{"slug":"eks-upgrade-readiness","title":"eks-upgrade-readiness","summary":"Use this skill when a user asks to assess, plan, or validate an","platform":"Claude","tags":[],"authorName":"LLM Mart","authorSlug":"llm-mart","score":0,"source":"github","price":null,"verified":false,"createdAt":"2026-09-17T16:54:18.252502Z","repo":{"url":"https://github.com/aws/tools-for-devops-agent","stars":82,"forks":62,"license":"Apache-2.0","updatedAt":"2026-09-25T14:34:10Z"},"bodyHtml":"

EKS Upgrade Readiness Skill

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A skill for AWS DevOps Agent that performs read-only upgrade readiness\nassessments for Amazon EKS clusters, aligned with the\nAWS EKS Best Practices Guide — Cluster Upgrades.

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Purpose

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EKS upgrades can fail or cause downtime when deprecated APIs, incompatible\naddons, version-skewed node groups, or misconfigured PDBs are not caught\nbeforehand. This skill systematically checks every dimension the Best Practices\nGuide calls out and produces a READY / NOT READY / READY WITH WARNINGS /\nCANNOT DETERMINE verdict with a prioritized remediation plan.

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Key Capabilities

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Prerequisites

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IAM Permissions

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The DevOps Agent role needs read access to EKS, EC2, IAM, and Auto Scaling:

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eks:DescribeCluster\neks:ListClusters\neks:ListInsights\neks:DescribeInsight\neks:ListAddons\neks:DescribeAddon\neks:DescribeAddonVersions\neks:ListNodegroups\neks:DescribeNodegroup\neks:ListFargateProfiles\neks:DescribeFargateProfile\neks:ListUpdates\neks:DescribeUpdate\nec2:DescribeSubnets\nec2:DescribeInstances\nec2:DescribeLaunchTemplateVersions\nec2:DescribeImages\nec2:DescribeCapacityReservations\niam:GetRole\nautoscaling:DescribeAutoScalingGroups\nautoscaling:DescribeLaunchConfigurations\nservicequotas:GetServiceQuota\n
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Kubernetes RBAC (if kubectl access available)

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A ClusterRole with read-only access to nodes, pods, deployments, statefulsets,\ndaemonsets, PDBs, configmaps, secrets (Helm), CRDs, CSRs, Karpenter resources,\nand ENIConfigs. See the \"Required Permissions\" section in SKILL.md for the\nfull ClusterRole manifest. kubectl access is optional — the assessment\nstill runs on AWS APIs alone at lower confidence for CRD/Helm/PDB checks.

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AWS Resources

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Limitations

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Agent Types

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Uploading to AWS DevOps Agent

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Option A: Import from GitHub (recommended)

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If you have a GitHub connection configured in your Agent Space, you can import this skill directly from the repository. In the DevOps Agent web app, go to Settings → Add Skill → Import from repository, then\npoint to skills/eks-upgrade-readiness. See Importing a skill from a repository for full instructions.

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Note: You cannot connect the aws-samples GitHub organization directly because the GitHub connection setup requires admin rights on the organization. Instead, connect your personal GitHub account and select any repository from it during the connection setup. Once a GitHub connection is established, you can import skills from any public repository, including this one, even if it wasn't selected during the connection setup.

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Option B: Upload as a zip file

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  1. Zip the eks-upgrade-readiness/ directory (only including allowed extensions):
    2. \n
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cd skills\nzip -r eks-upgrade-readiness.zip eks-upgrade-readiness/ \\\n  -i '*.md' '*.json' '*.yaml' '*.yml' \\\n  -x '*/README.md' '*/.skilleval.yaml' '*/CHANGELOG.md' '*/evals/*'\n
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  1. In the AWS DevOps Agent web app, navigate to the Skills page.
    2. \n
  2. Click Add skill → Upload skill.
    3. \n
  3. Drag and drop the eks-upgrade-readiness.zip file (max 6 MB).
    4. \n
  4. Select the agent types: Chat tasks and Evaluation.
    5. \n
  5. Click Upload.
    6. \n
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Option C: Upload via the Asset API

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Use the DevOps Agent Asset API to programmatically manage skills — useful for CI/CD pipelines or automation workflows. Assign to CHAT and EVALUATION agent types. See Managing a skill end-to-end for the full API workflow.

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How to Use This Skill

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Describe the task in natural language — you do not need to name the skill.

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Example Prompts

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\"Is my EKS cluster prod-cluster in us-east-1 ready to upgrade to 1.31?\"\n\"Check upgrade readiness for all my EKS clusters\"\n\"What deprecated APIs would break if I upgrade to Kubernetes 1.32?\"\n\"Plan the upgrade of my cluster from 1.30 to 1.31 including node groups\"\n\"Are my addons compatible with EKS 1.31?\"\n\"Will my PDBs block a node group upgrade?\"\n\"I need to upgrade a 50-node cluster — what capacity do I need?\"\n\"Compare in-place vs blue-green strategy for my 200-node cluster\"\n\"My cluster is managed by Terraform — how should I do the upgrade?\"\n\"We use AL2 with custom bootstrap scripts — what breaks going to 1.33?\"\n\"We just upgraded to 1.31 — what should we validate?\"\n\"We use Pod Identity and are planning a blue-green migration — what identity work is needed?\"\n\"Give me the upgrade readiness result as JSON so I can gate our CI/CD pipeline\"\n
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Modes

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
ModeTriggerBehavior
Full assessment\"upgrade readiness\", \"ready to upgrade\"All 17 steps, scored report
Targeted check\"deprecated APIs\", \"addon compatibility\", \"PDB check\"One dimension, focused
Planning\"upgrade plan\", \"upgrade runbook\"Execution order with rollback gates
Comparison\"blue-green vs in-place\"Strategy recommendation
Validation\"post-upgrade check\", \"validate upgrade\"Smoke tests (Step 15)
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Skill Structure

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eks-upgrade-readiness/\n├── SKILL.md                # Main skill instructions (17-step workflow)\n├── README.md               # This file\n├── CHANGELOG.md            # Version history\n├── .skilleval.yaml         # Agent Skill Eval config\n├── evals/\n│   ├── evals.json          # 24 functional evaluation scenarios\n│   └── eval_queries.json   # Trigger tests (positive and negative)\n└── references/\n    ├── safety-invariants.md         # Hard safety rules, knowledge hierarchy, operation classification\n    ├── required-check-registry.yaml # All 60+ checks with IDs, categories, and severity\n    ├── pre-flight-checks.yaml       # Blocking vs warning checks, timeouts, soak periods, rollback conditions\n    ├── api-deprecations.md          # K8s API removal schedule by version\n    ├── addon-version-matrix.md      # EKS addon compatibility (static fallback)\n    ├── capacity-planning.md         # FDCR/ODCR surge capacity guidance\n    ├── upgrade-troubleshooting.md   # Tools, feature removals, blue-green\n    ├── karpenter-checks.md          # Full 14-check Karpenter registry (KARP-01 to KARP-14)\n    ├── pre-drain-safety.md          # DRAIN-01 to DRAIN-06 detection and remediation\n    ├── al2-al2023-migration.md      # AL2→AL2023 migration assessment details\n    └── data-plane-inventory.md      # MNG, self-managed, Karpenter, Auto Mode, Fargate inventory commands\n
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Safety

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This skill operates in read-only mode:

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Non-production disclaimer

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⚠️ This skill is sample code, not intended for production use without\nadditional review and testing. Validate in a non-production environment first.\nCompatibility data and version matrices are point-in-time references — always\nverify with aws eks describe-addon-versions for the latest data.

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