kaizen-agentic/roles/host-operator/protocols/load-workload-review.md

agent	slug	title	version	last_updated
host-operator	load-workload-review	Load and Workload Review	0.1.0	2026-07-16

Load and Workload Review

Purpose

Regular review of system load and identification of workloads that are demanding or may overload the host. Establishes and updates the load envelope in memory.

Scope

• Load average vs CPU count
• Memory pressure and swap
• Disk I/O and filesystem fill
• Top processes and (if k3s) top pods
• Job/cron/backup overlap risks
• Comparison to prior baseline envelope

Prerequisites

• Observe-class shell access
• Tools: uptime, nproc, free, vmstat, ps, df, optionally iostat, kubectl/k3s kubectl

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Procedure

Step 1 — Instant load picture

uptime
nproc
free -h
swapon --show
df -h

Interpret load average relative to nproc (rule of thumb: sustained load ≫ cores → Watch/Degraded).

Step 2 — Top consumers

ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -15
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -15

Step 3 — Optional I/O and VM

vmstat 1 5
iostat -xz 1 3 2>/dev/null || true

Step 4 — Kubernetes workloads (if present)

kubectl top nodes 2>/dev/null || true
kubectl top pods -A --sort-by=memory 2>/dev/null | head -25 || true
kubectl top pods -A --sort-by=cpu 2>/dev/null | head -25 || true
kubectl get pods -A --field-selector spec.nodeName=$(hostname) 2>/dev/null | head -40 || true

Step 5 — Envelope update

In vault memory ## Load & Workload Envelope, record:

Field	Example
Typical load (1/5/15)	0.4 / 0.5 / 0.6 on 4 cores
Peak seen	…
Heavy workloads	forgejo runner, backups, …
Saturation incidents	date · symptom · resolution
Headroom notes	disk 40% free; mem OK

Step 6 — Demand flags

Flag as findings when:

• Sustained load > cores without known batch job
• Memory available critically low or swap thrash
• Disk > 85% on critical mounts
• Single pod/process dominating resources without request/limit awareness
• Concurrent heavy jobs (backup + build + migrate)

Output template

# Load & Workload Review — <hostname> — <date>

## Summary
## Load vs capacity
## Top consumers
## Envelope delta (vs last review)
## Overload / demand risks
## Recommended next steps (safe first)