azure-prepare

Azure-prepare is an authoritative engineering skill designed to streamline the lifecycle of cloud-native applications on Microsoft Azure. It acts as the primary orchestrator for developers needing to create, modernize, or update applications, ensuring that infrastructure as code (IaC) and configuration files like azure.yaml and Dockerfiles adhere to official cloud best practices. The skill enforces a strict 'plan-first' workflow, requiring an initial .azure/deployment-plan.md file in the workspace root, which serves as the canonical record for subsequent validation and deployment tasks. It is intended for software engineers, DevOps practitioners, and cloud architects who require a structured, predictable path from application conception to production hosting.

• Orchestrates infrastructure generation using Bicep and Terraform, ensuring compliance with Azure-specific security standards, such as Entra-only authentication for SQL databases.

• Implements a mandatory planning phase, requiring the generation of a deployment plan before any code or infrastructure is modified or created.

• Facilitates application modernization by updating existing project structures, adding components like managed identity, Key Vault integration, and caching layers without disrupting existing source code.

• Integrates deeply with the Azure Developer CLI (azd) to handle service-oriented setups, supporting containerized Node.js applications, serverless HTTP APIs, and static website hosting.

• Provides intelligent technology checking to route specific needs—such as cross-cloud migrations—to specialized tools, ensuring the developer remains in the correct context.

• Automates the removal of stale IaC templates to maintain a clean project state after successful conversions.

• Mandatory usage: Always check for specialized requirements first and create the deployment plan before writing any infrastructure code.

• Use as the primary entry point for 'build web app', 'create API', 'deploy to Azure Container Apps', or 'generate Bicep' tasks.

• Operates by modifying existing directories rather than deleting them, preserving the user's workspace context.

• Input requirements include target Azure subscription details, location preferences, and the specific service architecture (e.g., App Service, Container Apps).

• Outputs include fully configured IaC files, optimized project manifests, and a validated deployment plan ready for the azure-validate and azure-deploy skills.