Azure-skills

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform. This plugin connects GitHub Copilot CLI or Claude Code to your Azure account, letting you manage resources, deploy applications, and monitor services directly from your development environment.

Setup

1. Create an Azure Account

Sign up at azure.microsoft.com or use your existing Azure account.

2. Install Node.js and NPM

The Azure MCP Server runs as an NPM package. Ensure you have Node.js 18 or later installed:

• Download from nodejs.org
• Or use a version manager like nvm

3. Authenticate to Azure

The Azure MCP Server uses the Azure Identity SDK for authentication. You can authenticate using any of these methods:

Option A: Azure CLI (Recommended)

1. Install Azure CLI
2. Run az login to authenticate
3. The MCP server will automatically use your CLI credentials

Option B: Environment Variables

Set Azure service principal credentials:

Bash/Zsh:

export AZURE_TENANT_ID="your-tenant-id"
export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"

PowerShell:

$env:AZURE_TENANT_ID = "your-tenant-id"
$env:AZURE_CLIENT_ID = "your-client-id"
$env:AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET = "your-client-secret"

Option C: Managed Identity

When running on Azure resources (VMs, Container Apps, etc.), the server automatically uses managed identity.

For more authentication options, see the Azure Identity documentation.

4. Install the Plugins in Copilot CLI

Add the repo as a plugin marketplace

/plugin marketplace add microsoft/azure-skills

Pull in the Azure plugin

/plugin install azure@azure-skills

Available Tools

The Azure MCP Server provides tools for 40+ Azure services:

AI & Machine Learning

• Microsoft Foundry (AI models, deployments, knowledge indexes)
• Azure AI Search (search and vector database)
• Azure AI Services Speech (speech-to-text, text-to-speech)

Compute & Containers

• Azure App Service, Container Apps, AKS
• Azure Functions, Virtual Desktop

Storage & Databases

• Azure Storage (Blob, File Sync)
• Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB
• Azure Database for MySQL & PostgreSQL

Security & Networking

• Azure Key Vault (secrets, keys, certificates)
• Azure RBAC (access control)
• Azure Confidential Ledger

DevOps & Management

• Resource Groups, Subscriptions
• Azure Monitor (logging, metrics)
• Azure CLI command generation
• Bicep templates

Messaging & Communication

• Azure Communication Services (SMS, email)
• Azure Service Bus, Event Grid

For the complete list of 40+ services, see the official documentation.

Example Usage

Ask GitHub Copilot CLI or Claude Code to:

• "List my Azure storage accounts"
• "Show me all containers in my Cosmos DB database"
• "List all secrets in my key vault 'my-vault'"
• "Deploy a web app to Azure App Service"
• "Query my Log Analytics workspace"
• "List my AKS clusters"
• "Send an SMS message to +1234567890 using Azure Communication Services"
• "Generate an Azure CLI command to create a storage account"

For more examples, visit the Azure MCP documentation.

Documentation

For more information, visit:

• Azure Documentation
• Azure CLI Reference
• Azure REST API Reference

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

• Run az login to authenticate with Azure CLI
• Verify you have appropriate Azure RBAC permissions
• Check that your credentials are not expired
• See the Authentication guide

Server Issues

• Ensure Node.js 18 or later is installed
• Verify NPM can download packages from npmjs.com
• Check the Troubleshooting guide

Telemetry

To disable telemetry collection, set:

export AZURE_MCP_COLLECT_TELEMETRY=false