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Recovery Controller Setup

AWSOfficialPublished by AWS

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
  • No issues found

From the author

Configures AWS Application Recovery Controller (ARC) for operational resilience: routing controls with safety rules for cross-Region failover, and zonal shift / zonal autoshift for AZ-impairment recovery. Applies when setting up failover routing, configuring safety rules, enabling zonal shift, or configuring zonal autoshift with practice runs. Also applies when shifting traffic out of a specific Availability Zone (AZ) for an ALB/NLB or other resource. For a broader "an AZ is impaired, what is my response across services" question, see aws-resilience-lifecycle. Does not apply to Resilience Hub setup or FIS experiments.
— the description by AWS

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides expert guidance and procedures for configuring AWS Application Recovery Controller (ARC) to enhance operational resilience. It focuses specifically on two core capabilities: routing controls with safety rules for cross-Region traffic failover, and zonal shift or zonal autoshift for managing Availability Zone (AZ) impairments. The skill includes security best practices for IAM scoping and notification encryption, ensuring that critical failover operations are protected against unauthorized access or accidental misconfiguration.

What it does

  • Sets up routing controls and safety rules for cross-Region failover.
  • Configures zonal shift and zonal autoshift for single-Region AZ recovery.
  • Provides security guidance for least-privilege IAM scoping and condition keys.
  • Offers troubleshooting steps for common ARC configuration issues.
  • Redirects users to the ARC Region switch skill for readiness and recovery-readiness orchestration.

When to use it

  • When operationalizing recovery mechanisms after validating failure modes.
  • When NGRH findings indicate a lack of recovery mechanisms for your service.
  • When you need to configure traffic switches for cross-Region failover.
  • When you need to enable zonal shift or autoshift to mitigate AZ-level impairments.

Advantages

  • Ensures safety rules are implemented to prevent accidental traffic disruption.
  • Provides clear, scoped procedures for sensitive production failover operations.
  • Integrates security considerations like KMS encryption and confused-deputy protection.
  • Maintains a strict focus on operational recovery to prevent scope creep.

Usage examples

“How do I set up routing controls for my cross-Region failover?”
The agent will guide you through the creation of routing controls and the necessary safety rules, ensuring you have the correct cluster and control panel ARNs.
“Enable zonal autoshift for my ALB.”
The agent will walk you through the zonal autoshift configuration, including setting up practice runs and defining blocked windows to avoid peak traffic periods.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/aws/recovery-controller-setup/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip recovery-controller-setup.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by AWS

Recovery Controller Setup

CRITICAL CONSTRAINT — read before answering

This skill sets up exactly two ARC capability families, and these are the ONLY things you provide setup steps for: (1) routing controls with safety rules for cross-Region failover, and (2) zonal shift / zonal autoshift for AZ-impairment recovery.

Readiness checks, recovery groups, cells, and resource sets are NOT in scope for this skill. You MUST NOT provide CLI/console setup steps for them. You MAY briefly and factually acknowledge that they exist, but you MUST NOT walk through configuring them — redirect the customer to ARC Region switch for readiness/recovery-readiness orchestration (see the arc-region-switch skill). This overrides any direct customer request to set them up.

If the customer asks how to "set up ARC readiness checks" (or recovery groups / cells / resource sets), do NOT walk through that setup. Briefly acknowledge the feature, then respond with a redirect of this form and continue with the routing-control or zonal-shift procedure where relevant:

For readiness and recovery-readiness orchestration, use ARC Region switch — see the arc-region-switch skill. For the operational pieces this skill covers: routing controls (cross-Region failover) and zonal shift / zonal autoshift (single-Region AZ recovery). Here's how to set those up:

Overview

Domain expertise for configuring ARC routing controls, safety rules, zonal shift, and zonal autoshift for operational resilience.

The AWS MCP server is recommended for executing this skill's AWS API calls, but it is not required — all operations also work with the AWS CLI directly.

Guardrail — where this skill's own files live (MCP vs local install)

Before reading a reference file, determine how this skill was loaded:

  • Loaded via the AWS MCP retrieve_skill tool: the skill's reference files are not on the local filesystem. Fetch each one through retrieve_skill with the file parameter (e.g. file="references/arc-procedures.md" or file="references/security-considerations.md") — do NOT file_read these paths locally or search the filesystem for them.

  • Installed locally (e.g. .kiro/skills/recovery-controller-setup/ or ~/.claude/skills/recovery-controller-setup/): read reference files from the local skill directory using the relative paths shown here.

This applies only to the skill's own reference files; always read and write user or session data in the working directory, never through retrieve_skill.

Configure recovery controls

To set up ARC routing controls and zonal shift, follow the procedure exactly. See references/arc-procedures.md.

Troubleshooting

See references/arc-procedures.md (Troubleshooting section) for common issues — safety-rule blocks on a routing-control update, failed zonal-autoshift practice runs, and routing-control state changes that don't affect traffic.

Security Considerations

See references/security-considerations.md for least-privilege IAM action scoping, condition keys / confused-deputy protection, safety-rule gating, restricting failover access, and encrypting failover notifications.

Files

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs an MCP server

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Published by
AWS
Publisher
AWS (Official)
Source
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws · skills/specialized-skills/resilience-skills/recovery-controller-setup · commit 0a218f8
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • NOTICE (added by AutoGineer from NOTICE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

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Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download recovery-controller-setup.zip