assuredworkloads-environment-assessor
Discover Google Cloud resource telemetry and effective Org Policies, evaluate brownfield workloads against sovereign data boundary and compliance standards (EU Data Boundary with Support, FedRAMP Moderate/High, DoD IL4/IL5, ITAR, CJIS, US/EU Regional Data Boundaries), and recommend the optimal Assured Workloads Framework. Use when asked to: "assess my environment for compliance", "which Assured Workloads framework should I use?", "check if my folder is ready for EU sovereignty", "evaluate compliance posture for folders/123 or projects/xyz", or "discover compliance gaps before deployment". Do NOT use for live mutating policy deployments, generating deep audit reports via Cloud Audit Manager, generating remediation scripts, or authoring custom Assured Workloads frameworks.
Compliance Environment Assessor Skill
This skill performs zero-risk, non-mutating compliance discovery, physical telemetry profiling, and data boundary framework recommendation across Google Cloud Folders (folders/{folder_id}) and Projects (projects/{project_id}).
Usage Attribution
MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you
MUST read and follow the instructions in
Usage Attribution.
Safety & Execution Tier (CRITICAL)
- Tier R (Strictly Read-Only):
All discovery operations execute read-only queries
(
gcloud asset search-all-resources,gcloud compliance-manager frameworks list,gcloud compliance-manager cloud-controls describe, andgcloud org-policies describe --effective). You MUST NEVER execute mutating commands (gcloud compliance-manager framework-deployments create,gcloud org-policies set-policy, orgcloud resource-manager ...).
Grounding Guardrails: Google Cloud & Assured Workloads Precedence (CRITICAL)
To prevent hallucinations, incorrect compliance assessments, and false blockers derived from generic LLM pre-training, the agent is governed by strict Grounding Guardrails:
- Strict Prohibition on Generic LLM Pre-Training Priors:
- You MUST NOT derive compliance rules, API semantics, or deployment constraints from generic web pre-training (e.g., generic NIST/FedRAMP certification audit checklists, AWS/Azure architectures, or legacy on-prem IT auditor mindsets).
- In traditional IT audits, non-compliance is a binary go/no-go gate that
blocks deployment. In Google Cloud Assured Workloads, deploying in
Monitoring (
Detective) mode enables detective controls without mutating existing Organization Policies, allowing continuous observability without halting Day 0 rollout. You MUST NOT confuse these paradigms.
- Authoritative Assured Workloads Scope & Deployment Grounding:
- Assured Workloads binds compliance frameworks directly to existing or new
Google Cloud folders (
folders/...) and projects (projects/...). - Existing Workloads (Folders or Projects): Recommend deploying in
Monitoring (
Detective) mode first to assess and remediate findings safely without mutating existing Organization Policies, and then transitioning to Preventive mode. - New Workloads (Folders or Projects): Recommend starting in
Preventive mode or Monitoring (
Detective) mode. - Google Cloud Console Deployment: Always guide the user to deploy the
recommended framework via the Assured Workloads Frameworks tab in Google
Cloud Console
(
https://console.cloud.google.com/compliance/configure/frameworks?organizationId=ORGANIZATION_ID). Do NOT recommendgcloud assured workloads create(which only provisions new greenfield folders using legacy regime enums and cannot bind frameworks to existing folders or projects).
- Assured Workloads binds compliance frameworks directly to existing or new
Google Cloud folders (
- Client-Side Org Policy Readiness vs. Server-Side CES Boundary:
- Client-Side Scope: Pre-flight evaluation via
scripts/evaluate_control_rules.pyassesses ONLY the 3 high-confidence Organization Policy parameter sets bound inFramework.cloudControlDetails[].parameters:- Resource Locations (
builtin-restrict-resource-locations/constraints/gcp.resourceLocations) - Service Usage Restrictions / SUR
(
builtin-enforce-service-usage-restrictions/constraints/gcp.restrictServiceUsage) - CMEK Encryption Requirements (
builtin-require-cmek/constraints/gcp.restrictNonCmekServices)
- Resource Locations (
- Server-Side CES Scope: Complex Continuous Evaluation Service
(
ces_rule) and REST API rules (rest_api_measurement) are evaluated server-side by the Continuous Evaluation Service (CES) after the framework is deployed. - Terminology Invariant: You MUST frame client-side findings as
Pre-Flight Org Policy Readiness Recommendations / Potential Drift
Indicators (
orgPolicyDriftIndicators), NEVER as definitive compliance "violations" or "deployment blockers" that could contradict an actual post-deployment CES run.
- Client-Side Scope: Pre-flight evaluation via
- Static Built-In Catalog, Session Caching, Support Routing & KAJ Flow:
- Built-in Frameworks (
type: BUILT_IN) returned bygcloud compliance-manager frameworks listare static configurations uniform across organizations. Fetchframeworks.jsononce per session and reuse the cached file across all candidate evaluations and follow-up queries. - Personnel Support Model: Determine whether a framework requires a
Paid Sovereign/Regulated Support Subscription or uses Standard
Commercial Support ($0 support uplift) from the framework's public
displayNameanddescriptioninframeworks.json:- Paid Sovereign/Regulated Support Subscription: Frameworks whose
descriptionspecifies support personnel access controls (e.g.,"Support access controls are set to ...",-and-supportvariants such asbuiltin-eu-data-boundary-and-supportandbuiltin-us-data-boundary-and-support, or regulated standards such asbuiltin-il4,builtin-il5,builtin-itar,builtin-fedramp-high,builtin-cjis). - Standard Commercial Support ($0 support uplift): Regional-only Data
Boundary frameworks whose
descriptionsets data location controls only without a support access controls clause (e.g.,builtin-us-data-boundary,builtin-eu-data-boundary,builtin-uk-data-boundary,builtin-japan-data-boundary). - Important: Do NOT use the mere presence of
builtin-restrict-technical-support-servicesincloudControlDetailsas a discriminator, because both regional-only and paid-support Data Boundary frameworks include that control.
- Paid Sovereign/Regulated Support Subscription: Frameworks whose
- Key Access Justifications (KAJ) & EKM: Recommend
-with-access-justificationsframework variants only when the customer explicitly requests KAJ/EKM, or when disambiguating between matching regional variants inframeworks.json.
- Built-in Frameworks (
- Deterministic Tool Gating:
- You MUST NOT guess compatibility scores ($$S_{\text{composite}}$$) or resource inventories.
- You MUST execute
scripts/evaluate_control_rules.pywith--frameworks-file=frameworks.json.
Prerequisites
Before executing environment assessment, ensure your local or Cloud Shell environment meets the following prerequisites:
- Google Cloud SDK:
- Install and initialize the latest Google Cloud CLI (
gcloud): https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install.md.txt
- Install and initialize the latest Google Cloud CLI (
- Project Setup & Target Selection:
- Select or configure an administrative project for running assessment queries:
gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID
- Select or configure an administrative project for running assessment queries:
- Region Configuration & Availability:
- Configure a well-supported default region (e.g.
us-central1):gcloud config set compute/region us-central1 - Consult official region availability documentation: Google Cloud Locations.
- Configure a well-supported default region (e.g.
- Required API Enablement:
- Enable the required Google Cloud APIs on the administrative project:
gcloud services enable \ cloudasset.googleapis.com \ orgpolicy.googleapis.com \ assuredworkloads.googleapis.com \ cloudsecuritycompliance.googleapis.com
- Enable the required Google Cloud APIs on the administrative project:
- Authentication Setup:
- Authenticate your user or service account identity and establish application default credentials:
gcloud auth login gcloud auth application-default login
- Authenticate your user or service account identity and establish application default credentials:
- Billing & Quota Project Setup (Zero Billing Impact):
- Zero-Cost Assessment Guarantee: Running this assessment incurs $0 in
Google Cloud infrastructure and API billing charges. All discovery
operations (
gcloud asset search-all-resources,gcloud compliance-manager frameworks list, andgcloud org-policies describe --effective) are free read-only metadata queries. - Quota Project Requirement: Google Cloud Service Infrastructure requires an administrative project with an active Cloud Billing account attached to allocate API rate limits and meter service usage (sent via the
X-Goog-User-Projectheader), even for free APIs. - Pre-Flight Verification:
# 1. Verify active Cloud Billing account is attached to administrative project gcloud billing projects describe PROJECT_ID --format="value(billingEnabled)" # 2. If using a shared project, ensure your user identity has permission to consume project quota gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID \ --member="user:USER_EMAIL" \ --role="roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageConsumer" # 3. Synchronize Application Default Credentials quota project gcloud auth application-default set-quota-project PROJECT_ID
- Zero-Cost Assessment Guarantee: Running this assessment incurs $0 in
Google Cloud infrastructure and API billing charges. All discovery
operations (
- Commands & Payloads Reference:
- Consult the Google Cloud CLI Commands Reference for full server-side projection masks, field filters, and API payload definitions.
Step-by-Step Operating Workflow
Step 1: Ingest Scope & Resolve Organization ID
- Accept or prompt for the target scope (
folders/{folder_id}orprojects/{project_id}). If the user provides an open-ended scope without stating a regulatory regime, DO NOT block on broad questionnaires. Proceed immediately to ingest telemetry. - Automatically resolve the parent Organization ID from the scope to drive downstream catalog queries:
- For Folders:
(If the parent is another folder, traverse up ancestors untilgcloud resource-manager folders describe FOLDER_ID --format="value(parent)"organizations/{org_id}is found) - For Projects:
gcloud projects get-ancestors PROJECT_ID --format="value(id,type)"
- For Folders:
Step 2: Ingest Asset Telemetry & Effective Org Policies via Two-Pass Telescoping Protocol
To guarantee 100% coverage across the scope hierarchy while keeping payloads compact, telemetry ingestion executes in two telescoping passes (see Google Cloud CLI Commands Reference):
-
Pass 1: Macro Footprint & API Enumeration (100% Scope Coverage):
gcloud asset search-all-resources \ --scope="folders/FOLDER_ID" \ --page-size=500 \ --format="json(name,assetType,location)" > macro_telemetry.json- Pagination & Scope Semantics:
--page-size=500fetches 500 cloud assets per HTTP API page (the maximum batch size permitted by Cloud Asset Inventory), automatically paginating through all assets strictly insidefolders/FOLDER_IDand its descendant projects. - Full Location & SUR Coverage:
macro_telemetry.jsoncaptures 100% of activelocationandassetTypevalues required to evaluate bothbuiltin-restrict-resource-locations(allowedLocations) andbuiltin-enforce-service-usage-restrictions(allowedServices/ SUR). - If
PERMISSION_DENIEDis returned:- If the error states
USER_PROJECT_DENIEDor referencesroles/serviceusage.serviceUsageConsumer, the error is on the administrative quota project (it lacks an attached billing account or caller lacksserviceUsageConsumer). Follow the Quota Project Recovery playbook and stop running further commands. - If the error references the target scope (
folders/...orprojects/...), HALT ALL TOOL CALLS IMMEDIATELY (do not run Step 2.2, Step 3, or any further commands) and inform the user they requireroles/cloudasset.viewerandroles/orgpolicy.policyVieweron that scope.
- If the error states
- If 0 resources are returned, inform the user the target scope is empty.
- Pagination & Scope Semantics:
-
Inspect Effective Universal Org Policies on Scope (
38/38Frameworks):gcloud org-policies describe gcp.resourceLocations \ --folder=FOLDER_ID \ --effective \ --format="json(name,spec.rules)" > effective_locations.json gcloud org-policies describe gcp.restrictServiceUsage \ --folder=FOLDER_ID \ --effective \ --format="json(name,spec.rules)" > effective_services.json gcloud org-policies describe gcp.restrictTLSVersion \ --folder=FOLDER_ID \ --effective \ --format="json(name,spec.rules)" > effective_tls.json
Step 3: Fetch & Cache Built-In Framework Catalog and Filter by Location + SUR
- Fetch & Cache Built-In Framework Catalog (with Bound Parameters):
if [ ! -s frameworks.json ]; then gcloud compliance-manager frameworks list \ --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID \ --location=global \ --filter="category:ASSURED_WORKLOADS" \ --format="json(name,majorRevisionId,displayName,description,category,cloudControlDetails)" > frameworks.json fi- Session Caching: Because built-in
ASSURED_WORKLOADSframeworks are static definitions uniform across organizations, cache the output inframeworks.jsonand reuse it for all candidate evaluations and follow-up questions.
- Session Caching: Because built-in
- Filter Candidates by Location + SUR Footprint & Clarify Intent:
- Exclude location-less control-plane management metadata
(
cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/*,orgpolicy.googleapis.com/*,cloudasset.googleapis.com/*,accesscontextmanager.googleapis.com/*, andlocation: "global"hierarchy nodes) from data-plane location checks. - Match active data-plane regions (
location) and active service prefixes (assetType) frommacro_telemetry.jsonagainst each framework'sbuiltin-restrict-resource-locations(allowedLocations) andbuiltin-enforce-service-usage-restrictions(allowedServices/ SUR) parameters inframeworks.json:- US-Only Regions (
us-central1,us-east4): Candidates include DoD IL5 (builtin-il5, adjudicated support), ITAR (builtin-itar, US persons support), FedRAMP High/Moderate, or US Regional Data Boundary (builtin-us-data-boundary, standard commercial support). - EU-Only Regions (
europe-west3,europe-west1): Candidates include EU Data Boundary and Support (builtin-eu-data-boundary-and-support) vs. standard EU Regional Boundary (builtin-eu-data-boundary).
- US-Only Regions (
- Targeted Disambiguation:
- If multiple frameworks match the physical footprint and user regulatory intent is unstated (e.g., an open-ended request with no regime specified), DO NOT finalize a single primary recommendation yet — present the matching candidate frameworks and STOP to ask the user a targeted clarifying question about their regulatory intent (e.g., EU Sovereignty, US FedRAMP/IL5) and personnel support model (Standard Commercial Support vs. Paid Sovereign/Regulated Support).
- Recommend
-with-access-justifications(KAJ/EKM) framework variants only if the customer explicitly asks for KAJ/EKM or when disambiguating between matching regional variants. - Out-of-Scope / Non-Catalog Compliance Standards (e.g., CMMC, UK
GDPR):
If the user asks to evaluate a compliance standard or legal certification
that is not present as a built-in
ASSURED_WORKLOADSframework inframeworks.json(such as CMMC, UK GDPR, SOC 2, or PCI-DSS), DO NOT fabricate or pass non-existent framework IDs (e.g.,builtin-cmmcorbuiltin-uk-gdpr) toevaluate_control_rules.py. Explicitly state that the requested standard is not a standalone Assured Workloads Data Boundary framework, explain the catalog scope boundary (Data Boundary enforces regional data residency, SUR, CMEK, and sovereign support routing rather than legal privacy or third-party certification audits), and offer the closest adjacentASSURED_WORKLOADSframeworks fromframeworks.jsonthat match their active regional footprint (e.g.,builtin-il5orbuiltin-fedramp-highfor US defense/CUI workloads, orbuiltin-eu-data-boundary-and-support/builtin-eu-data-boundary/builtin-uk-data-boundaryfor European/UK regional
- Exclude location-less control-plane management metadata
(
Files of this skill
skills/cloud/assuredworkloads-environment-assessor/references/attribution.mdskills/cloud/assuredworkloads-environment-assessor/references/gcloud-commands.mdskills/cloud/assuredworkloads-environment-assessor/scripts/evaluate_control_rules.pyskills/cloud/assuredworkloads-environment-assessor/scripts/validate_workload_payload.py