{"id":1916,"date":"2026-03-09T20:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:02:45","slug":"announcing-the-azure-skills-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/announcing-the-azure-skills-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the Azure Skills Plugin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>Part 1 of the Azure Skills Plugin series<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Coding agents like GitHub Copilot and Claude Code are great at code, but <em>getting your app to production on Azure is not just about writing code<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Really, it is about making the right calls. Which service fits this app? Which SKU fits this workload? Should this be App Service, Container Apps, Functions, AKS, or something else entirely? What needs to be validated before deploy? Which permissions, quotas, and guardrails matter?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">That is exactly why skills are taking off: they give agents <strong>practical knowledge on demand<\/strong> instead of forcing them to guess.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Want to try this right now instead of reading the whole post first?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em><div  class=\"d-flex justify-content-left\"><a class=\"cta_button_link btn-primary mb-24\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/microsoft\/azure-skills?tab=readme-ov-file#what-you-get\" target=\"_blank\">aka.ms\/azure-skills<\/a><\/div><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The <strong>Azure Skills Plugin<\/strong> brings that idea to Azure work. It bundles curated Azure skills, the Azure MCP Server, and the Foundry MCP Server in one install so a coding agent can do more than explain Azure. It can reason about Azure workflows and then execute them with real tools.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">GitHub Copilot in VS Code is an obvious place to use the Azure skills plugin. So is Copilot CLI. But the bigger story is portability: because this is built around open skills and plugin patterns, the same package can also light up experiences in Claude Code and other tools that support plugins and skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Why This Hits Different<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">This is not another prompt pack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It is not a folder full of clever one-liners. It is a carefully curated set of detailed Azure instructions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Skills<\/strong> package Azure expertise as reusable workflows, decision trees, and guardrails.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>MCP servers<\/strong> give the agent tools to act on Azure and Foundry.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>The plugin<\/strong> ships both together so the guidance and the execution layer stay aligned.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">If you&#8217;ve been following the broader agent world, this pattern should feel familiar. Skills are becoming the way teams turn tribal knowledge into something reusable. The Azure Skills Plugin follows that pattern and applies it to real Azure work across modern coding agents.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Works Across Agent Hosts<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Azure Skills Plugin is super useful in any one host on its own. But what makes it especially powerful is that the same Azure knowledge and tooling can travel across hosts.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>GitHub Copilot in VS Code<\/strong> gives you the in-editor experience most developers will see first.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Copilot CLI<\/strong> gives you the same skills in a terminal-first workflow that is becoming very popular.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Claude Code<\/strong> can use the same plugin and skills for Azure-capable coding workflows.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Other tools that support skills and plugins<\/strong> can benefit from the same packaged Azure expertise.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Developers already have their preferred tools and workflows, and Azure should meet them where they already build.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">One Install, Three Layers of Capability<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">19+ Azure Skills &#8211; The Brain<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Skills teach the agent <em>how Azure work gets done<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">They do not just list tools, but instead tell the agent when to use them, in what order, and what to avoid. The skills capture how an Azure expert would approach the job:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><code>azure-prepare<\/code><\/strong> analyzes your project and generates infrastructure code, Dockerfiles, and <code>azure.yaml<\/code><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><code>azure-validate<\/code><\/strong> runs pre-flight checks before you burn time on a failed deployment<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><code>azure-deploy<\/code><\/strong> orchestrates the actual deployment pipeline via <code>azd<\/code><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><code>azure-cost-optimization<\/code><\/strong> finds waste and produces concrete savings recommendations<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><code>azure-diagnostics<\/code><\/strong> troubleshoots real failures with logs, metrics, and KQL<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">There are 19+ skills covering compute, observability, AI, compliance, storage, migration, RBAC, messaging, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Azure MCP Server &#8211; The Hands<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Azure MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server provides over 200 structured tools across 40+ Azure services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Here are the actual operations the agent can perform: listing resources, checking prices, querying logs, running diagnostics, provisioning infrastructure, and driving deployment workflows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">If you have seen my earlier Azure MCP content, you already know how powerful this tools layer is. The plugin brings the missing orchestration layer on top of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Foundry MCP Server &#8211; The AI Specialist<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Foundry MCP Server connects the agent to Microsoft Foundry for model deployment, agent management, and model catalog workflows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">If you are building AI-powered apps on Azure, this is the part that lights up model and agent scenarios instead of stopping at generic cloud guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">See the Flow<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small.webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1918\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small-1024x510.webp\" alt=\"Shows how the Azure plugin contributes skills and MCP tools to improve outcome quality.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small-1024x510.webp 1024w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small-300x149.webp 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small-768x382.webp 768w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small-1536x765.webp 1536w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2026\/03\/01-real-azure-operations_small.webp 1651w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">That is the core value proposition:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Skills guide.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">MCP executes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The plugin packages both.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Before and After<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Here is what the same prompt looks like with and without the plugin.<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Scenario<\/span><\/th>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Without the plugin<\/span><\/th>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">With the plugin<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Prompt<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">&#8220;Deploy my Python Flask API to Azure&#8221;<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">&#8220;Deploy my Python Flask API to Azure&#8221;<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Copilot behavior<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Generic tutorial, maybe some <code>az<\/code> commands, maybe a docs link<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Activates <code>azure-prepare<\/code>, <code>azure-validate<\/code>, and <code>azure-deploy<\/code> in sequence<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Who makes the decisions?<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">You<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Copilot follows an Azure workflow encoded by the skills<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>What gets produced?<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Advice<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><code>Dockerfile<\/code>, infrastructure files, <code>azure.yaml<\/code>, validation output, deployment actions<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>What actually runs?<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Usually nothing<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Real MCP tool calls against Azure and Foundry<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Same prompt. Completely different outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Without the plugin, Copilot gives you directions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">But with the plugin, Copilot gets an Azure playbook and the tools to follow it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Why Skills Matter Right Now<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Skills solve a very specific problem: agents are smart, but they are often missing the situational knowledge required to do real work reliably.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">That is why the skills model is resonating:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>They load on demand.<\/strong> You can install a large capability set without dragging every workflow into every prompt.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>They are auditable.<\/strong> Skills are plain text, version-controlled, reviewable, and easy to improve.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>They scale expertise.<\/strong> One team can package hard-won Azure knowledge once and reuse it over and over.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>They pair naturally with MCP.<\/strong> Skills provide the workflow. MCP provides the execution layer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Azure Skills Plugin matters because it turns that general idea into something concrete for developers shipping on Azure today.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Real Tools, Real Guardrails<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The plugin uses real tools against real Azure resources. That is the point. It also means the right model is not blind trust. The right model is curated skills, trusted plugin sources, tool approvals, and least-privilege access.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">That is a strength, not a weakness. Ultimately, the whole value of this approach is that Copilot is grounded in real workflows and real operations instead of hallucinated cloud advice.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">What&#8217;s in the Box<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">When you install the Azure Skills Plugin, you get:<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Component<\/span><\/th>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">What It Does<\/span><\/th>\n<th><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">How Many<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Azure Skills<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Azure expertise, workflows, and guardrails<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">19+ skills<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Azure MCP Server<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Azure service tools<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">~200 tools, 40+ services<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Foundry MCP Server<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">AI model and agent workflows<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">AI Foundry integration<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Skills install into <code>.github\/plugins\/azure-skills<\/code> in your workspace. The MCP servers are configured via a <code>.mcp.json<\/code> file that the plugin sets up for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Who Is This For?<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Startups and AI founders<\/strong> that want to focus on shipping solutions, models, agents, and user experience instead of building and managing cloud infrastructure by hand<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Agent builders<\/strong> who want Azure + Foundry workflows in the same toolchain<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Developers<\/strong> who want to stop bouncing between docs, portal tabs, and complicated CLI commands<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Cloud engineers<\/strong> who want a faster path from request to execution<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>DevOps teams<\/strong> who want repeatable infrastructure-as-code instead of ad hoc chat answers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Anyone<\/strong> who has ever stared at Azure&#8217;s service catalog and thought, &#8220;which one do I actually need?&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">You do not need to be an Azure expert. That is the whole point. The expertise comes with the plugin.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Where to Get It<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Install the Azure Skills Plugin: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/aka.ms\/azure-plugin\">https:\/\/aka.ms\/azure-plugin<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">One link. One install. A much smarter Azure experience across the coding agents that support it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Get Started in 60 Seconds<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">If you want the short version, here it is.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Prerequisites<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>A compatible host<\/strong> such as GitHub Copilot in VS Code, Copilot CLI, or Claude Code<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Node.js 18+<\/strong> on your PATH (the MCP servers use <code>npx<\/code>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>An Azure account<\/strong> if you want to do real Azure operations<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Azure CLI (<code>az<\/code>)<\/strong> installed and signed in with <code>az login<\/code><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Azure Developer CLI (<code>azd<\/code>)<\/strong> installed and signed in with <code>azd auth login<\/code> if you want to use deployment workflows<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Install<\/span><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/aka.ms\/azure-plugin\">aka.ms\/azure-plugin<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Follow the install flow for your host<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Let it add the Azure skills plus the Azure and Foundry MCP server configuration<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>For host-specific install commands and troubleshooting, see the <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/microsoft\/azure-skills\">Azure Skills Plugin README<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Verify<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">After install, confirm three things:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Azure skills package is available<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Azure MCP Server is configured and running<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Foundry MCP Server is configured and running<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">In VS Code-style hosts, this usually means you should see skills available to the agent and a <code>.mcp.json<\/code> with <code>azure<\/code> and <code>foundry<\/code> configured.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Smoke Test<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Try one prompt in your host of choice:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">&#8220;What Azure services would I need to deploy this project?&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Then try one tool-backed prompt:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">&#8220;List my Azure resource groups&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">If the first prompt gives you structured Azure guidance and the second returns real resources from your subscription, you are up and running.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">What&#8217;s Next in This Series<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">This post is the kickoff. Here is what is coming next:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Install Guide<\/strong> &#8211; Step-by-step setup with screenshots<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>How Skills + MCP Work Together<\/strong> &#8211; The architecture under the hood<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>The Core Workflow<\/strong> &#8211; Prepare \u2192 validate \u2192 deploy<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Skills That Save You Hours<\/strong> &#8211; Cost optimization, diagnostics, compute, and more<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Inside a SKILL.md<\/strong> &#8211; How skills actually work<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Real-World Walkthrough<\/strong> &#8211; Full-stack app to production, entirely through Copilot<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>What&#8217;s Next<\/strong> &#8211; Where Azure skills, agents, and MCP go from here<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Try It Yourself<\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Install the plugin: <a href=\"https:\/\/aka.ms\/azure-plugin\">aka.ms\/azure-plugin<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Open your preferred compatible host with a project you would like to deploy to Azure<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Try: <strong>&#8220;What Azure services would I need to deploy this project?&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Then try: <strong>&#8220;List my Azure resource groups&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Then try: <strong>&#8220;Prepare this app for Azure&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Watch the skills kick in<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>If you have seen Azure MCP before, this is the next step: the same hands, now with a brain and a plan.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>Next up: How to Install the Azure Skills Plugin<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part 1 of the Azure Skills Plugin series Coding agents like GitHub Copilot and Claude Code are great at code, but getting your app to production on Azure is not just about writing code. Really, it is about making the right calls. Which service fits this app? Which SKU fits this workload? Should this be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104169,"featured_media":1919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[98,121,120,119],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azure","tag-azure-mcp","tag-foundry","tag-plugins","tag-skills"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"<p>Part 1 of the Azure Skills Plugin series Coding agents like GitHub Copilot and Claude Code are great at code, but getting your app to production on Azure is not just about writing code. Really, it is about making the right calls. Which service fits this app? Which SKU fits this workload? Should this be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}