Microsoft Foundry

Step 2: Resolve Environment and Deployment Context

If azure.yaml is present, resolve the azd environment first:

1. Environment explicitly named by the user
2. AZURE_ENV_NAME from azd env get-values
3. azd default environment from .azure/config.json
4. Environment already selected earlier in the session

Run azd env get-values for the selected environment when project/deployment values are not already known. Prefer azd values for deployment context:

When azd supplies these values, use them as the source of truth and do not copy them into .foundry/agent-metadata*.yaml on metadata writes.

Step 3: Select Metadata Overlay and Resolve Environment

Inside the selected agent root, choose the metadata file in this order:

1. Metadata filename or path explicitly provided by the user or workflow
2. If an explicit environment is already known and .foundry/agent-metadata.<env>.yaml exists, use that file
3. .foundry/agent-metadata.yaml
4. If multiple metadata files remain and no rule above selects one, prompt the user to choose

Read the selected metadata file and resolve any remaining environment choice in this order:

1. Environment explicitly named by the user
2. If the selected metadata file defines exactly one environment, use it
3. Environment already selected earlier in the session
4. defaultEnvironment from metadata

If the selected metadata file still contains multiple environments and none of the rules above selects one, prompt the user to choose. Keep the selected agent root, metadata file, environment, and whether context came from azd or metadata visible in every workflow summary.

If the selected environment exposes older testSuites[] metadata but not evaluationSuites[], treat testSuites[] as the source for this session and normalize each entry in memory to the evaluationSuites[] shape before continuing. If the metadata is older still and only exposes legacy testCases[], normalize that list the same way. Preserve dataset and evaluator fields, keep any existing tags, and map legacy priority to tags.tier only when tags.tier is missing: P0 -> smoke, P1 -> regression, P2 -> coverage.

Step 4: Resolve eval.yaml Local Evaluation Intent

If eval.yaml exists in the selected agent root, parse it before generating new suites:

• agent.name -> target agent candidate; verify it matches the selected azd/metadata agent before using it.
• dataset.local_uri -> local seed dataset candidate; legacy dataset_file may be normalized in memory.
• dataset.name / dataset.version -> registered dataset candidate.
• validation_dataset -> optional validation dataset candidate.
• evaluators[] -> candidate Foundry evaluator names; verify with evaluator_catalog_get before treating them as remote evaluators.
• name -> local eval/suite candidate; verify remotely before persisting as suiteName.
• options.eval_model, options.optimization_model, options.max_candidates, options.optimization_config.model_search_space, options.pass_threshold, max_samples, trace_days, and generation_instruction -> setup defaults.

Treat eval.yaml as local evaluation intent, not proof that a Foundry suite exists. Persist synced suite/dataset/evaluator references to .foundry only after remote lookup or registration succeeds.

Step 5: Resolve Common Configuration

Layer sources in this order:

1. Explicit user input and values already selected in the session
2. azd environment values for deployment context
3. .foundry/agent-metadata*.yaml overlay values and remote suite/cache references
4. azure.yaml and eval.yaml local source configuration
5. User prompts for anything still missing

If azd and metadata both provide the same value and they differ, stop and ask which source is authoritative. If they match, use the azd value and avoid rewriting the duplicate on future metadata writes.

Step 6: Write Metadata Overlay (Create/Deploy/Observe Only)

On any metadata write (deploy, auto-setup, dataset refresh, or trace-to-dataset update), persist only non-derivable overlay/cache state in the selected metadata file:

• azd binding (azd.environmentName, azd.service) when useful for future resolution
• evaluationSuites[] with remote suite/dataset/evaluator references and local cache paths
• lastEval, result files, comparison summaries, or explicit non-azd overrides

Do not copy azd-owned deployment values into metadata when azd already provides them. If the selected file is a preferred single-environment file, rewrite only that one environment block. If the selected file is a legacy multi-environment file, rewrite only the selected environment block. Never copy or merge environments across sibling metadata files automatically. If the selected environment still uses older testSuites[] or legacy testCases[], rewrite it to evaluationSuites[] and remove migrated priority fields from the rewritten entries.

Step 7: Collect Missing Values

Use the ask_user or askQuestions tool only for values not resolved from the user's message, session context, metadata, or azd bootstrap. Common values skills may need:

• Agent root — Target azd service project folder or folder containing .foundry/agent-metadata*.yaml
• Metadata file — agent-metadata.yaml for local/dev, or an explicit sidecar such as agent-metadata.prod.yaml
• Environment — azd environment, dev, prod, or another environment key from metadata
• Project endpoint — Microsoft Foundry project endpoint URL
• Agent name — Name of the target agent

💡 Tip: If the user already provides the agent path, environment, project endpoint, or agent name, extract it directly — do not ask again.

Agent: Agent Types

All agent skills support two agent types:

Treat an azure.yaml service with host: azure.ai.agent as Hosted. Use agent_get only when the type cannot be resolved from project context.

Tool Usage Conventions

• Use the ask_user or askQuestions tool whenever collecting information from the user
• Use the task or runSubagent tool to delegate long-running or independent sub-tasks (e.g., env var scanning, status polling, Dockerfile generation)
• Prefer azd for Hosted Agents and Foundry MCP for Prompt Agents.
• Reference official Microsoft documentation URLs instead of embedding CLI command syntax

Azure Authentication

• Azure Authentication Best Practices

Additional Resources

• Foundry Hosted Agents
• Foundry Agent Runtime Components

Network Isolation Errors

Applies to any call against a Foundry project or its parent Foundry account — Foundry MCP tools, azd, az CLI, curl, REST, or SDK.

If an error matches Public access is disabled / PublicNetworkAccessDisabled / 403 Forbidden from a private endpoint / connection timeout / the project endpoint FQDN resolves to a public IP, this typically means the parent Foundry account has publicNetworkAccess=Disabled or Enabled from selected IP addresses, and the current shell is outside its VNet.

Only if the error is ambiguous, confirm against the Foundry account using a management-plane call (works from anywhere with reader access):

az cognitiveservices account show \
  --name <account> --resource-group <rg> \
  --query "properties.{publicNetworkAccess:publicNetworkAccess, networkAcls:networkAcls, privateEndpointConnections:privateEndpointConnections[].properties.privateLinkServiceConnectionState.status}"

publicNetworkAccess: "Disabled" — or "Enabled" together with non-empty networkAcls.ipRules / virtualNetworkRules — confirms isolation. If publicNetworkAccess: "Enabled" and networkAcls is empty, the failure is a caller-side network issue (e.g. Private DNS resolving the FQDN to a public IP from inside a VNet with a private endpoint), not an account-config issue.

If it's indeed a network isolation issue, supported connection options are documented in Choose a secure connection method to Foundry.

ℹ️ Foundry MCP tools cannot reach a VNet-isolated project even from inside the VNet.