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Official agent skill

Onboard Plugin

by microsoft in microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure

Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution. An agent skill from microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure.

OfficialMITAuto-check passedTesting & QA

Install Onboard Plugin

skills CLI
$ npx skills add microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure --skill onboard-plugin -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure onboard-plugin --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/onboard-plugin .claude/skills/onboard-plugin && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
onboard-plugin
GitHub stars
255
Token cost
~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
774 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
56
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution. An agent skill from microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure.

  • Works in 7 steps: Ask whether they use GitHub Actions or… → Read /workflow-templates/Readme.md and… → Copy the matching evaluation-main.yaml… → …
  • Tasks that involve Integration testing
  • SKILL.md covers Install dependencies, Scaffold the new plugin folder, Scaffold the skills and Run local integration test, plus 3 more sections
  • Calls npm

What it does

Onboard Plugin is an agent skill from microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution. WHEN: 'create a new plugin', 'scaffold a new plugin'

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Testing & QA, covering Integration testing. The repository describes itself as: GitHub Copilot for Azure. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Integration testing

Example prompts

  • “create a new plugin”
  • “scaffold a new plugin”
  • “/onboard-plugin”

Requirements

  • Node.js

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Ask whether they use GitHub Actions or Azure Pipelines.
  2. Read /workflow-templates/Readme.md and follow its user setup
  3. Copy the matching evaluation-main.yaml starter into the evaluation
  4. Pin the template to a reviewed commit SHA rather than main. For GitHub
  5. Help the author configure the GitHub, Azure, and Copilot connections
  6. Keep the suites under evals/// in the evaluation
  7. Run the workflow once. For Azure Pipelines, remind the author to authorize

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d8f4f4e. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • npm

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    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

Onboard Plugin loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 31 tokens; SKILL.md has 774 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~31
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.6k

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/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure at commit d8f4f4e, republished under its MIT licence (© microsoft). 774 words, ~1,554 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/onboard-plugin/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
onboard-plugin
description
Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution. WHEN: 'create a new plugin', 'scaffold a new plugin'
license
MIT
metadata.author
Microsoft
metadata.version
1.1.0

Workflow

This skill provides the end-to-end steps for onboarding a new plugin to this repo. Follow the steps to scaffold a new plugin and make it ready for distribution.

Install dependencies

Install dependencies at the repo root, in tests/ and in scripts/.

bash
# At repo root
npm i
bash
# In tests/
cd tests
npm i
bash
# In scripts/
cd scripts/
npm i

Scaffold the new plugin folder

Ask the skill author to provide a name for the new plugin. Then in <repo-root>/scripts/, run this command to scaffold the common files for a new plugin.

bash
# At <repo-root>/scripts/
cd scripts
npm run plugin:new -- --plugin {plugin-name}

This command creates a plugins/{plugin-name} directory and files in it. Refer to the Plugin Structure section of Onboarding.md to understand what each file is for.

This command adds an entry for the new plugin in tests/skills.json. Nightly scheduled integration tests use this file to discover the plugins and skills to test.

This command adds a new set of path patterns in the pluginPathAllowPattern scripts. The shared telemetry hook script uses these patterns to prevent the script from attempting to send telemetry for skills outside this repo.

Scaffold the skills

Ask the skill author for the names of the skills they plan to add and then scaffold them by running this script for each skill. Try running this command in <repo-root>/scripts with {plugin-name} from the previous step. If the plugin doesn't exist, it may have been renamed. Ask the skill author what plugin name to use.

bash
# At <repo-root>/scripts/
cd scripts
npm run plugin:new-skill -- --plugin {plugin-name} --skill {skill-name}

This command creates a plugins/{plugin-name}/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md file and an evals/{plugin-name}/{skill-name}/eval.yaml file. Refer to the Skill Structure section of Onboarding.md to understand what each file is for and what files can be added. It adds two placeholder codeowners and Rick Winter as the codeowner of the corresponding directories. Every new plugin must have at least two distinct codeowner and Rick Winter as a fallback owner.

This command also adds the skill to tests/skills.json nightly integration test schedule.

IMPORTANT: Leave the scaffolded skill as is and don't implement them. Skill authors must implement and test the skills themselves.

Run local integration test

The scaffolded skill includes one example routing test that prompts the agent to load the skill and describe what it does. Do a test run.

First build the plugin from the repo root;

bash
# IMPORTANT: Run this command at the <repo-root>
npm run build

Then use this command in <repo-root>/tests/.

bash
# At <repo-root>/tests/
cd tests
npm run test:vally -- --plugin {plugin-name} --skill {skill-name}

The test should pass. If it fails, ask the skill author to report a bug to microsoft/github-copilot-for-azure.

Prepare for release

The scaffolded plugin and skill files are ready for release by default. Refer to the Releasing section of Onboarding.md for how releases work.

Show full SKILL.md (374 more words)Show less

Finish the implementation

Notify the skill author about these next steps to finish onboarding the new plugin.

  • Implement the skills. Add scripts and reference files as appropriate. Follow skill-authoring to implement the skill.
  • Implement the integration tests. Replace the example test with meaningful tests that checks if the skill can be invoked for target user prompts and if it can successfully accomplish their goals in the target scenarios. Follow vally-eval skill on how to author integration tests.
  • Write the human facing content the new plugin. This includes
    • description of the plugin in plugin.json files.
    • keywords of the plugin in plugin.json files
    • the plugin README.md
  • Replace the placeholder codeowners in CODEOWNERS file. Codeowners will be responsible for keeping the plugin up-to-date to make sure it brings value to the users.
  • IMPORTANT: Keep scaffolded files as is except for the ones mentioned above. When unsure, read Onboarding to learn more about the plugin structure.
  • Once all the above are completed, submit a PR with the changes to microsoft/github-copilot-for-azure repo.

Optional next steps

Set up a separate integration test workflow

Tell the skill author that they can host integration tests in a separate GitHub or Azure DevOps repository. This is useful when tests need a dedicated Azure subscription, custom result processing, or extra dependencies.

If they want a separate workflow:

  1. Ask whether they use GitHub Actions or Azure Pipelines.
  2. Read <repo-root>/workflow-templates/Readme.md and follow its user setup instructions.
  3. Copy the matching evaluation-main.yaml starter into the evaluation repository:
    • GitHub Actions: workflow-templates/github/evaluation-main.yaml
    • Azure Pipelines: workflow-templates/azure-devops/evaluation-main.yaml
  4. Pin the template to a reviewed commit SHA rather than main. For GitHub Actions, use the same SHA for the action reference and test-harness-ref. For Azure Pipelines, set the evaluationTemplates repository ref to the SHA.
  5. Help the author configure the GitHub, Azure, and Copilot connections required by their platform. Never request or store token values in source.
  6. Keep the suites under evals/<plugin-name>/<skill-name>/ in the evaluation repository unless the starter's evaluation-directory option is changed.
  7. Run the workflow once. For Azure Pipelines, remind the author to authorize the service connections if the first run prompts for approval.

The starter workflows upload reports and raw Vally results as artifacts. They also identify where to add dependency setup and result post-processing steps.

© 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

Just SKILL.md in .github/skills/onboard-plugin of microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d8f4f4e

Compare with similar skills

Onboard Plugin 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.

Onboard Plugin compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Onboard Plugin this skillmicrosoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure255—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Plugin Testingpolyipseity/obsidian-terminal948—~828Automated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Create Modulecartography-cncf/cartography4.1k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Td Integration Testmarcus/td250—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Integration E2E Testingshinpr/claude-code-workflows690—~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
JS-in-HTML Testingliaohch3/claude-tap3.3k—~924Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Onboard Plugin

What does Onboard Plugin do?

Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution. An agent skill from microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure. Onboard Plugin is an agent skill from microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Scaffold a new plugin and prepare it for distribution.

When should I use Onboard Plugin?

Onboard Plugin fits situations like: tasks that involve Integration testing.

How do I install Onboard Plugin in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure --skill onboard-plugin -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.github/skills/onboard-plugin in microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure) into .claude/skills/onboard-plugin in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Onboard Plugin in Codex?

Run `npx skills add microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure --skill onboard-plugin -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.github/skills/onboard-plugin in microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure) into .agents/skills/onboard-plugin in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Onboard Plugin 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/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure --skill onboard-plugin -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/onboard-plugin, .gemini/skills/onboard-plugin, .github/skills/onboard-plugin and .opencode/skills/onboard-plugin in your project.

What does Onboard Plugin need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Onboard Plugin needs the command-line tools its instructions call (npm). Our summary lists: Node.js.

Does Onboard Plugin access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Onboard Plugin 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 Onboard Plugin use?

Onboard Plugin is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Onboard Plugin use?

About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Onboard Plugin?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Onboard Plugin: Plugin Testing (polyipseity/obsidian-terminal, 948 stars), Create Module (cartography-cncf/cartography, 4.1k stars), Td Integration Test (marcus/td, 250 stars) and Integration E2E Testing (shinpr/claude-code-workflows, 690 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Onboard Plugin?

microsoft (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure, which has 255 GitHub stars. The repository holds 56 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.