Foundry-platform fluency for any language. Skills teach the model the mental model + non-obvious gotchas, then direct it to discover current API surface via Foundry MCP (mcp.ai.azure.com), Microsoft Docs MCP, and azd ai agent. No baked-in stale SDK syntax — concepts in, fresh code out.
# Copilot CLI
/plugin marketplace add microsoft/skills
/plugin install microsoft-foundry@skills# npx
npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill microsoft-foundryThe plugin bundles three MCP servers that activate automatically on install:
| Server | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Azure MCP | Manage Azure resources, deployments, and infrastructure from your editor. 40+ services. |
| Foundry MCP | Foundry-native operations at mcp.ai.azure.com -- model catalog, agents, toolboxes, knowledge bases, evals. |
| Microsoft Docs | Search Microsoft Learn in real-time so the agent always uses current Foundry/SDK patterns. |
One orchestrator routes intent to ten language-agnostic sub-skills. Each sub-skill teaches the platform mental model and gotchas, then directs to the appropriate discovery surface for current syntax.
| Skill | What It Covers |
|---|---|
microsoft-foundry |
Orchestrator. Maps user intent (build a hosted agent, curate a toolbox, ground on docs, set up evals, govern tools, personalize, orchestrate) onto the right sub-skill and the right discovery surface (Microsoft Docs MCP, Foundry MCP, azd ai agent, az). |
foundry-projects-resources |
Provision Foundry resources and projects, configure project connections (key-auth, OAuth, managed identity, agent identity), standard vs private-network agent infrastructure, Azure auth via DefaultAzureCredential / ManagedIdentityCredential. |
foundry-models |
Discover, deploy, and manage models. Preset vs customized deployments, capacity discovery across regions, quota management, PTU vs pay-as-you-go, RAI policy on model deployments. |
foundry-hosted-agents |
Build, deploy, and manage hosted agents on the refreshed preview. Responses + Invocations protocols, agent.yaml, azd ai agent, ResponsesAgentServerHost / InvocationAgentServerHost, sessions, per-agent Microsoft Entra identity, dedicated endpoints. |
foundry-toolboxes |
Curate intent-based Toolboxes (preview) — a single MCP-compatible endpoint bundling 9 tool types: MCP, Web Search, Azure AI Search, Code Interpreter, File Search, OpenAPI, A2A, Browser Automation, Computer Use. Build once, consume everywhere. |
foundry-workflows |
Multi-agent orchestration. When to use a declarative workflow vs an A2A tool call vs the Connected Agents pattern, plus Microsoft Agent Framework workflow patterns. Author, visualize, and test. |
foundry-iq-knowledge-bases |
Foundry IQ knowledge bases (preview) — multi-source, permission-aware grounding. Connect Blob/SharePoint/OneLake/web sources, use the agentic retrieval pipeline (decomposition + parallel search + reranking), expose via MCP to agents. |
foundry-managed-skills |
SKILL.md as a Foundry-side resource (preview). Author behavioral guidelines once, store centrally via the Skills REST API, download into hosted agent containers as additional session instructions. Decouples policy from code. |
foundry-memory |
Long-term memory stores (preview) for personalized agents across sessions. User profile vs chat summary memory, memory search tool vs memory store APIs, scoping, prompt-injection / memory-corruption risks, retention. |
foundry-observability |
Trace, monitor, and evaluate hosted agents end-to-end. OpenTelemetry GenAI traces in App Insights via KQL, eval-trace correlation, azd ai agent monitor, dataset curation from production traces, built-in quality + safety/RAI evaluators, batch evals, regression detection. |
foundry-governance |
Govern agent fleets at scale via the Foundry Control Plane and AI Gateway. Tool catalog visibility, MCP routing/policy, RBAC and agent identity, third-party tool risk, RAI policies on model deployments, transparency notes for production rollout. |
Foundry agents commonly call into adjacent Azure SDKs. Those skills live in their language plugins — install the matching azure-sdk-* plugin for SDK-specific guidance:
| Capability | Skills | Plugin |
|---|---|---|
| AI Search (vector, hybrid, agentic retrieval) | azure-search-documents-py, azure-search-documents-dotnet, azure-search-documents-ts |
azure-sdk-python / -dotnet / -typescript |
| VoiceLive (real-time voice over WebSocket) | azure-ai-voicelive-py, azure-ai-voicelive-dotnet, azure-ai-voicelive-ts, azure-ai-voicelive-java |
azure-sdk-python / -dotnet / -typescript / -java |
| Content Safety (harmful content detection) | azure-ai-contentsafety-py, azure-ai-contentsafety-ts, azure-ai-contentsafety-java |
azure-sdk-python / -typescript / -java |
| M365 Agents (Teams / Copilot Studio) | m365-agents-py, m365-agents-dotnet, m365-agents-ts |
azure-sdk-python / -dotnet / -typescript |
| Azure AI Projects SDK (project client + low-level CRUD) | azure-ai-projects-py, azure-ai-projects-dotnet, azure-ai-projects-ts, azure-ai-projects-java |
azure-sdk-python / -dotnet / -typescript / -java |
| Microsoft Agent Framework (persistent Azure agents) | agent-framework-azure-ai-py |
azure-sdk-python |
This plugin stays Foundry-platform focused; install language plugins alongside it for SDK depth.
- Azure account with an AI Foundry project (create one)
- Azure CLI authenticated (
az login) - Node.js 18+ (for the Azure MCP server)
azdextension for hosted agents:azd ext install azure.ai.agents
Foundry uses Microsoft Entra. Authenticate via Azure CLI:
az login # for az + Azure MCP + DefaultAzureCredential locally
azd auth login # for hosted-agent deploys via `azd ai agent`In code, prefer DefaultAzureCredential for local dev and ManagedIdentityCredential in production (hosted agents, App Service, Container Apps, AKS).
Set your Foundry project endpoint:
export AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT="https://<resource>.services.ai.azure.com/api/projects/<project>"After installing the plugin, your coding agent routes intent through the orchestrator to the right sub-skill:
"Provision a Foundry project and a model deployment"
-> foundry-projects-resources + foundry-models
"Deploy a hosted agent with the Responses protocol"
-> foundry-hosted-agents (azd ai agent + agent.yaml)
"Curate a toolbox with Web Search + AI Search + an MCP server"
-> foundry-toolboxes (single MCP endpoint, versioned)
"Ground my agent on our SharePoint knowledge with permission trimming"
-> foundry-iq-knowledge-bases (agentic retrieval + ACL-aware)
"Set up tracing, batch evals, and a regression alert"
-> foundry-observability (App Insights KQL + evaluators)
"Centrally govern which MCP tools my agent fleet can call"
-> foundry-governance (Foundry Control Plane + AI Gateway)
microsoft-foundry/
.claude-plugin/
plugin.json # Plugin manifest
.mcp.json # Azure MCP + Foundry MCP + Microsoft Docs MCP
README.md
skills/
microsoft-foundry/ # Orchestrator — routes intent to sub-skills
foundry-projects-resources/ # Resources, projects, connections, auth
foundry-models/ # Deploy, capacity, quota, RAI policy
foundry-hosted-agents/ # Responses + Invocations, agent.yaml, azd
foundry-toolboxes/ # Intent-based toolboxes (9 tool types)
foundry-workflows/ # Workflow vs A2A vs Connected Agents
foundry-iq-knowledge-bases/ # Foundry IQ + agentic retrieval
foundry-managed-skills/ # SKILL.md as a Foundry resource
foundry-memory/ # Long-term memory stores
foundry-observability/ # Tracing + KQL + evals + RAI evals
foundry-governance/ # Control Plane + AI Gateway + RBAC
Skills are symlinked to canonical sources in the azure-skills plugin to maintain a single source of truth.
Foundry surfaces evolve fast. Skills that bake in SDK syntax go stale and produce broken code.
This plugin takes the opposite approach:
- Concepts in skills. Each sub-skill teaches the mental model (what a toolbox is, why memory has prompt-injection risk, how Responses differs from Invocations) and the non-obvious gotchas (preview header flags, capacity-region mismatches, ACL trimming caveats).
- Discover for syntax. Skills direct the model to the live surface for current API shape:
- Microsoft Docs MCP — official Learn docs, always fresh
- Foundry MCP (
mcp.ai.azure.com) — Foundry-native operations azd ai agent— hosted agent build/deploy/monitorazCLI — Azure resource management
The result: stable skills + always-current code.
MIT