azure-well-architected

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha b995f52ff007 · 20 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishermicrosoftdocs GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldermicrosoftdocs/agent-skills/skills/azure-well-architectedThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceCC-BY-4.0As the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdictb995f52ff007A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 1 day ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Expert guidance for designing, assessing, and optimizing Azure workloads using Azure Well Architected. Covers design review checklists, recommendations, design principles, tradeoffs, service guides, workload patterns,…

---
name: azure-well-architected
description: Expert guidance for designing, assessing, and optimizing Azure workloads using Azure Well Architected. Covers design review checklists, recommendations, design principles, tradeoffs, service guides, workload patterns, and assessment questions. Use when designing AI/HPC/SaaS workloads, AVD/AVS deployments, WAF assessments, or App Service/AKS/SQL architectures, and other Azure Well Architected related development tasks.
compatibility: Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
metadata:
  generated_at: "2026-10-18"
  generator: "docs2skills/1.0.0"
---
# Azure Well Architected Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for designing, assessing, and optimizing Azure workloads using Azure Well Architected. Covers design review checklists, recommendations, design principles, tradeoffs, service guides, workload patterns, and assessment questions. It combines local quick-reference content with remote documentation fetching capabilities.

## How to Use This Skill

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: Use the **Category Index** below to locate relevant sections. For categories with line ranges (e.g., `L35-L120`), use `read_file` with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., `[security.md](security.md)`), use `read_file` on the linked reference file

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: If `metadata.generated_at` is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If `mcp_microsoftdocs` tools are not available, suggest the user install it: [Installation Guide](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/mcp/blob/main/README.md)

This skill requires **network access** to fetch documentation content:
- **Preferred**: Use `mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill`. Returns Markdown.
- **Fallback**: Use `fetch_webpage` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown`. Returns Markdown.

## Category Index

| Category | Lines | Description |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| Design Review Checklists | L35-L43 | Checklists to review Azure workloads for cost, operations, performance, reliability, and security best practices and identify gaps against Well-Architected guidance. |
| Recommendations | L44-L117 | Guidance on cost, reliability, performance, security, and operational excellence best practices for Azure workloads, including optimization, monitoring, automation, and sustainable cloud operations. |
| Design Principles | L118-L133 | High-level Azure design guidance: cost, performance, reliability, security/Zero Trust, sustainability, operational excellence, capacity resilience, and patterns for AI, HPC, and SaaS workloads. |
| Tradeoffs | L134-L143 | Guidance on weighing cost, reliability, performance, security, and operations tradeoffs in Azure architectures, including regions/AZ choices and cross-pillar design decisions. |
| Service Guides | L144-L180 | Service-specific Azure Well-Architected (WAF) guidance: design, configure, secure, and optimize individual services (App Service, AKS, SQL, networking, storage, etc.) using WAF pillars. |
| Workload Patterns | L181-L225 | Design patterns, reference architectures, and end-to-end guidance for AI, HPC, mission-critical, SaaS, and sustainable workloads on Azure, including platforms, data, ops, security, and governance. |
| Assessment Questions | L226-L237 | Guided assessments and maturity models to evaluate AI, SaaS, AVD, AVS, and other Azure workloads against WAF pillars: cost, reliability, security, performance, and operations. |

### Design Review Checklists
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Use Cost Optimization design review checklist for Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/checklist |
| Use operational excellence design review checklist | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/operational-excellence/checklist |
| Use performance efficiency design review checklist | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/performance-efficiency/checklist |
| Use reliability design checklist for Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/reliability/checklist |
| Use the Security design review checklist for workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/security/checklist |

### Recommendations
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Align Azure resource usage with billing increments | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/align-usage-to-billing-increments |
| Implement cost data collection and review for Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/collect-review-cost-data |
| Use consolidation strategies to reduce Azure costs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/consolidation |
| Build and maintain a cost model for Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/cost-model |
| Create a culture of financial responsibility for cloud costs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/create-culture-financial-responsibility |
| Negotiate and obtain best provider rates for Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/get-best-rates |
| Reduce Azure workload costs through code optimization | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/optimize-code-costs |
| Optimize individual component costs in Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/optimize-component-costs |
| Optimize Azure data storage and management costs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost-optimization/optimize-data-costs |
| Optimize non-production and production environment costs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/cost

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/microsoftdocs/agent-skills
git -C agent-skills checkout b995f52ff007

Works in

1. 2026-10-20
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source b995f52ff007

Questions about azure-well-architected

• github.com/microsoftdocs/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/azure-wel — the audited source at commit b995f52ff007 and every finding aboveObserved · 20 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology