Official agent skill

Azure Dev Box

by MicrosoftDocs in MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills

Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment.

OfficialCC-BY-4.0Auto-check passedBackend & APIs

Install Azure Dev Box

skills CLI
$ npx skills add MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills --skill azure-dev-box -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills azure-dev-box --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/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/azure-dev-box .claude/skills/azure-dev-box && 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
azure-dev-box
GitHub stars
775
Token cost
~2.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
742 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
149
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
CC-BY-4.0

At a glance

Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment.

  • Designing Dev Box images
  • SKILL.md covers How to Use This Skill and Category Index
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
  • Configuring pools/catalogs

What it does

Azure Dev Box is an agent skill from MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when designing Dev Box images, configuring pools/catalogs, securing access (RBAC/SSO), managing quotas, or fixing connectivity, and other Azure Dev Box related development tasks. Not for Azure DevTest Labs (use azure-devtest-labs), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines), Azure Virtual Desktop (use…

Its SKILL.md is about 2.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts. Compatibility notes: Requires network access. Uses mcpmicrosoftdocs:microsoftdocsfetch or fetchwebpage to retrieve documentation.

It sits in Backend & APIs, covering Authentication, Authorization and RBAC and Deployment. It works with Microsoft Azure. The repository describes itself as: Curated Agent Skills for Microsoft & Azure – giving AI coding assistants structured, real-time expertise from Microsoft Learn docs. The licence is CC-BY-4.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Designing Dev Box images
  • Configuring pools/catalogs
  • Securing access (RBAC/SSO)
  • Managing quotas

Example prompts

  • “/azure-dev-box”

Requirements

  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit ba74e8f. 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.

    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
    • github.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.

  • Compatibility

    Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Azure Dev Box loads about 2.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 138 tokens; SKILL.md has 742 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~138
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.6k

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 MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills at commit ba74e8f, republished under its CC-BY-4.0 licence (© MicrosoftDocs). 742 words, ~2,551 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/azure-dev-box/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
azure-dev-box
description
Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when designing Dev Box images, configuring pools/catalogs, securing access (RBAC/SSO), managing quotas, or fixing connectivity, and other Azure Dev Box related development tasks. Not for Azure DevTest Labs (use azure-devtest-labs), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines), Azure Virtual Desktop (use azure-virtual-desktop).
compatibility
Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
metadata.generated_at
2026-09-20
metadata.generator
docs2skills/1.0.0

Azure Dev Box Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Dev Box. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. It combines local quick-reference content with remote documentation fetching capabilities.

How to Use This Skill

IMPORTANT for Agent: Use the Category Index below to locate relevant sections. For categories with line ranges (e.g., L35-L120), use read_file with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., [security.md](security.md)), use read_file on the linked reference file

IMPORTANT for Agent: If metadata.generated_at is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If mcp_microsoftdocs tools are not available, suggest the user install it: Installation Guide

This skill requires network access to fetch documentation content:

  • Preferred: Use mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch with query string from=learn-agent-skill. Returns Markdown.
  • Fallback: Use fetch_webpage with query string from=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown. Returns Markdown.

Category Index

CategoryLinesDescription
TroubleshootingL36-L45Diagnosing and fixing Dev Box connectivity issues, image validation errors, stale/inaccessible boxes, using Troubleshoot & Repair, and monitoring via Azure Monitor logs.
Best PracticesL46-L51Guidance on building efficient Dev Box images, including structuring image definitions and pre-warming Visual Studio caches to speed up developer environments.
Decision MakingL52-L57Planning Dev Box deployments (architecture, sizing, governance) and strategies for decommissioning/retiring Dev Box environments safely and efficiently.
Limits & QuotasL58-L63Managing Dev Box capacity: requesting quota/core limit increases and configuring per-user Dev Box limits to control usage and costs.
SecurityL64-L75Securing Dev Box access and sessions: RBAC roles, guest access, SSO, API auth, Key Vault/service principals, Intune Conditional Access and Endpoint Privilege Management.
ConfigurationL76-L101Configuring Dev Box infrastructure: networking, images, catalogs, policies, schedules (stop/hibernate/autodelete), pools/projects/dev centers, and monitoring/log schemas.
Integrations & Coding PatternsL102-L106Using VS Code dev tunnels to securely connect to Azure Dev Box, including setup, authentication, and remote development workflow configuration.
DeploymentL107-L110Planning and rolling out Dev Box environments, including architecture and configuration, plus guidance for moving Dev Box pools and individual boxes between Azure regions.
Troubleshooting
Best Practices
Decision Making
Limits & Quotas
Show full SKILL.md (295 more words)Show less
Security
Configuration
TopicURL
Configure networking requirements for Microsoft Dev Boxhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/concept-dev-box-network-requirements
Configure Dev Box auto-delete for unused environmentshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-auto-delete-dev-box
Attach and configure Azure Compute Gallery for Dev Boxhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-azure-compute-gallery
Add and manage Dev Box catalogs for image definitionshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-catalog
Configure Dev Box customization task catalogshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-customization-tasks
Configure Dev Box hibernation and scheduleshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-dev-box-hibernation
Configure imaging pipeline for Dev Box team customizationshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-dev-center-imaging
Configure Dev Box network connections and VNetshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-network-connections
Configure Dev Box project policies for governancehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-project-policy
Configure Dev Box pool autostop scheduleshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-stop-schedule
Author Dev Box image definition files for team customizationshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-team-customizations
Create and upload Dev Box user customization fileshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-configure-user-customizations
Configure virtual switches and networking in Dev Boxhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-connect-dev-box-virtual-switch
Build custom Dev Box images with Azure VM Image Builderhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-customize-devbox-azure-image-builder
Configure and manage Dev Box poolshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-manage-dev-box-pools
Manage Microsoft Dev Box projects and poolshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-manage-dev-box-projects
Create and manage Dev Box dev centershttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-manage-dev-center
Configure custom Windows images for Microsoft Dev Boxhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-prepare-custom-image-dev-box
Reference for Dev Box monitoring logs and metricshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/monitor-dev-box-reference
Configure core Microsoft Dev Box resourceshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/quickstart-configure-dev-box-service
Configure Dev Box resources with Get Started templatehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/quickstart-get-started-template
Configure Dev Box imagedefinition.yaml and task.yaml schemashttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/reference-dev-box-customizations
Integrations & Coding Patterns
TopicURL
Connect to Dev Box from VS Code using dev tunnelshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/dev-box/how-to-set-up-dev-tunnels
Deployment

© MicrosoftDocs, CC-BY-4.0. 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 skills/azure-dev-box of MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit ba74e8f

Compare with similar skills

Azure Dev Box 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.

Azure Dev Box compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Azure Dev Box this skillMicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills775—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-4.0
Apex Entra App Registrationjonathan-vella/apex217—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Microsoft Foundrymicrosoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure2551 repos~6.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
API Security Designvinayaklatthe/microsoft-security-skills175—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Azure Bastion Jitvinayaklatthe/microsoft-security-skills175—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Securing Container Registry With Harbormukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Questions about Azure Dev Box

What does Azure Dev Box do?

Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Azure Dev Box is an agent skill from MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Expert knowledge for Azure Dev Box development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment.

When should I use Azure Dev Box?

Azure Dev Box fits situations like: designing Dev Box images; configuring pools/catalogs; securing access (RBAC/SSO); managing quotas.

How do I install Azure Dev Box in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills --skill azure-dev-box -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/azure-dev-box in MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills) into .claude/skills/azure-dev-box in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Azure Dev Box in Codex?

Run `npx skills add MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills --skill azure-dev-box -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/azure-dev-box in MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills) into .agents/skills/azure-dev-box in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Azure Dev Box 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 MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills --skill azure-dev-box -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/azure-dev-box, .gemini/skills/azure-dev-box, .github/skills/azure-dev-box and .opencode/skills/azure-dev-box in your project.

What does Azure Dev Box need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Azure Dev Box is instructions for the agent only. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation..

Does Azure Dev Box access the network?

SKILL.md names 2 domains. As links in the text: learn.microsoft.com and github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Azure Dev Box 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 Azure Dev Box use?

Azure Dev Box is published under the CC-BY-4.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Azure Dev Box use?

About 2.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 10k 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 Azure Dev Box?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Azure Dev Box: Apex Entra App Registration (jonathan-vella/apex, 217 stars), Microsoft Foundry (microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure, 255 stars), API Security Design (vinayaklatthe/microsoft-security-skills, 175 stars) and Azure Bastion Jit (vinayaklatthe/microsoft-security-skills, 175 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Azure Dev Box?

MicrosoftDocs (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills, which has 775 GitHub stars. The repository holds 149 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.

Source: MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.