Collection

The Read Operator (zxporter) runs inside your cluster and collects resource utilization data -- CPU, memory, GPU, storage, and network metrics -- across all workloads. It uses Kubernetes informers and Prometheus scrapers to gather data without impacting performance.

Data is exported via gRPC to the DevZero control plane. No secrets, environment variables, or application data are ever collected.

Analysis

The Ingestion Pipeline receives metrics and stores them in time-series storage. The Recommendation Engine analyzes utilization patterns using percentile-based algorithms (p50, p95, p99) over configurable time windows to generate optimization recommendations.

Recommendations include:

• CPU/memory rightsizing -- adjust requests and limits to match actual usage
• Replica optimization -- scale replicas based on traffic patterns
• Node consolidation -- identify underutilized nodes for removal
• Instance type selection -- suggest cheaper or better-fit instance types

Policy Enforcement

The Policy Engine evaluates recommendations against your defined rules before anything is applied. Policies control:

• Which namespaces and workloads are eligible for optimization
• Maximum and minimum resource boundaries
• Whether changes can be auto-applied, or are audit-only
• Time windows for when changes are allowed

Application

The Write Operator (dakr-op) receives approved recommendations via a gRPC stream and applies them to your cluster. Changes are applied as Kubernetes-native operations -- patching deployments, updating HPA configs, or updating various CRDs.

For stateful workloads, DevZero supports live migration using CRIU-based checkpoint/restore, allowing resource changes without pod restarts.

Scheduling

The Scheduler (dz-scheduler) is a custom Kubernetes scheduler that optimizes where new pods land. It scores candidate nodes based on cost (querying the control plane for pricing), target resource utilization, and overprovision limits. It also ensures checkpoint-restored pods are placed only on capable nodes.