 10)
  availability_zone       = data.aws_availability_zones.available.names[count.index]
  map_public_ip_on_launch = true
}

Auto-Scaling Group (Terraform)

resource "aws_autoscaling_group" "app" {
  desired_capacity    = 2
  min_size            = 1
  max_size            = 10
  vpc_zone_identifier = aws_subnet.private[*].id

  launch_template {
    id      = aws_launch_template.app.id
    version = "$Latest"
  }

  tag {
    key                 = "CostCenter"
    value               = var.cost_center
    propagate_at_launch = true
  }
}

resource "aws_autoscaling_policy" "cpu_target" {
  autoscaling_group_name = aws_autoscaling_group.app.name
  policy_type            = "TargetTrackingScaling"
  target_tracking_configuration {
    predefined_metric_specification {
      predefined_metric_type = "ASGAverageCPUUtilization"
    }
    target_value = 60.0
  }
}

Cost Analysis CLI

# AWS: identify top cost drivers for the last 30 days
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=$(date -d '30 days ago' +%Y-%m-%d),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics "UnblendedCost" \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[0].Groups[*].{Service:Keys[0],Cost:Metrics.UnblendedCost.Amount}' \
  --output table

# Azure: review spend by resource group
az consumption usage list \
  --start-date $(date -d '30 days ago' +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --end-date $(date +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --query "[].{ResourceGroup:resourceGroup,Cost:pretaxCost,Currency:currency}" \
  --output table

Output Templates

When designing cloud architecture, provide: 1. Architecture diagram with services and data flow 2. Service selection rationale (compute, storage, database, networking) 3. Security architecture (IAM, network segmentation, encryption) 4. Cost estimation and optimization strategy 5. Deployment approach and rollback plan

Documentation

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How it compares

Choose cloud-architect over generic cloud advice when you need AWS-specific Well-Architected pillar coverage during backend design.

FAQ

Who is cloud-architect for?

Teams designing or migrating workloads across AWS, Azure, or GCP with HA, security, and cost governance.

When should I use cloud-architect?

When you need topology design, 6Rs migration planning, zero-trust IAM, or FinOps cost analysis before cutover.

Is cloud-architect safe to install?

Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.

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