About

Imported from borghei/claude-skills (engineering/azure-cloud-architect/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add borghei/claude-skills --skill azure-cloud-architect. Copyright stays with the author (MIT + Commons Clause).

Azure Cloud Architect

Name: azure-cloud-architect
Author: borghei

End-to-end Azure-specific architecture: service selection, Well-Architected Framework assessment, identity and networking patterns, cost optimization, and operational defaults. Provider-specific complement to our generic senior-cloud-architect skill — that one covers cross-cloud patterns; this one knows AKS pricing tiers, when to pick Cosmos over SQL DB, and how Front Door differs from Application Gateway.

Core Capabilities

Compute selection — decision tree across AKS, App Service, Container Apps, Functions, VMs/VMSS, Batch, Static Web Apps, and API gateways.
Data store selection — relational, NoSQL/document, cache, blob, time-series, search, vector, and warehouse decision trees.
Networking design — VNets, Private/Service Endpoints, gateways (App Gateway, Front Door, Firewall, NAT, VPN/ER), hub-and-spoke and Private Link patterns.
Identity design — Entra ID, Managed Identity (system/user-assigned), Workload Identity, Service Principals, and least-privilege RBAC scoping.
WAF assessment — score workloads across Reliability, Security, Cost, Operational Excellence, and Performance Efficiency pillars.
Cost optimization — right-sizing, reservations, autoscaling, spot, storage tiering, and egress-reduction levers with anti-pattern detection.

When to Use

Situation	Skill applies
Designing an Azure architecture from scratch	Yes — start with the compute decision tree
Reviewing an existing Azure architecture	Yes — run WAF assessment via `scripts/azure_waf_scorer.py`
Validating an ARM/Bicep/Terraform plan	Yes — `scripts/azure_architecture_validator.py`
Estimating Azure cost for a workload	Yes — `scripts/azure_cost_estimator.py`
Picking compute, data store, networking, or identity	Yes — see the decision-trees reference
Going to production without WAF review	Don't — run the WAF scorer first

Clarify First

Before designing or assessing, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

Task — design from scratch, review an existing architecture, validate IaC, or estimate cost (selects azure_architecture_validator.py vs azure_cost_estimator.py vs azure_waf_scorer.py)
Workload spec — the YAML workload config, or the Bicep/ARM/Terraform files (the input the scripts parse)
Priority pillar — reliability, security, cost, operational excellence, or performance (weights the WAF assessment and which recommendations lead)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Command
`azure_architecture_validator.py`	Validate a Bicep/ARM/YAML workload for anti-patterns and missing best-practice settings	`python scripts/azure_architecture_validator.py --bicep ./infra/*.bicep`
`azure_cost_estimator.py`	Estimate monthly Azure cost from a YAML workload spec	`python scripts/azure_cost_estimator.py --workload-config workload.yaml`
`azure_waf_scorer.py`	Score a workload against the five Well-Architected pillars	`python scripts/azure_waf_scorer.py --workload-config workload.yaml`

All scripts: stdlib only, argparse CLI, JSON or markdown output (--format).

References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

references/azure-decision-trees.md — full compute, data store, networking, and identity decision trees with building-block, gateway, and RBAC tables. Read when selecting services or designing topology.
references/azure-workflows-and-antipatterns.md — the five WAF pillars, cost levers and anti-patterns, the design/review/migrate workflows, Azure-specific anti-patterns, and tooling outputs. Read when running a design or review.
references/azure-services-reference.md — per-service depth: tiers, SLAs, limits, when to upgrade. Read when choosing a specific SKU or tier.
references/azure-well-architected.md — 5-pillar WAF assessment with the 10-question checklist per pillar, common findings, and remediations. Read during a WAF review.
references/azure-cost-optimization.md — full cost lever catalog, anti-patterns, and detection heuristics. Read when optimizing spend.

Related skills

engineering/senior-cloud-architect — generic multi-cloud architecture patterns
engineering/aws-solution-architect — AWS counterpart
engineering/gcp-cloud-architect — GCP counterpart
engineering/kubernetes-operator — for AKS operator-pattern workloads
ra-qm-team/information-security-manager-iso27001 — for compliance-mapped controls (Azure has built-in Defender / Compliance Manager)
ra-qm-team/soc2-compliance-expert — Azure-specific SOC 2 evidence collection

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/borghei-claude-skills-azure-cloud-architect/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

borghei-claude-skills-azure-cloud-architect.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "borghei-claude-skills-azure-cloud-architect",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "azure-cloud-architect",
  "description": "Design, review, and validate Azure cloud architectures. Use when choosing Azure compute, storage, networking, or identity services, or applying the Azure Well-Architected Framework to a workload.",
  "publisher": "borghei",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "general"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "azure",
      "cloud-architecture",
      "well-architected-framework",
      "aks",
      "app-service",
      "entra-id",
      "networking",
      "cost-optimization",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Design, review, and validate Azure cloud architectures. Use when choosing Azure compute, storage, networking, or identity services, or applying the Azure Well-Architected Framework to a workload."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/borghei/claude-skills",
      "path": "engineering/azure-cloud-architect/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/borghei/claude-skills/blob/HEAD/engineering/azure-cloud-architect/SKILL.md",
      "key": "borghei/claude-skills/engineering/azure-cloud-architect/SKILL.md"
    },
    "license": "MIT + Commons Clause"
  },
  "instructions": "# Azure Cloud Architect\n\nEnd-to-end Azure-specific architecture: service selection, Well-Architected Framework assessment, identity and networking patterns, cost optimization, and operational defaults. Provider-specific complement to our generic `senior-cloud-architect` skill — that one covers cross-cloud patterns; this one knows AKS pricing tiers, when to pick Cosmos over SQL DB, and how Front Door differs from Application Gateway.\n\n## Core Capabilities\n\n- **Compute selection** — decision tree across AKS, App Service, Container Apps, Functions, VMs/VMSS, Batch, Static Web Apps, and API gatewa",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 1275
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/borghei-claude-skills-azure-cloud-architect/manifest?version=1.0.0

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