Azure App Onboard
Published by microsoft in azure-skills
What this skill does
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 servi
Add Azure App Onboard to your agent
Review the source and files first. When you are ready, copy the prompt instruction or use the CLI command supported by your environment.
Install with a prompt
Paste this into a compatible coding agent:
add this skill "azure-app-onboard" from https://github.com/microsoft/azure-skillsInstall with the CLI
Run this command in a controlled environment after reviewing the repository:
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/azure-skills --skill azure-app-onboardSkill instructions
Azure App Onboard
⛔ 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.
Quick Reference
| 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) |
When to Use This Skill
- Deploy existing code without knowing which Azure services to use
- Check if your existing code is ready to deploy to Azure
- Move an existing app to Azure without rewriting or with minimal changes
- Get cost estimates before committing to infrastructure
- Understand architecture decisions and rejected alternatives
- Get answers to Azure architecture or service selection questions (e.g., "What database should I use?")
- Get guided Azure onboarding without prior experience
When NOT to Use
| Scenario | Use Instead |
|---|---|
Run azd up or execute an existing deployment | azure-deploy |
| Optimize existing Azure spend | cost-optimization from the optional azure-cost plugin |
| 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 |
If cost-optimization is unavailable, explain that it is provided by the
optional azure-cost plugin and direct the user to their client's supported
plugin installation flow; do not imply the handoff completed.
Pipeline Rules
⛔ You MUST read
references/pipeline-rules.mdat the start of every AppOnboard session. It contains approval gates, phase lifecycle, session artifacts, deploy-as-is, and security baseline rules.
Workflow
⛔ 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 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 |
| 2 | Scope triage | Check azd markers, triage question. Empty workspace or code-only (no infra) → Step 3 directly. | ⛔ Read intent-gathering.md § 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 § 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 § 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 § 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 |
Error Handling
| 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 (cross-phase tool parameters) | IaC resources (Azure resource docs for troubleshooting)
Files included
- deploy/references/approval-gate-template.md
- deploy/references/blocked-patterns.md
- deploy/references/code-deployment-appservice.md
- deploy/references/code-deployment-container-apps.md
- deploy/references/code-deployment-swa.md
- deploy/references/database-post-deploy.md
- deploy/references/deploy-checklist-template.md
- deploy/references/deploy-safety.md
- deploy/references/deploy-schemas.ts
- deploy/references/error-classification.md
- deploy/references/health-check-patterns.md
- deploy/references/mcp-tools.md
- deploy/references/portal-links.md
- deploy/references/preflight-checks.md
- deploy/references/subagent-preflight.md
- deploy/SKILL.md
- prepare/references/deploy-strategy.md
- prepare/references/mcp-tools.md
- prepare/references/naming-patterns.md
- prepare/references/prepare-schemas.ts
- prepare/references/pricing-guide-services.md
- prepare/references/pricing-guide.md
- prepare/references/service-mapping.md
- prepare/references/sku-matrix.md
- prepare/references/sku-quota-validation.md
- prepare/references/subagent-pricing.md
- prepare/references/subagent-quota.md
- prepare/references/validation-rubric.md
- prepare/SKILL.md
- references/approval-gates.md
- references/azd-template-routing.md
- references/handoff-protocol.md
- references/iac-resources.md
- references/intent-gathering.md
- references/mcp-tool-reference.md
- references/pipeline-rules-runtime.md
- references/pipeline-rules.md
- references/session-protocol.md
- references/session-schemas.ts
- references/subscription-resolution.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-app-service.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-container-apps.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-patterns-data.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-patterns-security.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-patterns.md
- scaffold/references/bicep-swa.md
- scaffold/references/cicd-pipelines.md
- scaffold/references/dockerfile-generation.md
- scaffold/references/env-var-secrets.md
- scaffold/references/error-handling.md
- scaffold/references/iac-generation-rules.md
- scaffold/references/mcp-tools.md
- scaffold/references/rbac-roles.md
- scaffold/references/scaffold-healing-rules.md
- scaffold/references/scaffold-schemas.ts
- scaffold/references/self-healing.md
- scaffold/references/self-review-checklist.md
- scaffold/references/self-review-procedure.md
- scaffold/references/subagent-iac-gen.md
- scaffold/references/subagent-review.md
- scaffold/references/subagent-validate.md
- scaffold/references/terraform-patterns.md
- scaffold/references/validation-and-manifest.md
- scaffold/references/waf-checklist.md
- scaffold/scripts/scaffold-conformance.ps1
- scaffold/scripts/scaffold-conformance.sh
- scaffold/SKILL.md
- SKILL.md