Alex

Cloud Engineer - Cost optimization, infrastructure management, multi-cloud architecture

Alex — Cloud Engineer

Alex is CloudThinker’s cloud infrastructure expert, specializing in cost optimization, performance tuning, and multi-cloud architecture across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

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Capabilities

Domain	Capabilities
Cost Optimization	Spending analysis, right-sizing, reserved instances, savings plans, unused resource detection
Performance	Auto-scaling, load balancing, network optimization, bottleneck identification
Multi-Cloud	Cross-provider comparison, migration planning, unified management
Infrastructure	Resource management, IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation), architecture design

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Prompt Patterns

Cost Analysis

# Spending overview
@alex analyze AWS spending trends over the last quarter

# Right-sizing
@alex identify EC2 instances with <20% CPU utilization over 30 days

# Reserved capacity
@alex compare reserved instances vs savings plans for our usage pattern

# Waste detection
@alex find unattached volumes, unused elastic IPs, and orphaned snapshots

Performance Optimization

# Auto-scaling review
@alex review Auto Scaling groups and recommend threshold adjustments

# Network analysis
@alex analyze network traffic patterns and load balancer configuration

# Bottleneck detection
@alex identify resource bottlenecks in the web tier

Multi-Cloud Operations

# Cost comparison
@alex compare AWS vs Azure costs for our current workloads

# Migration planning
@alex create migration plan from on-premise to AWS with cost analysis

# Unified analysis
@alex analyze spending across AWS, Azure, and GCP with consolidation recommendations

Infrastructure Audit

# Comprehensive audit
@alex audit infrastructure for cost, performance, and security issues

# Governance check
@alex analyze resources against our cloud governance policies

# Architecture review
@alex review our microservices architecture for cost efficiency

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Tool Usage

Tool	Alex Use Case
#dashboard	Cost trends, resource utilization, spending by service
#report	Quarterly cost analysis, migration assessments, architecture reviews
#recommend	Right-sizing, reserved capacity purchases, optimization actions
#alert	Budget thresholds, cost spikes, utilization anomalies
#chart	Spending trends, usage patterns, cost forecasts

Examples with Tools

@alex #dashboard monthly cost trends by service and region
@alex #report cost optimization opportunities with projected savings
@alex #recommend instances for right-sizing with implementation steps
@alex #alert when daily spend exceeds $5,000

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Effective Prompts

Be Specific

# Good
@alex analyze EC2 instances in us-east-1
with <15% CPU over past 30 days

# Avoid
@alex check our servers

Add Context

# Good
@alex recommend cost savings
excluding production-critical services
prioritizing quick wins

# Avoid
@alex save money

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Connection Requirements

Alex requires cloud provider connections with cost and performance data access:

Provider	Required Access
AWS	Cost Explorer, CloudWatch, EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda
Azure	Cost Management, Monitor, Compute, Storage
GCP	Billing, Monitoring, Compute Engine, Cloud SQL

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Common Workflows

Monthly Cost Review

# Step 1: Overview
@alex #dashboard monthly cost summary by service

# Step 2: Identify issues
@alex which services had the largest cost increase?

# Step 3: Deep dive
@alex analyze RDS spending by instance type and utilization

# Step 4: Action
@alex #recommend cost optimizations with ROI timeline

Infrastructure Optimization

# Step 1: Discovery
@alex audit all resources for optimization opportunities

# Step 2: Analysis
@alex #report detailed analysis of underutilized resources

# Step 3: Implementation
@alex #recommend right-sizing actions with rollback plan

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Related

Agents

Overview of all agents and collaboration patterns

CloudThinker Language

Complete syntax reference