Setting the chapter. One moment.
Skills
Chapter 9 of 37
End-to-end orchestrator: from a business idea, app idea, or existing app to running Azure deployment with cost estimates and pre-deploy approval.
2 minutes · 547 words · 6 sections
⛔ Every repo goes through the full pipeline (Steps 1–10). No exceptions. Do not skip steps, refuse, or short-circuit based on what you recognize. Follow the Workflow table below sequentially — read each step’s references before acting.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Best for | Developers who know what to build but not which Azure services to use |
| Inputs | Business idea or existing codebase, budget/scale preferences (optional) |
| Outputs | Architecture plan, cost estimate, IaC files, deployed Azure resources |
| Phases | Discover → Architect → Scaffold → Deploy (self-contained, no external skill calls) |
| Scenario | Use Instead |
|---|---|
Run azd up or execute an existing deployment | azure-deploy |
| Optimize existing Azure spend | azure-cost |
| Generate Bicep/Terraform for a known architecture | azure-prepare |
| Validate infrastructure or run preflight checks | azure-validate |
| Troubleshoot a running Azure deployment | azure-diagnostics |
| Deploy to or manage AKS/Kubernetes directly | azure-kubernetes |
| Look up or list existing Azure resources | azure-resource-lookup |
⛔ You MUST read
references/pipeline-rules.md(opens in a new tab) at the start of every AppOnboard session. It contains approval gates, phase lifecycle, session artifacts, deploy-as-is, and security baseline rules.
⛔ Deploy recovery: After deploy gate approval OR before any
az deployment/az webapp deploy/az acr build— if you haven’t readdeploy/SKILL.md, read.copilot-azure/sessions/{id}/deploy-checklist.mdfirst, thendeploy/SKILL.md. ⛔ NEVER invoke{"skill": "azure-deploy"}— that is a DIFFERENT skill for a DIFFERENT workflow.
⛔ Post-scaffold transition (MANDATORY): Immediately after
scaffold-manifest.jsonis written, YOUR NEXT ACTION MUST be Step 8 (Deploy Approval Gate) — NOT a summary report, NOT a “here are the generated files” message, NOT a completion signal. Confirmcontext.jsonhascompletedPhases: [...,"scaffold"]+currentPhase: "deploy"(update it yourself if the scaffold subagent didn’t). Re-read approval-gates.md § Deploy Gate (opens in a new tab) if evicted from context (scaffold reference loading is heavy), then present the exact prompt: “🚀 Ready to deploy? (Yes / Run manually / Edit plan / Cancel)”. This gate is the LAST content in your response — wait for the user’s reply.
| # | Step | Action | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Session check + Azure login | Create/resume session, verify Azure CLI auth, resolve subscription + user identity | ⛔ You MUST read session-protocol.md (opens in a new tab) |
| 2 | Scope triage | Check azd markers, triage question. Empty workspace or code-only (no infra) → Step 3 directly. | ⛔ Read intent-gathering.md (opens in a new tab) § Scope Triage |
| 3 | Prereq scan | ⛔ Skip if completedPhases includes "prereq". Otherwise: invoke {"skill": "azure-app-onboard-prereq"}. Write prereq-output.json, update context.json. Halt if: overallHealth: "blocked" OR routeToSkill set. | |
| 4 | Gather intent | Present prereq results, confirm stack + Azure services, ask remaining questions. | ⛔ Read intent-gathering.md (opens in a new tab) § After Prereq Returns |
| 5 | Plan architecture | Write prepare-plan.json. | ⛔ You MUST read prepare/SKILL.md |
| 6 | Scaffold approval gate | Display plan for user approval BEFORE generating any files. | ⛔ Read approval-gates.md (opens in a new tab) § Scaffold Gate |
| 7 | Scaffold | Generate IaC, self-review. Write scaffold-manifest.json. Update context.json. | ⛔ You MUST read scaffold/SKILL.md |
| 8 | Deploy approval gate | Display validation summary. ⛔ After approval: FIRST read deploy-checklist.md → deploy/SKILL.md. NEVER {"skill": "azure-deploy"}. | ⛔ Read approval-gates.md (opens in a new tab) § Deploy Gate |
| 9 | Deploy | Execute IaC, health-check. Write deploy-result.json. | ⛔ You MUST read deploy/SKILL.md |
| 10 | Handoff | Surface deployment identity, cleanup commands, next steps. | ⛔ You MUST read handoff-protocol.md (opens in a new tab) |
| Error | Remediation |
|---|---|
| Phase fails | Halt, report phase + error. User decides: retry, skip, abort. |
| MCP server unavailable | Skip affected checks, add disclaimer to costEstimate.assumptions[] and every approval gate. |
| Missing RBAC | Report required role + az role assignment command. |
Shared references: MCP tools (opens in a new tab) (cross-phase tool parameters) | IaC resources (opens in a new tab) (Azure resource docs for troubleshooting)
Install this repository
npx skills add microsoft/azure-skills/plugin marketplace add microsoft/azure-skillsSkills install per repository, not per chapter — the CLI has no documented per-skill form, so we do not print one.
End-to-end orchestrator: from a business idea, app idea, or existing app to running Azure deployment with cost estimates and pre-deploy approval. Analyzes your app, auto-detects the right Azure services, scaffolds infrastructure code, and deploys — tailored to your app, not a template. Handles moving existing apps to Azure without rewriting or with minimal changes. WHEN: bring your app to Azure, plan my app, cost to run, is my code ready to deploy, deploy my app to the cloud, deploy all my services, what Azure services do I need, plan my Azure deployment, deploy my new app to Azure, one-click deploy, I have an app and want it on Azure, migrate my app to Azure, help me get started, build an app, no code yet, starter project. DO NOT USE FOR: use azd for deployment(use azure-deploy), optimizing existing costs (use azure-cost), code readiness checks only (use azure-app-onboard-prereq).
The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.
skills/azure-app-onboard/SKILL.mdmain, last pushed 7 August 2026.SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 6 distinct layouts observed: skills/*/SKILL.md, skills/azure-app-onboard/*/SKILL.md, skills/azure-kubernetes/*/SKILL.md, skills/microsoft-foundry/*/SKILL.md, skills/microsoft-foundry/models/deploy-model/*/SKILL.md, skills/microsoft-foundry/models/*/SKILL.md.h1 and no skipped levels:.claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Microsoft, declaring 1 plugin. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree./microsoft/azure-skills.md, and each chapter at its own .md URL.11 files · 54 KB
Everything this skill ships beside its prose. All of it is set here, as subchapters of chapter 9.
Documentation the agent loads on demand, rather than up front.