Azure Skills Plugin

microsoft/azure-skills is Microsoft's official Azure Skills Plugin for coding agents. It packages Azure-specific Agent Skills, Azure MCP Server configuration, and Foundry MCP workflows so compatible agents can move from generic Azure advice to source-backed planning, validation, diagnostics, cost review, and deployment workflows.

The plugin is intended for multi-host use across GitHub Copilot, Copilot CLI, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code, IntelliJ IDEA, and other compatible plugin or skill hosts.

Knowledge Freshness

The repository is active and Azure service behavior changes frequently. Azure MCP tools, Foundry MCP capabilities, plugin host support, sovereign cloud configuration, service quotas, SDKs, azd behavior, and Azure pricing can change.

Use the plugin for Microsoft-maintained workflow structure, then verify exact commands, service limits, subscription context, RBAC permissions, cloud environment, and pricing against current Azure docs and the target subscription.

Retrieval Sources

This listing is grounded in:

• The microsoft/azure-skills repository README.
• The plugin .mcp.json that configures Azure MCP through @azure/mcp.
• Representative Azure skill files for prepare, Azure AI, and cost workflows.
• The public Azure Skills landing page.
• Current GitHub repository metadata from the Microsoft organization.

Core Workflow

Install through APM for multi-host setup:

apm install microsoft/azure-skills

For Claude Code, install the official marketplace plugin:

/plugin install azure@claude-plugins-official

For Codex, add the marketplace and install the Azure plugin through /plugins:

codex plugin marketplace add microsoft/azure-skills

The included MCP configuration starts Azure MCP with:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@azure/mcp@latest", "server", "start"]
    }
  }
}

Authenticate Azure before asking an agent to inspect or operate on live resources:

az login
azd auth login

Capability Scope

The repository currently ships Azure skills across these areas:

The README describes three capability layers:

• Azure skills for workflows, decision trees, and guardrails.
• Azure MCP Server for live Azure tooling across Azure services.
• Foundry MCP for Microsoft Foundry model, deployment, and agent workflows.

Production Rules

Use this plugin with live-cloud discipline:

• Identify the target tenant, subscription, resource group, region, and cloud environment before querying or changing Azure resources.
• Use the specific Azure skill for the job instead of generic cloud advice.
• For deployment, preserve the upstream sequence: prepare a deployment plan, validate it, then deploy.
• Keep write operations gated by user approval, especially provisioning, deletion, RBAC, production deployment, AKS, storage, networking, and model deployment changes.
• Prefer least-privilege Azure roles for the authenticated account or service principal.
• Treat cost, quota, diagnostic logs, resource inventory, and telemetry as sensitive operational data.
• For Azure China Cloud or Azure US Government, configure the Azure MCP server --cloud argument as the README describes.

Use Cases

• Ask Claude Code to prepare and validate an Azure deployment plan before running azd or infrastructure commands.
• Use Codex with Azure MCP to list resources, inspect diagnostics, or check resource details in a scoped subscription.
• Ask Copilot to use Azure cost skills to query spend, identify waste, or forecast budget impact.
• Use Azure AI skills for AI Search, Speech, Azure OpenAI, and Document Intelligence implementation guidance.
• Use Foundry MCP workflows for model discovery, deployment, and agent scenarios in Microsoft Foundry.

Source Review

• The README identifies microsoft/azure-skills as the official Azure Skills Plugin.
• The README says the plugin packages Azure skills, Azure MCP Server, and Foundry MCP together.
• The README documents installation for APM, GitHub Copilot CLI, VS Code, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Codex CLI, and IntelliJ IDEA.
• The plugin .mcp.json configures an azure MCP server using npx -y @azure/mcp@latest server start.
• Representative skill files define Microsoft-authored Azure workflows such as azure-prepare, azure-ai, and azure-cost.
• The README includes prerequisites for Node.js 18+, Azure CLI authentication, and Azure Developer CLI authentication for deployment workflows.

Duplicate Review

Checked current content/skills/, content/mcp/, content/agents/, content/tools/, open pull requests, and repository-wide content for microsoft/azure-skills, Azure Skills Plugin, Azure skills, Azure MCP skills, Foundry MCP skills, Azure agent skills, and related Microsoft skills entries. Existing entries cover Microsoft Agent Skills, Microsoft Fabric Skills, Azure MCP, and Azure DevOps MCP separately, but no dedicated Azure Skills Plugin entry, exact source URL duplicate, target file, or open duplicate PR was found.

Disclosure

Editorial listing. No paid placement or affiliate link is used. The upstream repository is maintained by Microsoft and reports MIT license terms.