Cloud Provisioning

Provision and run Elastic Cloud infrastructure through the Cloud API: Serverless projects (create and day-2 operations), traffic filters (network security for those projects), and Elastic Cloud Hosted deployments. For configuring Cloud authentication and managing organization access, use the cloud-onboarding skill.

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Environment Configuration

This skill operates the Elastic Cloud control plane through the elastic CLI. If the elastic CLI is not installed, tell the user what it is needed for. Do not guess credentials, bypass the CLI to call the HTTP API directly, or attempt other workarounds.

Control-plane operations authenticate against the Elastic Cloud API (organization scope), not a single stack deployment. The elastic CLI reads this from its active context, which stores an Elastic Cloud API key in the OS keychain. If a control-plane call fails with an authentication error, the context is missing or lacks a Cloud API key — instruct the user to add one, and never ask the user to paste an API key into the chat:

"Configure an Elastic Cloud context for the elastic CLI, then re-run. Generate an Organization-level key at Elastic Cloud API keys and register it without echoing the secret in chat."

This skill references control-plane operations in HTTP-shorthand form with the cloud: prefix (e.g., GET cloud:/api/v1/organizations, POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/elasticsearch). The Operations table at the end of this document maps each shorthand to the equivalent elastic cloud command — always use the CLI rather than calling the HTTP API directly. Discover the organization ID from GET cloud:/api/v1/organizations; do not ask the user for it.

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Critical principles

• Never display secrets in chat. Do not echo, log, or repeat passwords or API keys in conversation or agent thinking. Persist credentials into a CLI context (OS keychain) and direct the user there.
• Confirm before creating or destroying. A project's or deployment's region is permanent; deletion is irreversible. Present the configuration and get explicit confirmation before creating, deleting, or resetting credentials.
• Admin credentials are bootstrap-only. The admin password returned on creation or reset exists solely to create a scoped API key. Never use admin credentials for ongoing Elasticsearch operations — mint a scoped key first.
• Wait for readiness. A new project or deployment starts initializing; wait until initialized before using it.
• Two kinds of credentials. The Cloud context (Cloud API key) authorizes control-plane operations here. A project's or deployment's Elasticsearch API key authorizes data-plane operations against its Elasticsearch endpoint — do not confuse the two. See references/credentials-and-context.md.

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Serverless projects

Project types

Map the user's request to the correct type; never silently default — infer from context and confirm, or ask when ambiguous. "search"/"elasticsearch"/vector search → elasticsearch; "o11y"/logs/metrics/traces/APM → observability; "SIEM"/detections/endpoint → security.

Tiers and optimization. Elasticsearch: set optimized_for to general_purpose (default) unless the user explicitly requests vector. Observability: set product_tier to complete (default) or logs_essentials. Security: set product_types tiers to complete (default) or essentials per product line (security, cloud, endpoint). See references/api-reference.md for the full request-body schema of each type.

Process: create a serverless project

1. Confirm the project type. Infer it from the conversation and propose it, or ask the user to choose. Do not proceed on an assumed type.
2. Confirm the configuration. Present a summary — name (required; ask if missing), region (default gcp-us-central1), and the tier/optimization for the type — and get explicit confirmation. If the region is uncertain, list options with GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/regions first; only regions with project_creation_enabled: true accept new projects. Region is permanent.
3. Create the project. Call POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type} with the confirmed body. Wait for the initialized phase and persist the returned credentials into a named CLI context (the password goes to the OS keychain, never to stdout or chat).
4. Verify readiness. If creation did not block until ready, poll GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}/status until phase is initialized. The Elasticsearch and Kibana endpoints in the creation response are safe to share; the password is not.
5. Bootstrap a scoped API key. Using the project context, create a scoped Elasticsearch API key with only the privileges the user needs via POST /_security/api_key (the project's Elasticsearch endpoint), then rely on that key for all data-plane work. If the elasticsearch-authn skill is available, use it for full key lifecycle handling.

Workflow: connect to an existing project

Use this when the user asks to query or manage a project not created in the current session. It applies to Elastic Cloud Serverless projects only — if the cluster is self-managed or Elastic Cloud Hosted, use the Hosted deployment workflow or skip. If unsure, ask: "Is your Elasticsearch instance an Elastic Cloud Serverless project?"

1. Resolve the project. Infer the type and list projects with GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}. Match the user's reference (name or alias). If multiple or none match, present candidates and ask.
2. Load endpoints and credentials. Fetch the project with GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id} to get its Elasticsearch and Kibana endpoints, and select or create a CLI context bound to it.
3. Acquire Elasticsearch credentials. Verify any existing project API key with GET /_security/_authenticate (expect "authentication_type": "api_key"). If none works, confirm with the user, reset the admin bootstrap credentials with POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}/_reset-credentials, use the admin password once to create a scoped key via POST /_security/api_key, persist it to the context, re-verify, and drop the admin credentials.

Day-2: list, get, update, delete, resume

• List projects of a type: GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}.
• Get one project: GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}.
• Update (PATCH semantics — only supplied fields change): PATCH cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}.
• Reset credentials (confirm first): POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}/_reset-credentials.
• Delete (confirm first — permanent): DELETE cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}.
• Resume a suspended project, then poll status until initialized: POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}/_resume.

Update fields and their risks. Supported PATCH fields: name, alias, metadata.tags, traffic_filters, and — for Elasticsearch — search_lake.search_power (28–3000) and search_lake.boost_window (1–180 days); for Security — data-retention limits.

• Alias changes rewrite every endpoint URL, breaking existing clients. Warn before changing it.
• Tags replace the whole tag set. Read current tags with a GET first and include any the user wants to keep.
• search_power drives cost. Higher values increase VCU consumption. Warn and confirm before raising it (presets: 28 on-demand, 100 performant, 250 high availability).
• Reducing max retention permanently deletes data older than the new limit. Warn and confirm before lowering it.

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Traffic filters (network security)

Traffic filters restrict network access to Serverless projects. The Elastic Cloud UI calls this network security; the Cloud API uses traffic filters (traffic-filters in paths, traffic_filters in project JSON). The two types are IP filters (type ip, allowlist IPs/CIDRs) and VPC filters (type vpce, AWS PrivateLink endpoint IDs).

Private connectivity in AWS is accepted by default. A VPC filter is only needed to restrict traffic to specific endpoint IDs. If you only need private connectivity (not filtering), create the VPC endpoint and DNS record in AWS — no filter is required. Use GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/traffic-filters/metadata to look up the PrivateLink service name for a region before creating the endpoint in AWS.

Process: create and attach a filter

1. Identify components. Filter type (IP vs VPC), target region, source rules (IPs/CIDRs or VPC endpoint IDs), and which projects the filter should apply to.
2. Check existing state. List current filters with GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/traffic-filters (optionally scoped by region). If a filter already covers the same sources for the same purpose, reuse it — filters are region-scoped and can attach to many projects.
3. Create the filter. Call POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/traffic-filters with the type, region, and rules. The response contains the generated filter id.
4. Associate with projects. Filter-to-project association is done through the project PATCH endpoint (PATCH cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id} with a traffic_filters array). Provide the complete list of filter IDs; any ID omitted is disassociated.
5. Verify. List filters again or GET the project to confirm the change took effect.

Filter guidance: filters are region-scoped (a filter can only attach to projects in its region). Updating rules replaces the entire rule set — include all existing rules plus the new one. A filter cannot be deleted while still associated with a project — disassociate first, then DELETE cloud:/api/v1/serverless/traffic-filters/{id}. include_by_default auto-attaches a filter to all new projects in the region — use with caution. See references/traffic-filters.md for the full schemas.

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Hosted deployments

Elastic Cloud Hosted deployments are full stack deployments (Elasticsearch, Kibana, and optional APM/Integrations Server/Enterprise Search) sized from a deployment template, distinct from Serverless projects. Manage their lifecycle through the Cloud API's deployment endpoints.

Process: create a hosted deployment

1. Choose a region and template. List deployment templates with GET cloud:/api/v1/deployments/templates for the target region and confirm the template and stack version with the user. Region is permanent.
2. Confirm the configuration (name, region, template, version, sizing) and get explicit confirmation before creating.
3. Create the deployment. Call POST cloud:/api/v1/deployments with the resource definition (or a template_id). The response returns the deployment ID and a one-time elastic user password and endpoints — persist the credentials into a CLI context (keychain), never to chat.
4. Verify readiness and bootstrap a scoped key. Poll GET cloud:/api/v1/deployments/{id} until healthy, then mint a scoped Elasticsearch API key via POST /_security/api_key and stop using the bootstrap elastic password. See references/hosted-deployments.md for the create body and template schema.

Day-2: get, update, shut down, restore

• List deployments: GET cloud:/api/v1/deployments.
• Get one deployment: GET cloud:/api/v1/deployments/{id}.
• Update (resize, upgrade version, change resources): PUT cloud:/api/v1/deployments/{id}.
• Shut down (confirm first — stops the deployment): POST cloud:/api/v1/deployments/{id}/_shutdown.
• Restore a shut-down deployment: POST cloud:/api/v1/deployments/{id}/_restore.

Hosted deployments use their own traffic-filter rulesets, managed separately from the Serverless traffic filters above — do not mix the two. See references/hosted-deployments.md.

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Examples

"Create a search project called acme-search" — confirm type elasticsearch, present the summary (name acme-search, region gcp-us-central1, optimized_for general_purpose), and on confirmation call POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/elasticsearch, wait for initialized, persist credentials, then create a scoped API key with POST /_security/api_key.

"List my security projects" — call GET cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/security and present the names and IDs; treat it as a read-only day-2 request.

"Connect to my search project prod-search" — list Elasticsearch projects, match prod-search, GET it for endpoints, then verify or mint a scoped Elasticsearch API key before any data-plane work.

"Bump search power to 500 on my search project" — warn about the cost increase, confirm, then PATCH cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/elasticsearch/{id} with search_lake.search_power = 500.

"Only allow our office network 203.0.113.0/24 to projects in us-east-1" — list existing filters for us-east-1, create an ip filter with POST cloud:/api/v1/serverless/traffic-filters (rule source 203.0.113.0/24), then attach the filter ID to the target projects via PATCH cloud:/api/v1/serverless/projects/{type}/{id}.

"Spin up a hosted deployment in us-east-1" — list templates with GET cloud:/api/v1/deployments/templates, confirm the template and stack version, then POST cloud:/api/v1/deployments, wait until healthy, and mint a scoped API key.

Guidelines

• Validate the Cloud context first (see Environment Configuration); use cloud-onboarding to configure it when validation fails.
• Never display passwords or API keys in chat — persist them to a CLI context (OS keychain), and mint a scoped API key instead of relying on bootstrap admin credentials.
• Never silently default a project type; infer and confirm. Default to general_purpose optimization and the complete tier; only change on explicit request.
• Region cannot be changed after creation, and deletion/shutdown is permanent — confirm before proceeding.
• Traffic filters are region-scoped; updating rules replaces the whole set; disassociate a filter from all projects before deleting it.
• Keep Serverless traffic filters and Hosted deployment traffic-filter rulesets separate — they are different APIs.
• For granting user access and Cloud API keys, see cloud-onboarding; for Elasticsearch data-plane key lifecycle, see elasticsearch-authn.

Operations

Use the matching projects observability … / projects security … commands for observability and security project types.