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Azure Deploy

MicrosoftOfficialCreated by Microsoft

  • Skill
  • Workflow
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • MIT
  • Medium risk
  • Has scripts
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From the author

Execute Azure deployments for ALREADY-PREPARED applications that have existing .azure/deployment-plan.md and infrastructure files. DO NOT use this skill when the user asks to CREATE a new application — use azure-prepare instead. This skill runs azd up, azd deploy, terraform apply, and az deployment commands with built-in error recovery. Requires .azure/deployment-plan.md from azure-prepare and validated status from azure-validate. WHEN: "run azd up", "run azd deploy", "execute deployment", "push to production", "push to cloud", "go live", "ship it", "bicep deploy", "terraform apply", "publish to Azure", "launch on Azure". DO NOT USE WHEN: "create and deploy", "build and deploy", "create a new app", "set up infrastructure", "create and deploy to Azure using Terraform" — use azure-prepare for these.
— the description by Microsoft

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The azure-deploy skill manages the execution of cloud deployments for applications that have already been prepared and validated. It acts as the final stage in the deployment pipeline, ensuring that infrastructure and code are pushed to Azure using standardized recipes. The skill enforces strict prerequisites, requiring a validated deployment plan and a completed pre-deployment checklist to ensure success and minimize errors. It handles various deployment methods, including Azure Developer CLI (azd), Terraform, and Azure CLI, while providing built-in error recovery and post-deployment configuration steps.

What it does

  • Executes deployment commands like azd up, azd deploy, and terraform apply.
  • Verifies that the deployment plan is marked as Validated before proceeding.
  • Performs pre-deployment health checks, including RBAC verification for managed identities.
  • Configures post-deployment settings such as SQL managed identities and EF migrations.
  • Provides verified, fully-qualified HTTPS endpoint URLs for the deployed application.
  • Implements error recovery and verification steps based on specific deployment recipes.

When to use it

  • When you need to push updates to an existing, already-prepared Azure deployment.
  • When you have a project with an existing .azure/deployment-plan.md file.
  • When you are ready to ship code to production after passing the azure-validate check.
  • When you need to run standard deployment commands like azd up or az deployment.

Advantages

  • Ensures deployment consistency by requiring a validated plan and pre-deploy checklist.
  • Reduces deployment failures through automated RBAC health checks and error recovery.
  • Standardizes post-deployment tasks like database migrations and identity configuration.
  • Provides clear, actionable feedback with fully-qualified URLs for deployed services.

Usage examples

“run azd up”
The agent verifies the deployment plan status, completes the pre-deploy checklist, executes the deployment, and returns the HTTPS endpoint URLs.
“push to production”
The agent checks for a validated deployment plan, runs the appropriate deployment recipe, and confirms the application is live.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/microsoft/azure-deploy/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip azure-deploy.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Microsoft

Azure Deploy

AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE — MANDATORY COMPLIANCE

PREREQUISITE: The azure-validate skill MUST be invoked and completed with status Validated BEFORE executing this skill.

⛔ STOP — PREREQUISITE CHECK REQUIRED Before proceeding, verify BOTH prerequisites are met:

  1. azure-prepare was invoked and completed → .azure/deployment-plan.md exists

  2. azure-validate was invoked and passed → plan status = Validated

If EITHER is missing, STOP IMMEDIATELY:

  • No plan? → Invoke azure-prepare skill first

  • Status not Validated? → Invoke azure-validate skill first

⛔ DO NOT MANUALLY UPDATE THE PLAN STATUS

You are FORBIDDEN from changing the plan status to Validated yourself. Only the azure-validate skill is authorized to set this status after running actual validation checks. If you update the status without running validation, deployments will fail.

DO NOT ASSUME the app is ready. DO NOT SKIP validation to save time. Skipping steps causes deployment failures. The complete workflow ensures success:

azure-prepare → azure-validate → azure-deploy

Triggers

Activate this skill when user wants to:

  • Execute deployment of an already-prepared application (azure.yaml and infra/ exist)

  • Push updates to an existing Azure deployment

  • Run azd up, azd deploy, or az deployment on a prepared project

  • Ship already-built code to production

  • Deploy an application that already includes API Management (APIM) gateway infrastructure

Scope: This skill executes deployments. It does not create applications, generate infrastructure code, or scaffold projects. For those tasks, use azure-prepare.

APIM / AI Gateway: Use this skill to deploy applications whose APIM/AI gateway infrastructure was already created during azure-prepare. For creating or changing APIM resources, see APIM deployment guide. For AI governance policies, invoke azure-aigateway skill.

Rules

  1. Run after azure-prepare and azure-validate

  2. .azure/deployment-plan.md must exist with status Validated

  3. Pre-deploy checklist required — Pre-Deploy Checklist

  4. ⛔ Destructive actions require ask_user — global-rules

  5. Scope: deployment execution only — This skill owns execution of azd up, azd deploy, terraform apply, and az deployment commands. These commands are run through this skill's error recovery and verification pipeline.

Steps

#ActionReference
1Check Plan — Read .azure/deployment-plan.md, verify status = Validated AND Validation Proof section is populated.azure/deployment-plan.md
2Pre-Deploy Checklist — MUST complete ALL stepsPre-Deploy Checklist
3Load Recipe — Based on recipe.type in .azure/deployment-plan.mdrecipes/README.md
4RBAC Health Check — For Container Apps + ACR with managed identity: run azd provision --no-prompt, then verify AcrPull role has propagated before proceeding (see checklist)Pre-Deploy Checklist — Container Apps RBAC
5Execute Deploy — Follow recipe stepsRecipe README
6Post-Deploy — Configure SQL managed identity and apply EF migrations if applicablePost-Deployment
7Handle Errors — See recipe's errors.md—
8Verify Success — Confirm deployment completed and endpoints are accessibleVerification
9Live Role Verification — Query Azure to confirm provisioned RBAC roles are correct and sufficientlive-role-verification.md
10Report Results — Present deployed endpoint URLs to the user as fully-qualified https:// linksVerification

⛔ URL FORMAT RULE

When presenting endpoint URLs to the user, you MUST always use fully-qualified URLs with the https:// scheme (e.g. https://myapp.azurewebsites.net, not myapp.azurewebsites.net). Many Azure CLI commands return bare hostnames without a scheme — always prepend https:// before presenting them.

⛔ VALIDATION PROOF CHECK

When checking the plan, verify the Validation Proof section (Section 7) contains actual validation results with commands run and timestamps. If this section is empty, validation was bypassed — invoke azure-validate skill first.

SDK Quick References

MCP Tools

ToolPurpose
mcp_azure_mcp_subscription_listList available subscriptions
mcp_azure_mcp_group_listList resource groups in subscription
mcp_azure_mcp_azdExecute AZD commands
azure__roleList role assignments for live RBAC verification (step 9)

References

Files

references/recipes/azd/ef-migrations.md

EF Core Migrations Deployment

Apply Entity Framework Core migrations to Azure SQL Database after deployment.

Detection

EF Core projects contain Migrations/ folder or Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore package reference in .csproj.

find . -type d -name "Migrations" 2>/dev/null
find . -name "*.csproj" -exec grep -l "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore" {} \;

PowerShell:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Directory -Filter "Migrations" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "*.csproj" | Select-String -List "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Path

Deployment Methods

Method 1: azd Hook (Recommended)

Automate via postprovision hook in azure.yaml:

hooks:
  postprovision:
    posix:
      shell: sh
      run: ./scripts/apply-migrations.sh
    windows:
      shell: pwsh
      run: ./scripts/apply-migrations.ps1

Copy the pre-built scripts — Read scripts/apply-migrations.sh and scripts/apply-migrations.ps1 and write them verbatim to the project's scripts/ folder. Adjust APP_PROJECT_PATH / $AppProjectPath in the script to the location of the .csproj directory.

Key behaviours of the scripts:

  • Loads azd env get-values safely (no eval)

  • Installs dotnet-ef automatically when not present; no-op when already installed

  • Fails on genuine install errors (network failure, missing SDK)

  • Adds ~/.dotnet/tools to PATH so the tool is immediately available

💡 Make executable: chmod +x scripts/*.sh.

Method 2: SQL Script (Production)

Generate idempotent script for review before applying:

⚠️ Warning: az sql db query requires the rdbms-connect extension: az extension add --name rdbms-connect --yes

dotnet ef migrations script --idempotent --output migrations.sql
az sql db query --server "$SQL_SERVER" --database "$SQL_DATABASE" \
  --auth-mode ActiveDirectoryDefault --queries "$(cat migrations.sql)"

PowerShell:

dotnet ef migrations script --idempotent --output migrations.sql
$MigrationsSql = Get-Content migrations.sql -Raw
az sql db query --server $env:SQL_SERVER --database $env:SQL_DATABASE `
  --auth-mode ActiveDirectoryDefault --queries $MigrationsSql
Method 3: Application Startup (Dev Only)

⚠️ Development only — production should use explicit migration steps.

// Program.cs
if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment()) {
    using var scope = app.Services.CreateScope();
    scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<ApplicationDbContext>().Database.Migrate();
}

Combined Hook: SQL Access + Migrations

Combine both steps in a single postprovision hook using the pre-built combined scripts:

hooks:
  postprovision:
    posix:
      shell: sh
      run: ./scripts/grant-and-migrate.sh
    windows:
      shell: pwsh
      run: ./scripts/grant-and-migrate.ps1

Copy the pre-built scripts — Read scripts/grant-and-migrate.sh and scripts/grant-and-migrate.ps1 and write them verbatim to the project's scripts/ folder. Adjust APP_PROJECT_PATH / $AppProjectPath in the script to the location of the .csproj directory.

💡 Make executable: chmod +x scripts/*.sh

Prerequisites

Install EF Core tools:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef
dotnet ef --version  # Verify installation

Connection String

Server=tcp:{server}.database.windows.net,1433;Database={database};Authentication=Active Directory Default;Encrypt=True;

Troubleshooting

ErrorSolution
Cannot open databaseCheck firewall rules: az sql server firewall-rule list
Login failedGrant SQL access per sql-managed-identity.md
Unable to create DbContextAdd IDesignTimeDbContextFactory implementation
Hook fails but deployment continuesRemove `

DbContext Factory Example:

public class ApplicationDbContextFactory : IDesignTimeDbContextFactory<ApplicationDbContext> {
    public ApplicationDbContext CreateDbContext(string[] args) {
        var optionsBuilder = new DbContextOptionsBuilder<ApplicationDbContext>();
        var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("CONNECTION_STRING") 
            ?? args.FirstOrDefault() ?? "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=MyDb;Trusted_Connection=True;";
        optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(connectionString);
        return new ApplicationDbContext(optionsBuilder.Options);
    }
}

Best Practices

  • Use --idempotent flag for production scripts

  • Version control Migrations/ folder

  • Test locally before deploying

  • Backup production databases before applying

  • Keep migrations small and focused

References

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Medium risk

  • Instructions that use the network
  • Downloads piped into a shell
  • Scripts that your agent may run

This skill includes scripts that your agent may run. Read them before you use it.

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
Microsoft
Publisher
Microsoft (Official)
Source
microsoft/skills · .github/plugins/azure-skills/skills/azure-deploy · commit 0696600
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from .github/plugins/azure-skills/LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced
Also distributed in
microsoft/azure-skills

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Microsoft.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download azure-deploy.zip