AGENTS.md

Overview

This is the .NET SDK for Azure Monitor / Application Insights, built on OpenTelemetry. It provides the Microsoft.ApplicationInsights family of NuGet packages for instrumenting .NET applications with distributed tracing, metrics, and logging.

Repository Structure

Directory	Contents
BASE/	Core SDK (Microsoft.ApplicationInsights)
NETCORE/	ASP.NET Core + Worker Service SDKs
WEB/	Classic ASP.NET Web SDK
LOGGING/	NLog logging adapter
examples/	7 runnable example apps
docs/	Conceptual documentation
skills/	AI-assisted instrumentation skills (see below)

Build & Test

dotnet build Everything.sln
dotnet test Everything.sln

Platform-specific filters: Everything.Windows.slnf, Everything.Linux.slnf.

Key conventions:

• Central package management via Directory.Packages.props
• Public API tracking in .publicApi/ (update PublicAPI.Unshipped.txt when adding public APIs)
• Strong-name signing required

AI-Assisted Instrumentation Skills

The skills/applicationinsights-setup/ folder contains a portable skill that helps developers set up, migrate, or enhance Application Insights 3.x SDK in their .NET applications.

What It Does

• Greenfield: Guides new setup for ASP.NET Core, Worker Service, ASP.NET Classic, and Console apps using Application Insights 3.x SDK
• Migration: Walks through 2.x → 3.x upgrade with code change detection and step-by-step fixes
• Enhancement: Adds Entity Framework, Redis, SQL, HTTP, OTLP, custom processors, activities, logging, and custom metrics to apps already on 3.x

Installation by Agent

GitHub Copilot: Copilot natively supports Agent Skills. Copy the skill folder to your project:

cp -r skills/applicationinsights-setup .github/skills/applicationinsights-setup

Copilot discovers skills in .github/skills/ (and .claude/skills/) automatically. Works with Copilot coding agent, GitHub Copilot CLI, and agent mode in VS Code.

Cursor: Cursor natively supports Agent Skills. Copy the skill folder to your project:

cp -r skills/applicationinsights-setup .cursor/skills/applicationinsights-setup

Cursor discovers skills in .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, and .codex/skills/ automatically.

Claude Code: Claude Code natively supports Agent Skills. Copy the skill folder to your project:

cp -r skills/applicationinsights-setup .claude/skills/applicationinsights-setup

Or add as an additional directory without copying:

claude --add-dir /path/to/ApplicationInsights-dotnet/skills/applicationinsights-setup

Codex:

cp -r skills/applicationinsights-setup .agents/skills/applicationinsights-setup

Codex scans .agents/skills/ from the current directory up to the repo root.

Other agents: Copy the skills/applicationinsights-setup/ folder into your project's agent skills directory (commonly .agents/skills/). If your agent doesn't support the Agent Skills standard, copy the references/ markdown files into whatever instruction mechanism your agent uses.

Usage

Once installed, ask your AI coding agent:

• "Add Application Insights to my app"
• "Migrate from Application Insights 2.x to 3.x"
• "Add Redis monitoring to my app"

The skill automatically detects your app type and instrumentation state, then provides the correct guidance.