Agent skill

castai-local-dev-loop

Set up a local Kubernetes development loop with CAST AI cost monitoring. Use when building cost-aware deployments, testing autoscaler policies, or iterating on Terraform CAST AI configurations locally. Trigger with phrases like "cast ai dev setup", "cast ai local testing", "develop with cast ai", "cast ai terraform dev".

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/tree/main/plugins/saas-packs/castai-pack/skills/castai-local-dev-loop

SKILL.md

CAST AI Local Dev Loop

Overview

Fast iteration workflow for CAST AI integrations: test autoscaler policies in a dev cluster, validate Terraform modules before applying to production, and use the CAST AI API to measure savings impact during development.

Prerequisites

  • Completed castai-install-auth setup
  • A development Kubernetes cluster (kind, minikube, or cloud dev cluster)
  • kubectl, helm, and optionally terraform installed

Instructions

Step 1: Project Structure

my-castai-infra/
├── terraform/
│   ├── environments/
│   │   ├── dev.tfvars
│   │   ├── staging.tfvars
│   │   └── prod.tfvars
│   ├── modules/
│   │   └── castai-cluster/
│   │       ├── main.tf
│   │       ├── variables.tf
│   │       └── outputs.tf
│   └── main.tf
├── policies/
│   ├── dev-policy.json
│   └── prod-policy.json
├── scripts/
│   ├── check-savings.sh
│   └── validate-policies.sh
├── .env.dev            # Dev API key (git-ignored)
└── .env.example

Step 2: Dev Cluster with Relaxed Policies

bash
# Connect your dev cluster (read-only first)
helm upgrade --install castai-agent castai-helm/castai-agent \
  -n castai-agent --create-namespace \
  --set apiKey="${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  --set provider="eks"

# Apply development-safe autoscaler policy
curl -X PUT -H "X-API-Key: ${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://api.cast.ai/v1/kubernetes/clusters/${CASTAI_CLUSTER_ID}/policies" \
  -d '{
    "enabled": true,
    "unschedulablePods": { "enabled": true },
    "nodeDownscaler": {
      "enabled": true,
      "emptyNodes": { "enabled": true, "delaySeconds": 300 }
    },
    "clusterLimits": {
      "enabled": true,
      "cpu": { "minCores": 2, "maxCores": 16 }
    }
  }'

Step 3: Quick Savings Check Script

bash
#!/bin/bash
# scripts/check-savings.sh
set -euo pipefail

API_KEY="${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}"
CLUSTER_ID="${CASTAI_CLUSTER_ID}"

echo "=== CAST AI Dev Cluster Savings ==="
curl -s -H "X-API-Key: ${API_KEY}" \
  "https://api.cast.ai/v1/kubernetes/clusters/${CLUSTER_ID}/savings" \
  | jq '{
    monthlySavings: .monthlySavings,
    percentage: .savingsPercentage,
    spotNodes: [.nodes[] | select(.lifecycle == "spot")] | length,
    totalNodes: [.nodes[]] | length
  }'

Step 4: Terraform Plan-Apply Loop

bash
# Plan with dev variables
cd terraform/
terraform plan -var-file=environments/dev.tfvars -out=plan.tfplan

# Apply and check CAST AI result
terraform apply plan.tfplan

# Verify policies took effect
curl -s -H "X-API-Key: ${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  "https://api.cast.ai/v1/kubernetes/clusters/${CASTAI_CLUSTER_ID}/policies" \
  | jq .

Step 5: Watch Node Changes in Real Time

bash
# Terminal 1: Watch CAST AI node operations
watch -n 15 'curl -s -H "X-API-Key: ${CASTAI_API_KEY_DEV}" \
  "https://api.cast.ai/v1/kubernetes/external-clusters/${CASTAI_CLUSTER_ID}/nodes" \
  | jq "[.items[] | {name, instanceType, lifecycle, age: .createdAt}] | length"'

# Terminal 2: Watch kubectl node status
kubectl get nodes -w

Error Handling

Error Cause Solution
Dev cluster not found Wrong cluster ID List clusters with API first
Policy rejected Invalid JSON Validate with jq . < policy.json
Terraform drift Manual console changes Run terraform refresh
Agent offline after restart Helm release stale helm upgrade --install again

Resources

Next Steps

See castai-sdk-patterns for reusable API wrapper patterns.

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