☁️ Azure Agent Skills

June 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

🚀 Agentic Skills for Azure Development

Supercharge your AI coding assistant with curated, production-ready skills for Microsoft Azure. Works seamlessly with:

🟣 Claude Code | 🔵 Gemini CLI | 🟢 Codex CLI | 🔴 Antigravity IDE | 🩵 GitHub Copilot | 🟠 Cursor | ⚪ OpenCode | 🌸 AdaL CLI

Azure Agent Skills is a curated collection of high-quality agentic skills specifically designed for Azure cloud development. These skills follow the Agent Skills open standard and work seamlessly with modern AI coding assistants to provide expert-level guidance on Azure services.

🚀 New Here? Start Here!

1. 🐣 What is this?

AI Agents (like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or Cursor) are smart, but they lack specific, up-to-date knowledge about Azure services. Skills are folders containing markdown instructions, scripts, and resources that teach AI agents how to work with Azure services correctly, every time.

💡 Skills are reusable, filesystem-based resources that provide AI agents with domain-specific expertise. They load on-demand and eliminate the need to repeatedly provide the same guidance across conversations.

2. 📚 How These Skills Are Created

Microsoft Learn documentation already encodes decisions, procedures, best practices, and constraints — exactly what agents need to act effectively. Rather than relying on RAG to retrieve and summarize raw text every time, we pre-compile this knowledge into structured, executable skills.

Documentation as Pre-Built Skills: Many effective agent skills are not new inventions — they are structured patterns, workflows, and decision logic that already exist in documentation. Consider what Learn content contains:

API patterns and usage guidance
Service configuration procedures
Platform best practices and constraints
Troubleshooting decision trees
Security and compliance requirements

Our approach:

Extract high-value, task-oriented capabilities from Learn content
Classify by purpose (limits, troubleshooting, configuration, architecture, etc.)
Reveal only when relevant to the user's intent

The knowledge is pre-compiled into actions, choices, and guardrails the agent can use directly — not raw text that needs interpretation.

Each skill provides:

📚 Curated documentation links organized by topic
🔗 Direct access to Microsoft Learn content
🎯 Best practices and architecture patterns
⚠️ Troubleshooting guides and common pitfalls

3. ⚡️ Quick Start

A short path to getting started — full installation details are in the 🛠️ Installation section below.

� Plugin install (recommended): VS Code, Claude Code, and Codex can install everything as a single agent plugin — no cloning or copying.

VS Code: Command Palette → Chat: Install Plugin From Source → paste https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills
Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills, then /plugin install azure-agent-skills@microsoft-agent-skills
Codex: codex plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills, then install azure-agent-skills from /plugins

👉 See ⚡ One-Click Plugin Install for full steps and the marketplace options.

🛠️ Other assistants (manual):

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills.git

Copy the contents of the skills/ folder to your AI assistant's skills path (see 🛠️ Installation for the destination table and important notes).
VS Code users (manual mode): enable chat.agent.skills in Settings so the editor will load skills.
Start coding — your AI assistant will automatically discover and use the installed skills.

4. 🧠 How Skills Work

Skills use progressive disclosure to efficiently load content only when needed:

Level 1 - Discovery: Agent reads skill name and description from YAML frontmatter
Level 2 - Instructions: When triggered, agent loads the full SKILL.md content
Level 3 - Resources: Agent accesses additional files (scripts, examples) as needed

Once installed, just ask your AI assistant naturally:

"Help me set up Azure Functions with Durable Functions"

"What are the best practices for Azure Container Apps?"

"How do I configure Azure API Management?"

The skills will automatically provide context from official Microsoft documentation.

⚡ One-Click Plugin Install

🚀 Recommended. This repository ships as a ready-to-use agent plugin with native manifests for every major assistant. Install once and all 193+ skills are available — no cloning, no copying, no manual skills/ setup.

🟦 VS Code

Option 1 — Install directly from source

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).
Run Chat: Install Plugin From Source.

Paste the repository URL:

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills

VS Code clones and installs the plugin. All skills now appear in Chat: Configure Skills.

Option 2 — Add it as a plugin marketplace

Add the repository to your chat.plugins.marketplaces setting:

// settings.json
"chat.plugins.marketplaces": [
  "MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills"
]

Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X) and search @agentPlugins.
Find azure-agent-skills and select Install.

⚠️ Preview feature. Agent plugins require chat.plugins.enabled to be set to true. This setting may be managed by your organization. If you don't see the option, ask your administrator or use the manual installation below.

🟣 Claude Code

Claude Code installs this repo as a plugin through its marketplace. From within Claude Code:

Add this repository as a marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills

Install the plugin:

/plugin install azure-agent-skills@microsoft-agent-skills

Run /reload-plugins (or restart Claude Code) to activate. All skills are now available.

🟢 OpenAI Codex

Codex installs this repo as a plugin through its plugin browser. From the Codex CLI:

Add this repository as a marketplace:

codex plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills

Open the plugin browser and install azure-agent-skills from the microsoft-agent-skills marketplace:
```
/plugins
```
Restart Codex if the skills don't appear immediately.

💡 One repo, every tool. The same repository ships native plugin manifests for each ecosystem — plugin.json (VS Code / Copilot CLI), .claude-plugin/ (Claude Code), and .codex-plugin/ + .agents/plugins/ (Codex) — so a single install gets you all skills wherever you work.

🔌 Compatibility & Invocation

These skills follow the Agent Skills open standard (SKILL.md format) and work with any AI coding assistant that supports agentic skills.

AI Coding Assistant	Type	Skills Path / Location	How to Invoke
Claude Code	Anthropic CLI	`.claude/skills/`	Natural language, `/skill-name`
Gemini CLI	Google DeepMind	`.gemini/skills/`	Natural language
Codex CLI	OpenAI	`.codex/skills/`	Natural language
Antigravity IDE	DeepMind IDE	`.agent/skills/`	Agent mode, natural language
GitHub Copilot	VSCode Ext	`.github/skills/`	Natural language, `@workspace`
Cursor	AI-native IDE	`.cursor/skills/`	`@skill-name` in Chat
OpenCode	Open-source CLI	`.agent/skills/`	`opencode run @skill-name`
AdaL CLI	SylphAI Agent	`.adal/skills/`	Auto-load, natural language

💡 Path Note: ~ refers to your home directory:

macOS/Linux: ~ = /Users/yourname or /home/yourname

Windows: ~ = %USERPROFILE% = C:\Users\yourname (use $HOME in PowerShell)

💡 Tip: Most modern tools support .agent/skills/ as a universal path. For GitHub Copilot, .github/skills/ is recommended per the Agent Skills specification.

📦 Features & Categories

The repository is organized by Azure service domains:

Category	Skills	Examples
☁️ Compute	13	Azure App Service, Azure Batch, Azure Cloud Services, Azure Cyclecloud, Azure Functions
🔗 Integration	16	Azure API Center, Azure API Management, Azure Business Process Tracking, Azure Communication Services, Azure Data API Builder
📊 Data & Analytics	19	Azure Analysis Services, Azure Cache Redis, Azure Cosmos Db, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Factory
🤖 AI & ML	23	Azure AI Services, Azure AI Vision, Azure Anomaly Detector, Azure Bot Service, Azure Cognitive Search, Azure Foundry Classic, Azure Foundry Local, Microsoft Foundry
🔒 Security & Identity	19	Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Attestation, Azure Cloud Hsm, Azure Confidential Computing, Azure Confidential Ledger
🌐 Networking	23	Azure Application Gateway, Azure Bastion, Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Dns, Azure Expressroute
🏗️ Infrastructure	52	Azure Advisor, Azure AKS Edge Essentials, Azure API Management, Azure Arc, Azure Architecture, Azure Container Storage, Azure Elastic SAN
💰 Management	39	Azure Advisor, Azure API Management, Azure Architecture, Azure Artifacts, Azure Automation
🎮 Specialized	26	Azure AKS Edge Essentials, Azure API Management, Azure App Configuration, Azure App Service, Azure Communication Services

Total: 193 skills across 19 categories ✓

🎁 Curated Collections (Bundles)

Not sure where to start? We've created role-based skill bundles to help you get productive quickly.

👉 View Curated Bundles (docs/BUNDLES.md)

Bundle	Description
🚀 Quick Start	Absolute essentials for any Azure developer — master these 7 core services first
⭐ Popular	Popular Azure services. The services that power most workloads
🎯 Core	Core Azure essentials. The foundation every developer needs before specializing
🤖 AI/ML Developer	For AI engineers and ML practitioners. Covers AI services, machine learning, and intelligent applications
📊 Data Engineer	For data engineers and analytics professionals. Covers data integration, warehousing, and streaming analytics
🏗️ Infrastructure Pro	For infrastructure engineers and cloud architects. Covers networking, backup, recovery, and resource management
🔒 Security & Compliance	Secure Azure workloads with RBAC, policy, key management, and compliance
🌐 DevOps & Automation	Automate deployments, monitoring, and infrastructure management
🔗 Integration	Connect Azure services with API Management, Event Grid, Logic Apps, and Service Bus
☁️ Full-Stack Azure	Complete coverage with architecture foundations

💡 Recommended Path:

Start with Quick Start Bundle

Add Popular Bundle for broader coverage

Choose specialized bundles based on your role

📚 Browse All Skills

We've moved the complete skill registry to a dedicated catalog to keep this README clean.

👉 View the Complete Skill Catalog (docs/CATALOG.md)

Skill	Description
All Azure Skills	Full list of all available Azure skills
Skill Descriptions	Skill descriptions and capabilities
Skill Files	Links to individual skill files

📂 Repository Structure

Path	Purpose
`skills/`	Production-ready skills for AI agents to consume
`plugin.json`	Agent plugin manifest — one-click install in VS Code & GitHub Copilot CLI
`.github/plugin/marketplace.json`	Plugin marketplace catalog for VS Code (`chat.plugins.marketplaces`)
`.claude-plugin/`	Claude Code plugin + marketplace manifests (`/plugin marketplace add`)
`.codex-plugin/plugin.json`	OpenAI Codex plugin manifest
`.agents/plugins/marketplace.json`	OpenAI Codex marketplace catalog (`codex plugin marketplace add`)
`products/`	Scan results, raw data, and reporting artifacts

About the `products/` Directory

The products/ folder stores scan pipeline outputs and is used for:

Raw Data: Results from the latest documentation scan, including extracted nodes and metadata
Classification Reports: Detailed records of why each node was classified as a skill (or excluded)
Incremental Tracking: Historical scan data to support delta processing and change detection

⚠️ Note: The products/ directory is for internal pipeline use and contributor reference. End users only need the skills/ directory.

🛠️ Installation

Choose the installation path based on your preferred AI coding assistant.

⚡ Option A: Install as an Agent Plugin (Recommended)

The fastest, zero-maintenance path — install once and get all skills, with built-in updates. Works in VS Code, Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex. See ⚡ One-Click Plugin Install for full details.

VS Code (from source): Command Palette → Chat: Install Plugin From Source → paste https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills.
VS Code (marketplace): add "MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills" to chat.plugins.marketplaces, then install azure-agent-skills from the Extensions view (@agentPlugins).
Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills, then /plugin install azure-agent-skills@microsoft-agent-skills.
OpenAI Codex: codex plugin marketplace add MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills, then install azure-agent-skills from /plugins.

⚠️ In VS Code, this requires the agent plugins preview (chat.plugins.enabled set to true). If unavailable, use Option B below.

📋 Option B: Manual Install (All Assistants)

⚠️ Note: This repository contains skills in the skills/ subdirectory. Clone the repo first, then copy the skills to your target location.

Step 1: Clone the Repository

First, clone this repository to a location on your machine (e.g., your home folder or a temp directory):

git clone https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/agent-skills.git

Step 2: Copy Skills to Your Destination

Copy the contents inside the skills/ folder to your target location based on your AI assistant:

AI Assistant	Project-level (in your repo)	Personal/Global (all projects)
GitHub Copilot	`{your-project}/.github/skills/`	`~/.copilot/skills/`
Claude Code	`{your-project}/.claude/skills/`	`~/.claude/skills/`
OpenAI Codex	`{your-project}/.codex/skills/`	`~/.codex/skills/`
Cursor	`{your-project}/.cursor/skills/`	—
Gemini CLI	`{your-project}/.gemini/skills/`	—
Antigravity IDE	`{your-project}/.agent/skills/`	`~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/`
OpenCode	`{your-project}/.agent/skills/`	`~/.agent/skills/`
AdaL CLI	`{your-project}/.adal/skills/`	`~/.adal/skills/`

⚠️ Important: Copy the folders inside skills/ (e.g., azure-functions/, azure-container-apps/), NOT the skills folder itself.

✅ Correct: .copilot/skills/azure-functions/SKILL.md
❌ Wrong: .copilot/skills/skills/azure-functions/SKILL.md

💡 Path Note: ~ = Home directory

Windows: C:\Users\yourname (use $HOME in PowerShell)

macOS/Linux: /Users/yourname or /home/yourname

Enable Agent Skills in VS Code (Required for the manual install above):

💡 Using the agent plugin (Option A)? You can skip this — the plugin loads its skills automatically once chat.plugins.enabled is on.

Agent Skills is currently an experimental feature. For the manual copy method, you must enable it manually:

Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+, on Windows/Linux, Cmd+, on macOS)
Search for chat.agent.skills
Check the box for "Chat: Use Agent Skills"

⚠️ Important: Without this setting enabled, VS Code will not load or use any skills!

Step 3: Cleanup (Optional)

After copying, you can delete the cloned agent-skills repository if you no longer need it.

🧠 How to Use

Prerequisites

Most skills require network access to fetch the latest documentation from Microsoft Learn.

Option 1: Microsoft Learn MCP Server (Recommended)

Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch to fetch complete documentation

Option 2: Web Fetch Tool

Uses fetch_webpage to retrieve content from documentation URLs

Example Workflow

Ask about an Azure service:

How do I implement blue-green deployments in Azure Container Apps?

The skill provides:
- Direct links to official Microsoft documentation
- Best practices from Microsoft Learn
- Architecture patterns and code examples
AI fetches documentation:
- The AI assistant uses MCP tools to fetch the latest content
- You get accurate, up-to-date guidance

📖 Agent Skills Documentation

Agent Skills is an open standard for giving AI agents new capabilities. Learn more about how each platform implements skills:

Official Documentation

Platform	Documentation	Description
Agent Skills Standard	agentskills.io	The open specification for `SKILL.md` format
GitHub Copilot	About Agent Skills	Skills for Copilot coding agent, CLI, and VS Code
VS Code Copilot	Agent Skills in VS Code	Using skills in VS Code with agent mode
Claude Code	Agent Skills Overview	Skills in Claude Code and Claude API
OpenAI Codex	Agent Skills	Skills for Codex CLI and IDE extensions

Example Skill Repositories

Repository	Description
anthropics/skills	Official Anthropic skills (DOCX, PDF, PPTX, XLSX)
openai/skills	OpenAI Codex skills catalog
github/awesome-copilot	Community collection for GitHub Copilot

Skill Structure

Every skill requires a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: your-skill-name        # Lowercase, hyphens only, max 64 chars
description: What it does    # When to use it, max 1024 chars
---

# Your Skill Name

## Instructions
[Clear, step-by-step guidance for the AI agent]

## Examples
[Concrete examples of using this skill]

🤝 How to Contribute

Thanks for your interest in contributing. Due to limited maintainer capacity right now, we do not accept contributions that manually create or edit any skills. Please update the relevant Microsoft Learn documentation, then create an issue to request a re-crawl, or wait for our automatic weekly crawl. We appreciate your understanding, and things may change in the future.

⚖️ License

This project uses a dual license:

Documentation content: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License - See LICENSE
Code: MIT License - See LICENSE-CODE

📚 Additional Resources

Agent Skills Specification - The complete format specification
Microsoft Learn Documentation
Azure Architecture Center
Azure Well-Architected Framework

🏷️ Topics

azure azure-functions azure-container-apps agent-skills agent-plugin vscode ai-coding github-copilot claude-code cursor openai-codex agentic-skills llm-tools microsoft-learn SKILL.md

Legal Notices

Microsoft and any contributors grant you a license to the Microsoft documentation and other content in this repository under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, see the LICENSE file, and grant you a license to any code in the repository under the MIT License, see the LICENSE-CODE file.

Microsoft, Windows, Microsoft Azure and/or other Microsoft products and services referenced in the documentation may be either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries. The licenses for this project do not grant you rights to use any Microsoft names, logos, or trademarks. You can find Microsoft general trademark guidelines at Microsoft Trademark and Brand Guidelines.

For privacy information, see privacy at Microsoft.

Microsoft and any contributors reserve all other rights, whether under their respective copyrights, patents, or trademarks, whether by implication, estoppel or otherwise.