migration-to-aws

Migration to AWS Skill

Philosophy

• Re-platform by default: Select AWS services that match GCP workload types (e.g., Cloud Run → Fargate, Cloud SQL → RDS).
• Dev sizing unless specified: Default to development-tier capacity (e.g., db.t4g.micro, single AZ). Upgrade only on user direction.
• Cost informed decisions: Always estimate costs before generating infrastructure code.
• No human one-time migration costs: Do not present human labor, professional services, or people-time work as dollar estimates or "one-time migration cost" budget categories. Vendor charges grounded in data (for example GCP data transfer egress in the infra estimate when billing exists) are allowed.
• Multi-signal approach: Design phase adapts based on available inputs — Terraform IaC for infrastructure, billing data for service mapping, and app code for AI workload detection.
• Terraform generation preferred: Use Terraform as the default IaC tool for migration artifacts.
• Architecture choice preservation: Preserve existing application architecture patterns during migration.
• BigQuery / google_bigquery_*: The skill does not recommend a specific AWS analytics or warehouse service. During Clarify, if discovery shows BigQuery (IaC google_bigquery_* and/or billing rows for BigQuery), you must surface the specialist advisory before Design (see references/phases/clarify/clarify.md). Design output uses Deferred — specialist engagement; keep directing the user to their AWS account team and/or a data analytics migration partner through Design, Estimate, and docs (see references/phases/design/design-infra.md BigQuery specialist gate).

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Definitions

• "Load" = Read the file using the Read tool and follow its instructions. Do not summarize or skip sections.
• $MIGRATION_DIR = The run-specific directory under .migration/ (e.g., .migration/0226-1430/). Set during Phase 1 (Discover).

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Context Loading Rules

Each phase loads reference files on demand. To keep per-turn context manageable and prevent instruction-following degradation:

• Budget: Each phase should load no more than ~800 lines of instructions (excluding user artifacts like JSON profiles and MCP tool results).
• Conditional loading: Reference files with trigger conditions (e.g., agentic_profile.is_agentic == true) MUST NOT be loaded unless the condition is met. Do not speculatively load files.
• No duplication: Model mapping tables, pricing data, and shared warnings exist in one canonical file. Other files reference them; they do not copy them inline.
• Progressive depth: Phase orchestrators (design.md, generate.md) contain short routing logic that points to detailed sub-files. Load the sub-file only when its path is selected.

Conditional reference files (load ONLY when condition is true):

File	Condition
design-refs/ai-gemini-to-bedrock.md	ai-workload-profile.json exists AND summary.ai_source = "gemini" or "both"
design-refs/ai-openai-to-bedrock.md	ai-workload-profile.json exists AND summary.ai_source = "openai" or "both"
design-refs/ai.md	ai-workload-profile.json exists AND summary.ai_source = "other"
design-refs/design-ref-harness.md	agentic_profile.is_agentic == true AND ai_constraints.agentic.migration_approach == "harness"
design-refs/design-ref-agentic-to-agentcore.md	agentic_profile.is_agentic == true AND ai_constraints.agentic.migration_approach == "strands"
shared/retarget-gotchas.md	agentic_profile.is_agentic == true AND ai_constraints.agentic.migration_approach == "retarget"

When adding new reference files, verify the phase's total loaded instructions remain under budget. If a new file would exceed ~800 lines when combined with other loaded refs, split it or make it conditional.

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Prerequisites

User must provide at least one GCP source:

• Terraform IaC: .tf files (with optional .tfvars, .tfstate)
• Application code: Source files with GCP SDK or AI framework imports
• Billing data: GCP billing/cost/usage export files (CSV or JSON)

If none of the above are found, stop and ask user to provide at least one source type.

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State Machine

This is the execution controller. After completing each phase, consult this table to determine the next action.

Current State	Condition	Next Action
discover	phases.discover != "completed"	Load references/phases/discover/discover.md
clarify	phases.discover == "completed" AND phases.clarify != "completed"	Load references/phases/clarify/clarify.md
design	phases.clarify == "completed" AND phases.design != "completed"	Load references/phases/design/design.md
estimate	phases.design == "completed" AND phases.estimate != "completed"	Load references/phases/estimate/estimate.md
generate	phases.estimate == "completed" AND phases.generate != "completed"	Load references/phases/generate/generate.md
complete	phases.generate == "completed" AND phases.feedback == "pending"	Set phases.feedback to "completed" (user had two chances), then migration complete
complete	phases.generate == "completed" AND phases.feedback == "completed"	Migration planning complete

How to determine current state (deterministic):

1. Read $MIGRATION_DIR/.phase-status.json
2. If current_phase exists, use it (must match one of: discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate, complete)
3. Otherwise use ordered phase evaluation: discover → clarify → design → estimate → generate
4. Pick the first phase in that order where phases.<phase> != "completed"; if none, state is complete

Phase gate checks: If prior phase incomplete, do not advance (e.g., cannot enter estimate without completed design).

Clarify is mandatory: Do not load references/phases/design/design.md, references/phases/estimate/estimate.md, or references/phases/generate/generate.md unless $MIGRATION_DIR/.phase-status.json exists and phases.clarify is exactly "completed". A preferences.json file alone is not sufficient proof that Clarify ran. If the user asks to skip Clarify or jump straight to Design, cost estimate, or artifact generation, refuse briefly, then load references/phases/clarify/clarify.md and run Phase 2. There is no exception for "quick" or "obvious" migrations.

Feedback checkpoints: Feedback is not a sequential phase — it is offered at two interleaved checkpoints (after Discover and after Estimate). See the Feedback Checkpoints section below for details.

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State Validation

When reading $MIGRATION_DIR/.phase-status.json, validate before proceeding:

1. Multiple sessions: If multiple directories exist under .migration/, list them with their phase status and ask: [A] Resume latest, [B] Start fresh, [C] Cancel.
2. Invalid JSON: If .phase-status.json fails to parse, STOP. Output: "State file corrupted (invalid JSON). Delete the file and restart the current phase."
3. Unrecognized phase: If phases object contains a phase not in {discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate, feedback}, STOP. Output: "Unrecognized phase: [value]. Valid phases: discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate, feedback."
4. Unrecognized status: If any phases.* value is not in {pending, in_progress, completed}, STOP. Output: "Unrecognized status: [value]. Valid values: pending, in_progress, completed."
5. Invalid current_phase (if present): If current_phase is not in {discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate, complete}, STOP. Output: "Unrecognized current_phase: [value]. Valid values: discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate, complete."
6. Out-of-order completion: For ordered phases [discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate], if any later phase is "completed" while an earlier phase is not "completed", STOP. Output: "Inconsistent phase ordering detected. Reconcile .phase-status.json before resuming."
7. Multiple active phases: Across core phases {discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate}, at most one phase may be "in_progress". If >1, STOP. Output: "Multiple phases are in_progress. Keep only one active phase before resuming."

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State Management

Migration state lives in $MIGRATION_DIR (.migration/[MMDD-HHMM]/), created by Phase 1 and persisted across invocations.

.phase-status.json schema:

{
  "migration_id": "0226-1430",
  "last_updated": "2026-02-26T15:35:22Z",
  "current_phase": "design",
  "phases": {
    "discover": "completed",
    "clarify": "completed",
    "design": "in_progress",
    "estimate": "pending",
    "generate": "pending",
    "feedback": "pending"
  }
}

Status values: "pending" → "in_progress" → "completed". Never goes backward. For core phases (discover, clarify, design, estimate, generate), at most one phase may be "in_progress" at any time. current_phase is optional but recommended; when present it is authoritative.

The .migration/ directory is automatically protected by a .gitignore file created in Phase 1.

Phase Status Update Protocol

Use read-merge-write updates for .phase-status.json:

1. Read the current file before every update.
2. Change only the phase keys being advanced and last_updated.
3. Keep prior completed phases unchanged.
4. Set current_phase to the next deterministic phase (or complete after generate).
5. Write the full file in the same turn as your final phase work message.

Example — after completing the Clarify phase, write $MIGRATION_DIR/.phase-status.json with:

{
  "migration_id": "MMDD-HHMM",
  "last_updated": "2026-02-26T15:35:22Z",
  "current_phase": "design",
  "phases": {
    "discover": "completed",
    "clarify": "completed",
    "design": "pending",
    "estimate": "pending",
    "generate": "pending",
    "feedback": "pending"
  }
}

Replace MMDD-HHMM with the actual migration ID, generate the last_updated ISO 8601 UTC timestamp yourself, and set each phase to its correct status at that point.

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Phase Summary Table

Phase	Inputs	Outputs	Reference
Discover	.tf files, app source code, and/or billing exports (at least one required)	gcp-resource-inventory.json, gcp-resource-clusters.json, ai-workload-profile.json, billing-profile.json, .phase-status.json updated (outputs vary by input)	references/phases/discover/discover.md
Clarify	Discovery artifacts (gcp-resource-inventory.json, gcp-resource-clusters.json, ai-workload-profile.json, billing-profile.json — whichever exist)	preferences.json, .phase-status.json updated	references/phases/clarify/clarify.md
Design	preferences.json + discovery artifacts	aws-design.json (infra), aws-design-ai.json (AI), aws-design-billing.json (billing-only)	references/phases/design/design.md
Estimate	aws-design.json or aws-design-billing.json or aws-design-ai.json, preferences.json	estimation-infra.json or estimation-ai.json or estimation-billing.json, .phase-status.json updated	references/phases/estimate/estimate.md
Generate	estimation-infra.json or estimation-ai.json or estimation-billing.json, aws-design.json or aws-design-billing.json or aws-design-ai.json, preferences.json	generation-infra.json or generation-ai.json or generation-billing.json + terraform/, scripts/, ai-migration/, validation-report.json (when infra route active), MIGRATION_GUIDE.md, README.md, .phase-status.json updated	references/phases/generate/generate.md
Feedback	.phase-status.json (discover completed minimum), all existing migration artifacts	feedback.json, trace.json, .phase-status.json updated	references/phases/feedback/feedback.md

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MCP Servers

awspricing (for cost estimation):

• Provides get_pricing, get_pricing_service_codes, get_pricing_service_attributes tools
• Only needed during Estimate phase. Discover and Design do not require it.
• Primary pricing source: references/shared/pricing-cache.md (cached 2026 rates, ±5-10% for infrastructure, ±15-25% for AI models). MCP is secondary — used only for services not found in the cache.

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Files in This Skill

migration-to-aws/
├── SKILL.md                                    ← You are here (orchestrator + state machine)
│
├── references/
│   ├── phases/
│   │   ├── discover/
│   │   │   ├── discover.md                     # Phase 1: Discover orchestrator
│   │   │   ├── discover-iac.md                 # Terraform/IaC discovery
│   │   │   ├── discover-app-code.md            # App code discovery
│   │   │   └── discover-billing.md             # Billing data discovery
│   │   ├── clarify/
│   │   │   ├── clarify.md                     # Phase 2: Clarify orchestrator
│   │   │   ├── clarify-global.md              # Category A: Global/Strategic (Q1-Q7)
│   │   │   ├── clarify-compute.md             # Categories B+C: Config Gaps + Compute (Q8-Q11)
│   │   │   ├── clarify-database.md            # Category D: Database (Q12-Q13)
│   │   │   ├── clarify-ai.md                  # Category F: AI/Bedrock (Q14-Q22)
│   │   │   └── clarify-ai-only.md             # Standalone AI-only migration flow
│   │   ├── design/
│   │   │   ├── design.md                       # Phase 3: Design orchestrator
│   │   │   ├── design-infra.md                 # Infrastructure design (IaC-based)
│   │   │   ├── design-ai.md                    # AI workload design (Bedrock)
│   │   │   └── design-billing.md               # Billing-only design (fallback)
│   │   ├── estimate/
│   │   │   ├── estimate.md                     # Phase 4: Estimate orchestrator
│   │   │   ├── estimate-infra.md               # Infrastructure cost analysis
│   │   │   ├── estimate-ai.md                  # AI workload cost analysis
│   │   │   └── estimate-billing.md             # Billing-only cost analysis
│   │   ├── generate/
│   │   │   ├── generate.md                     # Phase 5: Generate orchestrator
│   │   │   ├── generate-infra.md               # Infrastructure migration plan
│   │   │   ├── generate-ai.md                  # AI migration plan
│   │   │   ├── generate-billing.md             # Billing-only migration plan
│   │   │   ├── generate-artifacts-infra.md     # Terraform configurations
│   │   │   ├── generate-artifacts-scripts.md  # Migration scripts
│   │   │   ├── generate-artifacts-ai.md        # Provider adapter + test harness
│   │   │   ├── generate-artifacts-billing.md   # Skeleton Terraform
│   │   │   └── generate-artifacts-docs.md      # MIGRATION_GUIDE.md + README.md
│   │   └── feedback/
│   │       ├── feedback.md                     # Phase 6: Feedback orchestrator
│   │       └── feedback-trace.md               # Anonymized trace builder
│   │
│   ├── design-refs/
│   │   ├── index.md                            # Lookup table: GCP type → design-ref file
│   │   ├── fast-path.md                        # Deterministic 1:1 mappings (Pass 1)
│   │   ├── compute.md                          # Compute mappings (Cloud Run, GCE, GKE, etc.)
│   │   ├── database.md                         # Database mappings (Cloud SQL, Spanner, etc.)
│   │   ├── storage.md                          # Storage mappings (GCS, Filestore, etc.)
│   │   ├── networking.md                       # Networking mappings (VPC, LB, DNS, etc.)
│   │   ├── messaging.md                        # Messaging mappings (Pub/Sub, etc.)
│   │   └── ai.md                               # AI mappings (Vertex AI → Bedrock)
│   │
│   ├── clustering/terraform/
│   │   ├── classification-rules.md             # Primary/secondary classification
│   │   ├── clustering-algorithm.md             # Cluster formation rules
│   │   ├── depth-calculation.md                # Topological depth calculation
│   │   └── typed-edges-strategy.md             # Edge type assignment
│   │
│   └── shared/
│       ├── schema-phase-status.md              # .phase-status.json schema (canonical reference)
│       ├── schema-discover-iac.md              # gcp-resource-inventory + clusters schemas (loaded by discover-iac.md)
│       ├── schema-discover-ai.md               # ai-workload-profile schema (loaded by discover-app-code.md and discover-iac.md Step 7d)
│       ├── schema-discover-billing.md          # billing-profile schema (loaded by discover-billing.md)
│       ├── schema-estimate-infra.md            # estimation-infra.json schema (loaded by estimate-infra.md at write time)
│       ├── migration-complexity.md             # Complexity tier definitions (small/medium/large) for timeline scaling
│       ├── pricing-cache.md                    # Cached AWS + source provider pricing (±5-25%, primary source)
│       └── bedrock-quotas.md                   # Bedrock TPM/RPM quota awareness, burndown rates, capacity planning

Condition	Action
No GCP sources found (no .tf, no app code, no billing data)	Stop. Output: "No GCP sources detected. Provide at least one source type (Terraform files, application code, or billing exports) and try again."
.phase-status.json missing phase gate	Stop. Output: "Cannot enter Phase X: Phase Y-1 not completed. Start from Phase Y or resume Phase Y-1."
awspricing unavailable after 3 attempts	Display user warning about ±5-25% accuracy. Use pricing-cache.md. Add pricing_source: "cached_fallback" to the applicable estimation-*.json file.
User skips questions or says "use defaults for the rest"	Apply documented defaults for remaining questions in the current batch and all subsequent batches. Phase 2 completes either way.
aws-design.json missing required clusters	Stop Phase 4. Output: "Re-run Phase 3 to generate missing cluster designs."

Defaults

• IaC output: Terraform configurations, migration scripts, AI migration code, and documentation
• Region: us-east-1 (unless user specifies, or GCP region → AWS region mapping suggests otherwise)
• Sizing: Development tier (e.g., db.t4g.micro for databases, 0.5 CPU for Fargate)
• Migration mode: Adapts based on available inputs (infrastructure, AI, or billing-only)
• Cost currency: USD
• Timeline assumption: 2-16 weeks depending on migration complexity — small (2-6 weeks), medium (6-12 weeks), large (12-18 weeks). See references/shared/migration-complexity.md for tier definitions.

Workflow Execution

When invoked, the agent MUST follow this exact sequence:

1. Load phase status: Read .phase-status.json from .migration/*/.

   • If missing: Initialize for Phase 1 (Discover)
   • If exists: Determine current phase using deterministic rules in State Machine

2. Determine phase to execute:

   • If current_phase exists: execute that phase.
   • Otherwise execute the first non-completed phase in ordered list: discover → clarify → design → estimate → generate.
   • If all ordered phases are completed: migration is complete (with feedback finalization rule).

3. Read phase reference: Load the full reference file for the target phase.

4. Execute ALL steps in order: Follow every numbered step in the reference file. Do not skip, optimize, or deviate.

5. Validate outputs: Confirm all required output files exist with correct schema before proceeding.

6. Update phase status: Use the Phase Status Update Protocol (read-merge-write) in the same turn as the phase's final output message.

7. Feedback checkpoint: After a phase completes, check if feedback is due (see rules below). This runs before advancing to the next phase.

   • After Discover (if phases.feedback is "pending"): Output to user: "Would you like to share quick feedback (5 optional questions + anonymized usage data) to help improve this tool? Your data never includes resource names, file paths, or account IDs. [A] Send feedback now [B] Wait until after the Estimate phase"

     • If user picks A → Load references/phases/feedback/feedback.md, execute it, then continue to Clarify.
     • If user picks B → Continue to Clarify (feedback stays "pending").

   • After Estimate (if phases.feedback is "pending"): Output to user: "Would you like to share quick feedback now? (5 optional questions + anonymized usage data) [A] Yes, share feedback [B] No thanks, continue to Generate"

     • If user picks A → Load references/phases/feedback/feedback.md, execute it, then continue to Generate.
     • If user picks B → Use the Phase Status Update Protocol to set phases.feedback to "completed". Continue to Generate.

   • After Generate: No feedback offer. If phases.feedback is still "pending", use the Phase Status Update Protocol to set it to "completed" (user had two chances and chose to defer/skip).

8. Display summary: Show user what was accomplished, highlight next phase, or confirm migration completion.

Critical constraint: Agent must strictly adhere to the reference file's workflow. If unable to complete a step, stop and report the exact step that failed.

User can invoke the skill again to resume from current_phase (or deterministic ordered evaluation when current_phase is absent).

Scope Notes

v1.0 includes:

• Terraform infrastructure discovery
• App code scanning (AI workload detection)
• Billing data import from GCP
• User requirement clarification (adaptive questions by category)
• Multi-path Design (infrastructure, AI workloads, billing-only fallback)
• AWS cost estimation (from pricing API or fallback)
• Migration artifact generation (Terraform, scripts, AI adapters, documentation)
• Optional feedback collection with anonymized telemetry