azure-app-onboard

End-to-end orchestrator: from a business idea, app idea, or existing app to running Azure deployment with cost estimates and pre-deploy approval. Analyzes your app, auto-detects the right Azure services, scaffolds infrastructure code, and deploys — tailored to your app, not a template. Handles moving existing apps to Azure without rewriting or with minimal changes. WHEN: bring your app to Azure, plan my app, cost to run, is my code ready to deploy, deploy my app to the cloud, deploy all my services, what Azure services do I need, plan my Azure deployment, deploy my new app to Azure, one-click

Azure App Onboard

⛔ Every repo goes through the full pipeline (Steps 1–10). No exceptions. Do not skip steps, refuse, or short-circuit based on what you recognize. Follow the Workflow table below sequentially — read each step's references before acting.

Quick Reference

Property	Value
Best for	Developers who know what to build but not which Azure services to use
Inputs	Business idea or existing codebase, budget/scale preferences (optional)
Outputs	Architecture plan, cost estimate, IaC files, deployed Azure resources
Phases	Discover → Architect → Scaffold → Deploy (self-contained, no external skill calls)

When to Use This Skill

Deploy existing code without knowing which Azure services to use
Check if your existing code is ready to deploy to Azure
Move an existing app to Azure without rewriting or with minimal changes
Get cost estimates before committing to infrastructure
Understand architecture decisions and rejected alternatives
Get answers to Azure architecture or service selection questions (e.g., "What database should I use?")
Get guided Azure onboarding without prior experience

When NOT to Use

Scenario	Use Instead
Run `azd up` or execute an existing deployment	`azure-deploy`
Optimize existing Azure spend	`azure-cost`
Generate Bicep/Terraform for a known architecture	`azure-prepare`
Validate infrastructure or run preflight checks	`azure-validate`
Troubleshoot a running Azure deployment	`azure-diagnostics`
Deploy to or manage AKS/Kubernetes directly	`azure-kubernetes`
Look up or list existing Azure resources	`azure-resource-lookup`

Pipeline Rules

⛔ You MUST read references/pipeline-rules.md at the start of every AppOnboard session. It contains approval gates, phase lifecycle, session artifacts, deploy-as-is, and security baseline rules.

Workflow

⛔ Deploy recovery: After deploy gate approval OR before any az deployment/az webapp deploy/az acr build — if you haven't read deploy/SKILL.md, read .copilot-azure/sessions/{id}/deploy-checklist.md first, then deploy/SKILL.md. ⛔ NEVER invoke {"skill": "azure-deploy"} — that is a DIFFERENT skill for a DIFFERENT workflow.

⛔ Post-scaffold transition (MANDATORY): Immediately after scaffold-manifest.json is written, YOUR NEXT ACTION MUST be Step 8 (Deploy Approval Gate) — NOT a summary report, NOT a "here are the generated files" message, NOT a completion signal. Confirm context.json has completedPhases: [...,"scaffold"] + currentPhase: "deploy" (update it yourself if the scaffold subagent didn't). Re-read approval-gates.md § Deploy Gate if evicted from context (scaffold reference loading is heavy), then present the exact prompt: "🚀 Ready to deploy? (Yes / Run manually / Edit plan / Cancel)". This gate is the LAST content in your response — wait for the user's reply.

#	Step	Action	Reference
1	Session check + Azure login	Create/resume session, verify Azure CLI auth, resolve subscription + user identity	⛔ You MUST read session-protocol.md
2	Scope triage	Check azd markers, triage question. Empty workspace or code-only (no infra) → Step 3 directly.	⛔ Read intent-gathering.md § Scope Triage
3	Prereq scan	⛔ Skip if `completedPhases` includes `"prereq"`. Otherwise: invoke `{"skill": "azure-app-onboard-prereq"}`. Write `prereq-output.json`, update `context.json`. Halt if: `overallHealth: "blocked"` OR `routeToSkill` set.
4	Gather intent	Present prereq results, confirm stack + Azure services, ask remaining questions.	⛔ Read intent-gathering.md § After Prereq Returns
5	Plan architecture	Write `prepare-plan.json`.	⛔ You MUST read prepare/SKILL.md
6	Scaffold approval gate	Display plan for user approval BEFORE generating any files.	⛔ Read approval-gates.md § Scaffold Gate
7	Scaffold	Generate IaC, self-review. Write `scaffold-manifest.json`. Update `context.json`.	⛔ You MUST read scaffold/SKILL.md
8	Deploy approval gate	Display validation summary. ⛔ After approval: FIRST read deploy-checklist.md → deploy/SKILL.md. NEVER `{"skill": "azure-deploy"}`.	⛔ Read approval-gates.md § Deploy Gate
9	Deploy	Execute IaC, health-check. Write `deploy-result.json`.	⛔ You MUST read deploy/SKILL.md
10	Handoff	Surface deployment identity, cleanup commands, next steps.	⛔ You MUST read `handoff-protocol.md`

Error Handling

Error	Remediation
Phase fails	Halt, report phase + error. User decides: retry, skip, abort.
MCP server unavailable	Skip affected checks, add disclaimer to `costEstimate.assumptions[]` and every approval gate.
Missing RBAC	Report required role + `az role assignment` command.

Shared references: MCP tools (cross-phase tool parameters) | IaC resources (Azure resource docs for troubleshooting)