Not classic Search index/query/app work or administration. No existing-resource hardening to fit a template. Unsupported operations block; never change keys, identity, networking or tags to make reuse pass.

Inputs and discovery order

Reuse prompt/session/workspace; otherwise az account show supplies caller/tenant/default subscription. Explicit scope wins; no silent az account set. Missing CLI/sign-in blocks; account context is not access proof. Reads need no approval. One focused question before enumeration if resource/intent unresolved: USE EXISTING / FIND CANDIDATES / CREATE NEW. Carry answers across handoffs.

Input	Why needed	Required?	Discovery order	Safe default	If missing or unanswered	Reconfirmation trigger
Scope/group/region	Target	Before plan	CLI/IDs	Propose existing	Offer choices	Scope
Service/action	Intent	Before plan	Exact Azure GET	Recommend reuse	Reuse/new/another	Action/ID
Capacity/auth/network/cost	Cost/access	Before write	Readback/prices	Preserve	Ask	Settings
Owner/tags/requirements/receipts/limits	Execution	Before plan	Evidence/contract	Bounded/private	Ask	Requirements/limits

Decisions

Honor explicit reuse/new intent; never repeat resolved choices. Read supplied IDs first. Use Search intake:

python helpers/search_intake.py --select intake.json

Supplied identity: exact/minimum scoped reads. Only FIND CANDIDATES lists in known RG, else selected sub; all pages, five-row display, cross-region rows/counts. Never unrelated resource types/subscriptions or absence/uniqueness from a subset. CREATE NEW: collision read, no service inventory.

Use the selected source/KB mode and execution helper, not creation defaults. Recheck actual operation before planning. Allow keys-enabled Entra-compatible reuse without key use/configuration changes. MI remains required for actual File CU-MI/Blob/embedding/KB-chat needs. Private/UAMI selection is unsupported. Statistics GET proves caller read, not write RBAC/feature-region/outbound access: owner verifies remaining API/tier/region/data boundaries. Unknown is not a pass. No speculative model discovery/calls or semantic/vector requirements for model-free lexical paths. Hybrid embeddings imply neither CU nor KB chat.

After actual compatibility checks, offer compatible choices; never rank by name. Show excluded/unknown reasons. An incompatible explicit selection stays blocked: ask another/new; never modify it or silently switch. FIND still needs a choice even for one candidate; multiple compatible services require exact-ID selection behind displayed names. No match in a narrower scope is not subscription-wide absence. Unreadable/denied is unknown, not absent. New intent requires exact-name absence; existing/conflicting state is not permission to overwrite or suffix-create.

Only FIND for an unresolved group uses az group list --subscription <sub>. Propose task-derived name/group/owner and supported region near data, respecting residency. Small public-network trial: recommend Basic, one replica/partition, subject to price/quota/requirements; offer Standard for scale. Not a production SLA or automatic capacity choice.

Creation planning requires an existing ready resource group. If absent, use resource-group-only prerequisite: approve RG-only, verify readiness, then resume. No other dispatch or unknown-body approval.

Unresolved region: --regions scope.json; present canonical available_locations for selection. Freeform answers need Search-specific --plan validation before approval. New Search: az search usage list --location <region> --subscription <sub>; Quota is not capacity; verify prices/requirements. Ready reuse skips setup/catalog discovery; requires no embeddings, chat, CU or Storage provisioning.

Proposed plan

Operational reuse: qualified selected evidence, mutation_approval_required: false, without an apply step or mutation consent. reuse intent always needs fresh readbacks through Search intake, not strict bootstrap reuse.

Creation only: Read bootstrap helper contract: schema 2.0 choices/storage/limits. Do not author nested execution envelopes; hashes stay internal. ASCII case/whitespace: East US → eastus; not availability proof. Creation: reuse a valid unexpired artifact for unchanged choices; otherwise plan.

python "<skill-root>/helpers/bootstrap_azure.py" --plan choices.json

action: create. Planning reads Azure; writes private unapproved <artifact_id>.plan.json, returns approval summary; no Azure writes. New only: Basic/Standard, disabled local auth, public networking, system MI/capacity/tags.

Confirmation

Disclose exact target/group/region, SKU/capacity/cost, network/auth, system identity, tags/owner, limits, intended write and retained resources. Obtain actual consent before the write; silence or a stored approval flag is not consent. Reuse valid consolidated approval for this exact retained Search artifact without another question or regeneration. Never extend that approval to unknown future bodies, source/KB writes or cleanup. Target/cost/access/identity/operation drift invalidates it; harmless metadata/defaults/ordering or casing does not renew consent.

Mutation

After approval:

python "<skill-root>/helpers/bootstrap_azure.py" --apply "<private-directory>/<artifact_id>.plan.json" --approve

Helper revalidates artifact/context/supported region/fresh exact-name absence, then one approved az rest PUT (2025-05-01, body-file @). No write retry/deletion/role assignment. GET/PUT is not atomic: exclusive new-name authority is required. Expired/used/changed: replan, never edit envelopes.

Verification

Creation: az resource wait, then authoritative raw GET verifies target and required material settings. Matching precedes ownership/readiness claims. Require provisioning succeeded, status running, endpoint and system identity/principal/tenant; existence is not ready. Wait failure remains primary even if the final GET is ready. CLI timeout/cleanup: best-effort; rejection is post-capture, not a memory or hard end-to-end bound.

ARM readiness is not Search data-plane authorization, role propagation, source ingestion, vector verification or KB grounded retrieval; caller checks required.

Failure and partial completion

Preserve first code/status/request ID, attempted writes and private receipt ID. Blocked before writes; partial after writes/uncertainty. Retain run-owned versus unverified resources. Names do not prove ownership. Only policy-implicated creation failure loads policy diagnostics; no preflight policy audit. Secondary diagnosis cannot replace the original failure, authorize changes or prove compliance. Reconcile uncertainty read-only.

Cleanup

Cleanup is unapproved and separate; the helper does not execute it. Preserve shared/reused resources. If requested, hand off native cleanup with retained operation evidence, fresh exclusive ownership/configuration, children/scoped roles and separate approval. Never delete services still in use; failed commands do not prove absence.

Return contract

Return selection/choice blockers or planned, applied completed, blocked/partial; artifact/receipt/resource IDs, endpoint/settings, writes/ownership/remaining resources. Planning isn’t readiness; ARM isn’t data-plane/ingestion/retrieval proof. Keep paths/raw errors/hashes private. Resume the original caller, not new KS/KB calls.