google-cloud-solution-architecture

Overview of the workflow

The workflow consists of the following phases:

• Phase 1: Requirements discovery. Gather detailed requirements related tothe cloud workload or use case that the user needs assistance for.
• Phase 2: Solution architecture. Use the requirements that were gatheredin Phase 1 to generate a detailed solution architecture for the cloudworkload or use case.
• Phase 3: Solution validation. Create a plan to validate the generatedsolution, generate validation instructions and scripts, and provide them tothe user to execute (or perform a dry-run validation with explicitpermission from the user).
• Phase 4: Solution packing and presentation. Consolidate the generatedcontent and present the solution.

Important notes about the workflow:

• Strict phase separation: During Phase 1 (Requirements discovery), whenyou ask the user clarifying questions, don't recommend, propose, or outlineany architectural designs, technical decompositions, cloud services, orcomponent mappings. Proposing solutions before functional and non-functionalrequirements are thoroughly assessed causes confirmation bias and risksanchoring the solution on specific products, features, or tools prematurely.

• Iterative approval & task transitions: For each deliverable in thisworkflow (technical decompositions, product recommendations, diagrams,architectural descriptions, and deployment scripts), explicitly present youroutput to the user for approval. If the user requests modifications,iteratively revise the content until approved before progressing to thesubsequent task or phase.

• No autonomous execution of code and scripts: Don't run any scripts orcode that you generate without explicit, unambiguous permission from theuser. Executing scripts autonomously can provision unintended cloudresources (incurring unexpected costs), mutate live infrastructure, or posesecurity and safety risks. Always offer the option for the user to executethe commands manually.

• When you can skip certain phases: If the user's prompt indicates that aspecific phase or task in this workflow is already completed or approved(e.g., "requirements discovery stage is completed", "product selection isapproved", or "architecture is confirmed"), don't repeat that phase or task.Instead, skip directly to the requested task (such as generating thetechnical decomposition, recommending products, or compiling the solutionguide).

Phase 1: Requirements discovery

1. Gather the following requirements related to the workload or use case forwhich the user needs assistance.

   CRITICAL: You MUST NOT generate any architecture designs, productrecommendations, or technical decompositions until the user provides theserequirements.

   • Functional requirements: Ask the user to describe the businessprocesses, activities, and use cases of their workload.
   • Non-functional requirements: Ask the user to describe requirementsfor security, privacy, compliance, reliability, disaster recovery, cost,operations, performance, and sustainability.
     • CRITICAL: If non-functional requirements are missing orincomplete, you MUST ask the user to describe the requirements andexplicitly explain why they are important (e.g., because theydirectly dictate operational SLAs, availability tiers, scalingconfiguration, cost budgets, resource types, and the securityposture) when asking the user to supply them.
   • Current state: Ask whether the workload currently runs on othercloud providers or on-premises (if yes, prompt for the architecture ofthe existing deployment).
   • System dependencies: Ask the user to describe any dependenciesbetween their application and other workloads, products, systems, ortools.

2. Review the input that the user has provided so far, and check whether thereare any ambiguities or contradictions (e.g., conflicting goals like completenetwork isolation with zero internet exposure vs. real-time ingestion frompublic APIs).

   If you identify any ambiguities or contradictions in the user'srequirements, you must:

   • Clearly describe the ambiguities and contradictions.
   • Explain why the contradictory requirements cannot be simultaneouslysatisfied.
   • Request the user to clarify their trade-off preferences and choices toresolve the ambiguities and contradictions.
     • If the user delegates the choice to you (e.g., the user replies with"do what you think is best" or "you decide"), then provide a clearsuggestion to resolve the ambiguity or contradiction, explain yourreasoning, and ask the user to approve your suggestion.

   CRITICAL: Until all the ambiguities and contradictions that you identifyare resolved, don't recommend or generate any architecture design, technicaldecomposition, or Google Cloud product recommendations. Ambiguous orcontradictory requirements lead to invalid architectural assumptions.

3. Generate a technical decomposition of the components of the workload thatbreaks down the solution into logical components. Present it to the user andobtain approval before proceeding to Phase 2.

   CRITICAL: Before proceeding to Phase 2, ensure that the user hasapproved the technical decomposition. Misalignment of the technicaldecomposition with the user's requirements will invalidate the outputs ofthe subsequent phases in this workflow.

Phase 2: Solution architecture

Use the approved requirements from Phase 1 to generate a comprehensive solutionarchitecture.

Ground all generated content

For each task in this phase, to ensure that the generated content aligns withthe latest and official Google Cloud guidance, you must ground the generatedcontent by using the following resources:

• Google Developer Knowledge MCP server
  • Server: https://developerknowledge.googleapis.com/mcp
  • Tools:
  • developerknowledge:search_documents
  • developerknowledge:get_documents
  • developerknowledge:answer_query
• Relevant skills from https://github.com/google/skills
• Official Google Cloud documentation, including the following:
  • Reference architectures and design guides that are relevant to thetechnology category of the workload: references/architecture-guides.md
  • Decision-making guides for the products and topics that are relevant tothe workload: references/decision-making-guides.md
  • Best-practices guides for the products and topics that are relevant tothe workload: references/best-practices-guides.md

For each item in the generated guidance, you must include citations to therelevant official Google Cloud documentation pages.

Task 2.1: Identify Google Cloud products and features required for the workload.

1. Recommend the products and features that are appropriate for each componentof the user's workload.

   CRITICAL:

   • Don't recommend any products or features that are deprecated, retired,decommissioned, or unsupported. To check the status of a product orfeature, call developerknowledge:answer_query ordeveloperknowledge:search_documents with query strings like:"{product_name} release status".
   • If multiple products or features can be used for a component of theworkload, then do the following:
     • Recommend the most appropriate product or feature. When alternativeproducts exist, the relevant product documentation might provideguidance on when to choose each product. Follow that guidance.
     • Mention the available alternative products or features.
     • Explain the pros and cons of each alternative product or feature.

2. Present the generated product recommendations to the user and ask whetherany changes are needed.

   CRITICAL: Don't generate anything further (architecture diagrams,descriptions, or deployment configurations) in the same turn. Halt executionimmediately after listing the product choices until the user approves theproduct selections.

3. After the user approves the product selections, proceed to Task 2.2.

Task 2.2: Generate an architecture diagram.

1. Generate an architecture diagram in Mermaid format:https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid.
2. Present the generated diagram to the user and obtain approval beforeproceeding to Task 2.3.

Task 2.3: Generate an architecture description.

1. Generate a description that explains the purpose of each component, therelationships between the components, and the task flow or data flow.
2. Present the generated architecture description to the user and obtainapproval before proceeding to Task 2.4.

Task 2.4: Generate design recommendations.

1. Generate design recommendations and best practices to optimally configureeach component in the architecture based on the workload's requirements.Important:

   • When generating design recommendations, incorporate the following:
     • Functional requirements that were gathered in Phase 1.
     • Non-functional requirements that were gathered in Phase 1.
   • To generate guidance for non-functional requirements, use the followingskills, as appropriate:
     • google-cloud-waf-security
     • google-cloud-waf-reliability
     • google-cloud-waf-cost-optimization
     • google-cloud-waf-operational-excellence
     • google-cloud-waf-performance-optimization
     • google-cloud-waf-sustainability

   If any of the specialized google-cloud-waf-* skills are not available inyour current workspace, derive design guidance directly from thedocumentation references in references/best-practices-guides.md.

2. Present the generated recommendations to the user and obtain approval beforeproceeding to Task 2.5.

Task 2.5: Generate deployment guidance.

1. Generate deployment guidance, including infrastructure-as-code andinstructions to enable the user to deploy the solution.
2. Present the generated deployment guidance to the user and obtain approvalbefore proceeding to Phase 3.

Phase 3: Solution validation

Task 3.1: Pre-deployment validation

1. Create a pre-deployment plan to statically validate the generated solutionand verify that it meets the workload's requirements without provisioninglive resources:
   • Deployment dry-run: Validate infrastructure syntax and preview theresources that will be provisioned using dry-run commands (e.g.,terraform plan or (where supported) gcloud ... --dry-run).
   • Architecture & policy analysis: Perform static verification ofnetwork routing topologies, firewall rules, and IAM enforcement againstbest practices.
2. Present the static validation plan to the user and obtain explicitpermission from the user to execute the dry-run commands. If the user givespermission, then run the commands; otherwise, or if the user prefers,provide the exact commands that the user can run manually.
3. Troubleshoot and fix any errors or policy discrepancies identified duringdry-run checks until validation succeeds.
4. Proceed to Task 3.2

Task 3.2: Runtime validation (Post-deployment)

1. Ask the user whether they choose to deploy the infrastructure now to performlive runtime verification, or skip directly to Phase 4.
2. If the user chooses to deploy the infrastructure:
   • After the user deploys the infrastructure, generate runtime verificationcommands (using tools like curl, ping, or gcloud) and provide themto the user to execute, to test live endpoint reachability, networkingpaths, and load balancer routing.
   • Troubleshoot any deployment or runtime routing issues until checks pass.
3. Proceed to Phase 4.

Phase 4: Solution packaging and presentation

Package all the generated text and code artifacts for final presentation.

1. Consolidate the text artifacts that were generated in Phase 2 and Phase 3into a single Markdown file named solution-architecture-guide.md, based onthe template in assets/output-template.md.
2. Request the user's permission to write the code files in the user'sworkspace.
3. After the user gives permission, write the code files in the user'sworkspace.