azure-validate
**WORKFLOW SKILL** — Pre-deployment validation for Azure: config, infrastructure (Bicep/Terraform), permissions, prerequisites. WHEN: 'validate my app', 'check deployment readiness', 'run preflight checks', 'validate azure.yaml', 'validate Bicep', 'test before deploying', 'validate Azure Functions'. DO NOT USE FOR: post-deploy troubleshooting (azure-diagnostics), executing deploys (azure-deploy).
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jonathan-vella/apex /tmp/azure-validate && cp -r /tmp/azure-validate/.github/skills/azure-validate ~/.claude/skills/azure-validateSKILL.md
# Azure Validate
> **AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE** — Follow these instructions exactly. This supersedes prior training.
> **⛔ STOP — PREREQUISITE CHECK REQUIRED**
>
> Before proceeding, verify this prerequisite is met:
>
> **azure-prepare** was invoked and completed → `infra/{iac}/{project}/.azure/plan.md` exists with status `Approved` or later
>
> If the plan is missing, **STOP IMMEDIATELY** and invoke **azure-prepare** first.
>
> The complete workflow ensures success:
>
> `azure-prepare` → `azure-validate` → `azure-deploy`
## Triggers
- Check if app is ready to deploy
- Validate azure.yaml or Bicep
- Run preflight checks
- Troubleshoot deployment errors
## Rules
1. Run after azure-prepare, before azure-deploy
2. All checks must pass—do not deploy with failures
3. ⛔ **Destructive actions require `ask_user`** — [global-rules](references/global-rules.md)
## Validation Commands (per recipe)
The per-recipe validation commands are bundled in
[`references/recipes/`](references/recipes/README.md). Common ones:
```bash
azd provision --preview # AZD recipes
bicep build infra/bicep/{project}/main.bicep && bicep lint infra/bicep/{project}/main.bicep
terraform fmt -check && terraform validate && npm run validate:terraform
npm run validate:iac-security-baseline # cross-cutting baseline
npm run validate:all # full repo validator suite
```
Load the recipe-specific README to confirm the exact command set for the
project's IaC tool.
## Steps
| # | Action | Reference |
| --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
| 1 | **Load Plan** — Read `infra/{iac}/{project}/.azure/plan.md` for recipe and configuration. If missing → run azure-prepare first | `infra/{iac}/{project}/.azure/plan.md` |
| 2 | **Run Validation** — Execute recipe-specific validation commands | [recipes/README.md](references/recipes/README.md) |
| 3 | **Build Verification** — Build the project and fix any errors before proceeding | See recipe |
| 4 | **Record Proof** — Populate **Section 7: Validation Proof** with commands run and results | `infra/{iac}/{project}/.azure/plan.md` |
| 5 | **Resolve Errors** — Fix failures before proceeding | See recipe's `errors.md` |
| 6 | **Update Status** — Only after ALL checks pass, set status to `Validated` | `infra/{iac}/{project}/.azure/plan.md` |
| 7 | **Deploy** — Invoke **azure-deploy** skill | — |
> **⛔ VALIDATION AUTHORITY**
>
> This skill is the **ONLY** authorized way to set plan status to `Validated`. You MUST:
>
> 1. Run actual validation commands (azd provision --preview, bicep build, terraform validate, etc.)
> 2. Populate **Section 7: Validation Proof** with the commands you ran and their results
> 3. Only then set status to `Validated`
>
> Do NOT set status to `Validated` without running checks and recording proof.
---
> **⚠️ MANDATORY NEXT STEP — DO NOT SKIP**
>
> After ALL validations pass, you **MUST** invoke **azure-deploy** to execute the deployment. Do NOT attempt to run `azd up`, `azd deploy`, or any deployment commands directly. Let azure-deploy handle execution.
## APEX-Specific References
- [InfraOps Preflight Validation](references/infraops-preflight.md) — CLI auth checks, known issues, governance-to-code mapping, stop rules
> If any validation failed, fix the issues and re-run azure-validate before proceeding.
## Reference Index
Load these on demand — do NOT read all at once:
| Reference | When to Load |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------- |
| `references/global-rules.md` | Global Rules |
| `references/infraops-preflight.md` | Infraops Preflight |
| `references/policy-validation.md` | Policy Validation |
| `references/region-availability.md` | Region Availability |Guidance for instrumenting webapps with Azure Application Insights. Provides telemetry patterns, SDK setup, and configuration references. WHEN: how to instrument app, App Insights SDK, telemetry patterns, what is App Insights, Application Insights guidance, instrumentation examples, APM best practices.
Use for Azure AI: Search, Speech, OpenAI, Document Intelligence. Helps with search, vector/hybrid search, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, transcription, OCR. WHEN: AI Search, query search, vector search, hybrid search, semantic search, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, transcribe, OCR, convert text to speech.
Configure Azure API Management as an AI Gateway for AI models, MCP tools, and agents. WHEN: semantic caching, token limit, content safety, load balancing, AI model governance, MCP rate limiting, jailbreak detection, add Azure OpenAI backend, add AI Foundry model, test AI gateway, LLM policies, configure AI backend, token metrics, AI cost control, convert API to MCP, import OpenAPI to gateway.
ROUTING SKILL — delegates to specialized diagram skills. USE FOR: any diagram request when the caller does not know which tool to use. Routes to drawio, python-diagrams, or mermaid based on diagram type.
Build and deploy GitHub Copilot SDK apps to Azure. WHEN: build copilot app, create copilot app, copilot SDK, @github/copilot-sdk, scaffold copilot project, copilot-powered app, deploy copilot app, host on azure, azure model, BYOM, bring your own model, use my own model, azure openai model, DefaultAzureCredential, self-hosted model, copilot SDK service, chat app with copilot, copilot-sdk-service template, azd init copilot, CopilotClient, createSession, sendAndWait, GitHub Models API.
Troubleshoot and resolve issues with Azure Messaging SDKs for Event Hubs and Service Bus. Covers connection failures, authentication errors, message processing issues, and SDK configuration problems. WHEN: event hub SDK error, service bus SDK issue, messaging connection failure, AMQP error, event processor host issue, message lock lost, send timeout, receiver disconnected, SDK troubleshooting, azure messaging SDK, event hub consumer, service bus queue issue, topic subscription error, enable logging event hub, service bus logging, eventhub python, servicebus java, eventhub javascript, servicebus dotnet, event hub checkpoint, event hub not receiving messages, service bus dead letter.
Authoritative reference for VS Code Copilot customization mechanisms: instructions, prompt files, custom agents, agent skills, MCP servers, hooks, and plugins. Use when deciding which customization type to use, creating new .instructions.md/.prompt.md/.agent.md/SKILL.md/mcp.json files from scratch, or debugging why a customization is not loading. DO NOT USE FOR: routine file edits where the format is already known.
Provides canonical entity counts from count-manifest.json. Use when agents need to reference how many agents, skills, instructions, or validators exist. Prevents hard-coded counts. WHEN: agent count, skill count, how many agents, how many skills, entity inventory, project statistics.