Cloud Cost Optimization
wshobson/agents
Cuts cloud spend across AWS, Azure, GCP and OCI with cost tagging, rightsizing, commitment and spot pricing models, and architecture changes.
Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices.
Install Cloud Solution Architect
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architect --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .claude/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .claude/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architectType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architect --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .agents/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .agents/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architect --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .cursor/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .cursor/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git --path .github/skills/cloud-solution-architect--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architect --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .gemini/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .gemini/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architectInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .github/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .github/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install microsoft/skills cloud-solution-architect --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect .opencode/skills/cloud-solution-architect && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cloud-solution-architect" agent skill from https://github.com/microsoft/skills/tree/main/.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect into .opencode/skills/cloud-solution-architect/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cloud-solution-architect", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
cloud-solution-architect- GitHub stars
- 3.1k
- Token cost
- ~4.4k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 1,769 words
- Files
- 8 (incl. references)
- Skills in repo
- 150
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices.
- Works in 7 steps: Identify Requirements → Select Architecture Style → Choose Technology Stack → …
- Designing cloud architectures
- SKILL.md covers Overview, Ten Design Principles for…, Architecture Styles and Cloud Design Patterns, plus 8 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Cloud Solution Architect is an agent skill from microsoft/skills, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices. Use when designing cloud architectures, reviewing system designs, selecting architecture styles, applying cloud design patterns, making technology choices, or conducting Well-Architected Framework reviews.
Its SKILL.md is about 4.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 8 other files, including reference files (for example `references/architecture-styles.md`, `references/best-practices.md` and `references/design-patterns.md`).
It sits in DevOps & Cloud, covering Cloud architecture. It works with Microsoft Azure. The repository describes itself as: Skills, MCP servers, Custom Agents, Agents.md for SDKs to ground Coding Agents. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Designing cloud architectures
- Reviewing system designs
- Selecting architecture styles
- Applying cloud design patterns
Example prompts
- “/cloud-solution-architect”
Workflow steps
7 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 354361d. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):
learn.microsoft.com
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Cloud Solution Architect loads about 4.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~33k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 84 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,769 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from microsoft/skills at commit 354361d, republished under its MIT licence (© microsoft). 1,769 words, ~4,361 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/cloud-solution-architect/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 7 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.- name
- cloud-solution-architect
- description
- Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices. Use when designing cloud architectures, reviewing system designs, selecting architecture styles, applying cloud design patterns, making technology choices, or conducting Well-Architected Framework reviews.
Cloud Solution Architect
Overview
Design well-architected, production-grade cloud systems following Azure Architecture Center best practices. This skill provides:
- 10 design principles for Azure applications
- 6 architecture styles with selection guidance
- 44 cloud design patterns mapped to WAF pillars
- Technology choice frameworks for compute, storage, data, messaging
- Performance antipatterns to avoid
- Architecture review workflow for systematic design validation
Ten Design Principles for Azure Applications
| # | Principle | Key Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Design for self-healing | Retry with backoff, circuit breaker, bulkhead isolation, health endpoint monitoring, graceful degradation |
| 2 | Make all things redundant | Eliminate single points of failure, use availability zones, deploy multi-region, replicate data |
| 3 | Minimize coordination | Decouple services, use async messaging, embrace eventual consistency, use domain events |
| 4 | Design to scale out | Horizontal scaling, autoscaling rules, stateless services, avoid session stickiness, partition workloads |
| 5 | Partition around limits | Data partitioning (shard/hash/range), respect compute & network limits, use CDNs for static content |
| 6 | Design for operations | Structured logging, distributed tracing, metrics & dashboards, runbook automation, infrastructure as code |
| 7 | Use managed services | Prefer PaaS over IaaS, reduce operational burden, leverage built-in HA/DR/scaling |
| 8 | Use an identity service | Microsoft Entra ID, managed identity, RBAC, avoid storing credentials, zero-trust principles |
| 9 | Design for evolution | Loose coupling, versioned APIs, backward compatibility, async messaging for integration, feature flags |
| 10 | Build for business needs | Define SLAs/SLOs, establish RTO/RPO targets, domain-driven design, cost modeling, composite SLAs |
Architecture Styles
| Style | Description | When to Use | Key Services |
|---|---|---|---|
| N-tier | Horizontal layers (presentation, business, data) | Traditional enterprise apps, lift-and-shift | App Service, SQL Database, VNets |
| Web-Queue-Worker | Web frontend → message queue → backend worker | Moderate-complexity apps with long-running tasks | App Service, Service Bus, Functions |
| Microservices | Small autonomous services, bounded contexts, independent deploy | Complex domains, independent team scaling | AKS, Container Apps, API Management |
| Event-driven | Pub/sub model, event producers/consumers | Real-time processing, IoT, reactive systems | Event Hubs, Event Grid, Functions |
| Big data | Batch + stream processing pipeline | Analytics, ML pipelines, large-scale data | Synapse, Data Factory, Databricks |
| Big compute | HPC, parallel processing | Simulations, modeling, rendering, genomics | Batch, CycleCloud, HPC VMs |
Selection Criteria
- Domain complexity → Microservices (high), N-tier (low-medium)
- Team autonomy → Microservices (independent teams), N-tier (single team)
- Data volume → Big data (TB+), others (GB)
- Latency requirements → Event-driven (real-time), Web-Queue-Worker (tolerant)
Cloud Design Patterns
44 patterns organized by primary concern. WAF pillar mapping: R=Reliability, S=Security, CO=Cost Optimization, OE=Operational Excellence, PE=Performance Efficiency.
Messaging & Communication
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Asynchronous Request-Reply | Decouple request/response with polling or callbacks | R, PE |
| Claim Check | Split large messages; store payload separately, pass reference | R, PE |
| Choreography | Services coordinate via events without central orchestrator | R, OE |
| Competing Consumers | Multiple consumers process messages from shared queue concurrently | R, PE |
| Messaging Bridge | Connect incompatible messaging systems | R, OE |
| Pipes and Filters | Decompose complex processing into reusable filter stages | R, OE |
| Priority Queue | Prioritize requests so higher-priority work is processed first | R, PE |
| Publisher/Subscriber | Decouple senders from receivers via topics/subscriptions | R, PE |
| Queue-Based Load Leveling | Buffer requests with a queue to smooth intermittent loads | R, PE |
| Sequential Convoy | Process related messages in order while allowing parallel groups | R, PE |
Reliability & Resilience
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Bulkhead | Isolate resources per workload to prevent cascading failure | R |
| Circuit Breaker | Stop calling a failing service; fail fast to protect resources | R |
| Compensating Transaction | Undo previously committed steps when a later step fails | R |
| Health Endpoint Monitoring | Expose health checks for load balancers and orchestrators | R, OE |
| Leader Election | Coordinate distributed instances by electing a leader | R |
| Retry | Handle transient faults by retrying with exponential backoff | R |
| Saga | Manage data consistency across microservices with compensating transactions | R |
| Scheduler Agent Supervisor | Coordinate distributed actions with retry and failure handling | R |
Data Management
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Cache-Aside | Load data on demand into cache from data store | PE |
| CQRS | Separate read and write models for independent scaling | PE, R |
| Event Sourcing | Store state as append-only sequence of domain events | R, OE |
| Index Table | Create indexes over frequently queried fields in data stores | PE |
| Materialized View | Pre-compute views over data for efficient queries | PE |
| Sharding | Distribute data across partitions for scale and performance | PE, R |
| Static Content Hosting | Serve static content from cloud storage/CDN directly | PE, CO |
| Valet Key | Grant clients limited direct access to storage resources | S, PE |
Design & Structure
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Ambassador | Offload cross-cutting concerns to a helper sidecar proxy | OE |
| Anti-Corruption Layer | Translate between new and legacy system models | OE, R |
| Backends for Frontends | Create separate backends per frontend type (mobile, web, etc.) | OE, PE |
| Compute Resource Consolidation | Combine multiple workloads into fewer compute instances | CO |
| External Configuration Store | Externalize configuration from deployment packages | OE |
| Sidecar | Deploy helper components alongside the main service | OE |
| Strangler Fig | Incrementally migrate legacy systems by replacing pieces | OE, R |
Security & Access
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Federated Identity | Delegate authentication to an external identity provider | S |
| Gatekeeper | Protect services using a dedicated broker that validates requests | S |
| Quarantine | Isolate and validate external assets before allowing use | S |
| Rate Limiting | Control consumption rate of resources by consumers | R, S |
| Throttling | Control resource consumption to sustain SLAs under load | R, PE |
Deployment & Scaling
| Pattern | Summary | Pillars |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment Stamps | Deploy multiple independent copies of application components | R, PE |
| Edge Workload Configuration | Configure workloads differently across diverse edge devices | OE |
| Gateway Aggregation | Aggregate multiple backend calls into a single client request | PE |
| Gateway Offloading | Offload shared functionality (SSL, auth) to a gateway | OE, S |
| Gateway Routing | Route requests to multiple backends using a single endpoint | OE |
| Geode | Deploy backends to multiple regions for active-active serving | R, PE |
See Design Patterns Reference for detailed implementation guidance.
Technology Choices
Decision Framework
For each technology area, evaluate: requirements → constraints → tradeoffs → select.
| Area | Key Options | Selection Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Compute | App Service, Functions, Container Apps, AKS, VMs, Batch | Hosting model, scaling, cost, team skills |
| Storage | Blob Storage, Data Lake, Files, Disks, Managed Lustre | Access patterns, throughput, cost tier |
| Data stores | SQL Database, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, Redis, Table Storage | Consistency model, query patterns, scale |
| Messaging | Service Bus, Event Hubs, Event Grid, Queue Storage | Ordering, throughput, pub/sub vs queue |
| Networking | Front Door, Application Gateway, Load Balancer, Traffic Manager | Global vs regional, L4 vs L7, WAF |
| AI services | Azure OpenAI, AI Search, AI Foundry, Document Intelligence | Model needs, data grounding, orchestration |
| Containers | Container Apps, AKS, Container Instances | Operational control vs simplicity |
See Technology Choices Reference for detailed decision trees.
Show full SKILL.md (743 more words)Show less
Best Practices
| Practice | Key Guidance |
|---|---|
| API design | RESTful conventions, resource-oriented URIs, HATEOAS, versioning via URL path or header |
| API implementation | Async operations, pagination, idempotent PUT/DELETE, content negotiation, ETag caching |
| Autoscaling | Scale on metrics (CPU, queue depth, custom), cool-down periods, predictive scaling, scale-in protection |
| Background jobs | Use queues or scheduled triggers, idempotent processing, poison message handling, graceful shutdown |
| Caching | Cache-aside pattern, TTL policies, cache invalidation strategies, distributed cache for multi-instance |
| CDN | Static asset offloading, cache-busting with versioned URLs, geo-distribution, HTTPS enforcement |
| Data partitioning | Horizontal (sharding), vertical, functional partitioning; partition key selection for even distribution |
| Partitioning strategies | Hash-based, range-based, directory-based; rebalancing approach, cross-partition query avoidance |
| Host name preservation | Preserve original host header through proxies/gateways for cookies, redirects, auth flows |
| Message encoding | Schema evolution (Avro/Protobuf), backward/forward compatibility, schema registry |
| Monitoring & diagnostics | Structured logging, distributed tracing (W3C Trace Context), metrics, alerts, dashboards |
| Transient fault handling | Retry with exponential backoff + jitter, circuit breaker, idempotency keys, timeout budgets |
See Best Practices Reference for implementation details.
Performance Antipatterns
Avoid these common patterns that degrade performance under load:
| Antipattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Busy Database | Offloading too much processing to the database | Move logic to application tier, use caching |
| Busy Front End | Resource-intensive work on frontend request threads | Offload to background workers/queues |
| Chatty I/O | Many small I/O requests instead of fewer large ones | Batch requests, use bulk APIs, buffer writes |
| Extraneous Fetching | Retrieving more data than needed | Project only required fields, paginate, filter server-side |
| Improper Instantiation | Recreating expensive objects per request | Use singletons, connection pooling, HttpClientFactory |
| Monolithic Persistence | Single data store for all data types | Polyglot persistence — right store for each workload |
| No Caching | Repeatedly fetching unchanged data | Cache-aside pattern, CDN, output caching, Redis |
| Noisy Neighbor | One tenant consuming all shared resources | Bulkhead isolation, per-tenant quotas, throttling |
| Retry Storm | Aggressive retries overwhelming a recovering service | Exponential backoff + jitter, circuit breaker, retry budgets |
| Synchronous I/O | Blocking threads on I/O operations | Async/await, non-blocking I/O, reactive streams |
Mission-Critical Design
For workloads targeting 99.99%+ SLO, address these design areas:
| Design Area | Key Considerations |
|---|---|
| Application platform | Multi-region active-active, availability zones, Container Apps or AKS with zone redundancy |
| Application design | Stateless services, idempotent operations, graceful degradation, bulkhead isolation |
| Networking | Azure Front Door (global LB), DDoS Protection, private endpoints, redundant connectivity |
| Data platform | Multi-region Cosmos DB, zone-redundant SQL, async replication, conflict resolution |
| Deployment & testing | Blue-green deployments, canary releases, chaos engineering, automated rollback |
| Health modeling | Composite health scores, dependency health tracking, automated remediation, SLI dashboards |
| Security | Zero-trust, managed identity everywhere, key rotation, WAF policies, threat modeling |
| Operational procedures | Automated runbooks, incident response playbooks, game days, postmortems |
See Mission-Critical Reference for detailed guidance.
Well-Architected Framework (WAF) Pillars
Every architecture decision should be evaluated against all five pillars:
| Pillar | Focus | Key Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability | Resiliency, availability, disaster recovery | What is the RTO/RPO? How does it handle failures? Is there redundancy? |
| Security | Threat protection, identity, data protection | Is identity managed? Is data encrypted? Are there network controls? |
| Cost Optimization | Cost management, efficiency, right-sizing | Is compute right-sized? Are there reserved instances? Is there waste? |
| Operational Excellence | Monitoring, deployment, automation | Is deployment automated? Is there observability? Are there runbooks? |
| Performance Efficiency | Scaling, load testing, performance targets | Can it scale horizontally? Are there performance baselines? Is caching used? |
WAF Tradeoff Matrix
| Optimizing for... | May impact... |
|---|---|
| Reliability (redundancy) | Cost (more resources) |
| Security (isolation) | Performance (added latency) |
| Cost (consolidation) | Reliability (shared failure domains) |
| Performance (caching) | Cost (cache infrastructure), Reliability (stale data) |
Architecture Review Workflow
When reviewing or designing a system, follow this structured approach:
Step 1: Identify Requirements
Functional: What must the system do?
Non-functional:
- Availability target (e.g., 99.9%, 99.99%)
- Latency requirements (p50, p95, p99)
- Throughput (requests/sec, messages/sec)
- Data residency and compliance
- Recovery targets (RTO, RPO)
- Cost constraintsStep 2: Select Architecture Style
Match requirements to architecture style using the selection criteria table above.
Step 3: Choose Technology Stack
Use the technology choices decision framework. Prefer managed services (PaaS) over IaaS.
Step 4: Apply Design Patterns
Select relevant patterns from the 44 cloud design patterns based on identified concerns.
Step 5: Address Cross-Cutting Concerns
- Identity & access — Microsoft Entra ID, managed identity, RBAC
- Monitoring — Application Insights, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics
- Security — Network segmentation, encryption at rest/in transit, Key Vault
- CI/CD — GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps Pipelines, infrastructure as code
Step 6: Validate Against WAF Pillars
Review each pillar systematically. Document tradeoffs explicitly.
Step 7: Document Decisions
Use Architecture Decision Records (ADRs):
# ADR-NNN: [Decision Title]
## Status: [Proposed | Accepted | Deprecated]
## Context
[What is the issue we're addressing?]
## Decision
[What did we decide and why?]
## Consequences
[What are the positive and negative impacts?]References
- Design Patterns Reference — Detailed pattern implementations
- Technology Choices Reference — Decision trees for Azure services
- Best Practices Reference — Implementation guidance
- Mission-Critical Reference — High-availability design
Source
Content derived from the Azure Architecture Center — Microsoft's official guidance for cloud solution architecture on Azure. Covers design principles, architecture styles, cloud design patterns, technology choices, best practices, performance antipatterns, mission-critical design, and the Well-Architected Framework.
© microsoft, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
SKILL.md and 7 other files (references) in .github/skills/cloud-solution-architect of microsoft/skills.
- SKILL.md
- references/architecture-styles.md
- references/best-practices.md
- references/design-patterns.md
- references/design-principles.md
- references/mission-critical.md
- references/performance-antipatterns.md
- references/technology-choices.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 354361d
Compare with similar skills
Cloud Solution Architect next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Solution Architect this skillmicrosoft/skills | 3.1k | — | ~4.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Cloud Cost Optimizationwshobson/agents | 40k | 13 repos | ~1.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Azure Architecture Autopilotgithub/awesome-copilot | 40k | 1 repos | ~1.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Dangling DNS Finderanirudhbiyani/findmytakeover | 180 | — | ~1.8k | Automated safety check: Pass | GPL-3.0 | |
| Azure Bicep Skilltimothywarner-org/claude-code | 224 | — | ~2.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Hybrid Cloud Networkingwshobson/agents | 40k | 10 repos | ~1.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Questions about Cloud Solution Architect
What does Cloud Solution Architect do?
Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices. Cloud Solution Architect is an agent skill from microsoft/skills, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Transform the agent into a Cloud Solution Architect following Azure Architecture Center best practices.
When should I use Cloud Solution Architect?
Cloud Solution Architect fits situations like: designing cloud architectures; reviewing system designs; selecting architecture styles; applying cloud design patterns.
How do I install Cloud Solution Architect in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect in microsoft/skills) into .claude/skills/cloud-solution-architect in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Cloud Solution Architect in Codex?
Run `npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.github/skills/cloud-solution-architect in microsoft/skills) into .agents/skills/cloud-solution-architect in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Cloud Solution Architect in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add microsoft/skills --skill cloud-solution-architect -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cloud-solution-architect, .gemini/skills/cloud-solution-architect, .github/skills/cloud-solution-architect and .opencode/skills/cloud-solution-architect in your project.
What does Cloud Solution Architect need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Cloud Solution Architect is instructions for the agent only.
Does Cloud Solution Architect access the network?
SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: learn.microsoft.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Cloud Solution Architect safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Cloud Solution Architect use?
Cloud Solution Architect is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Cloud Solution Architect use?
About 4.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 17k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 28k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to Cloud Solution Architect?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cloud Solution Architect: Cloud Cost Optimization (wshobson/agents, 40k stars), Azure Architecture Autopilot (github/awesome-copilot, 40k stars), Dangling DNS Finder (anirudhbiyani/findmytakeover, 180 stars) and Azure Bicep Skill (timothywarner-org/claude-code, 224 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Cloud Solution Architect?
microsoft (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in microsoft/skills, which has 3,086 GitHub stars. The repository holds 150 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.
Source: microsoft/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.