skills/azure-storage/SKILL.md
Azure Storage Services including Blob Storage, File Shares, Queue Storage, Table Storage, and Data Lake. Answers questions about storage access tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive), when to use each tier, and tier comparison. Provides object storage, SMB file shares, async messaging, NoSQL key-value, and big data analytics. Includes lifecycle management. USE FOR: blob storage, file shares, queue storage, table storage, data lake, upload files, download blobs, storage accounts, access tiers, storage tiers, hot cool cold archive, storage tier comparison, when to use storage tiers, lifecycle management, Azure Storage concepts. DO NOT USE FOR: SQL databases, Cosmos DB (use azure-prepare), messaging with Event Hubs or Service Bus (use azure-messaging).
npx skillsauth add microsoft/azure-skills azure-storageInstall this skill globally with one command. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
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| Service | Use When | MCP Tools | CLI |
|---------|----------|-----------|-----|
| Blob Storage | Objects, files, backups, static content | azure__storage | az storage blob |
| File Shares | SMB file shares, lift-and-shift | - | az storage file |
| Queue Storage | Async messaging, task queues | - | az storage queue |
| Table Storage | NoSQL key-value (consider Cosmos DB) | - | az storage table |
| Data Lake | Big data analytics, hierarchical namespace | - | az storage fs |
When Azure MCP is enabled:
azure__storage with command storage_account_list - List storage accountsazure__storage with command storage_container_list - List containers in accountazure__storage with command storage_blob_list - List blobs in containerazure__storage with command storage_blob_get - Download blob contentazure__storage with command storage_blob_put - Upload blob contentIf Azure MCP is not enabled: Run /azure:setup or enable via /mcp.
# List storage accounts
az storage account list --output table
# List containers
az storage container list --account-name ACCOUNT --output table
# List blobs
az storage blob list --account-name ACCOUNT --container-name CONTAINER --output table
# Download blob
az storage blob download --account-name ACCOUNT --container-name CONTAINER --name BLOB --file LOCAL_PATH
# Upload blob
az storage blob upload --account-name ACCOUNT --container-name CONTAINER --name BLOB --file LOCAL_PATH
| Tier | Use Case | Performance | |------|----------|-------------| | Standard | General purpose, backup | Milliseconds | | Premium | Databases, high IOPS | Sub-millisecond |
| Tier | Access Frequency | Cost | |------|-----------------|------| | Hot | Frequent | Higher storage, lower access | | Cool | Infrequent (30+ days) | Lower storage, higher access | | Cold | Rare (90+ days) | Lower still | | Archive | Rarely (180+ days) | Lowest storage, rehydration required |
| Type | Durability | Use Case | |------|------------|----------| | LRS | 11 nines | Dev/test, recreatable data | | ZRS | 12 nines | Regional high availability | | GRS | 16 nines | Disaster recovery | | GZRS | 16 nines | Best durability |
For deep documentation on specific services:
For building applications with Azure Storage SDKs, see the condensed guides:
For full package listing across all languages, see SDK Usage Guide.
For building applications that interact with Azure Storage programmatically, Azure provides SDK packages in multiple languages (.NET, Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust). See SDK Usage Guide for package names, installation commands, and quick start examples.
tools
Deploy, evaluate, fine-tune, and manage Foundry agents end-to-end: Docker build, ACR push, hosted/prompt agent create, batch eval, continuous eval, prompt optimizer, Agent Optimizer scaffold, agent.yaml, dataset curation from traces, model fine-tuning (SFT/DPO/RFT). USE FOR: deploy agent, hosted agent, create agent, add tool to agent, invoke agent, evaluate agent, continuous eval, continuous monitoring, optimize prompt, improve prompt, optimize agent instructions, agent optimizer, deploy model, Foundry project, RBAC, role assignment, permissions, quota, capacity, region, troubleshoot agent, deployment failure, AI Services, create Foundry resource, provision, knowledge index, customize deployment, onboard, availability, fine-tune, SFT, DPO, RFT, training-data, grader, distillation, fine-tuned model, large file upload. DO NOT USE FOR: Azure Functions, App Service, general Azure deploy (use azure-deploy), general Azure prep (use azure-prepare).
testing
Architect and provision enterprise Azure infrastructure from workload descriptions. For cloud architects and platform engineers planning networking, identity, security, compliance, and multi-resource topologies with WAF alignment. Generates Bicep or Terraform directly (no azd). WHEN: 'plan Azure infrastructure', 'architect Azure landing zone', 'design hub-spoke network', 'plan multi-region DR topology', 'set up VNets firewalls and private endpoints', 'subscription-scope Bicep deployment', 'Azure Backup for VM workloads'. PREFER azure-prepare FOR app-centric workflows.
testing
Azure cost management: query costs, forecast spending, optimize to reduce waste. WHEN: "Azure costs", "Azure bill", "cost breakdown", "how much am I spending", "forecast spending", "optimize costs", "reduce spending", "orphaned resources", "rightsize VMs", "cost spike", "reduce storage costs", "AKS cost". DO NOT USE FOR: deploying resources, provisioning, diagnostics, or security audits.
development
Assess and upgrade Azure workloads between plans, tiers, or SKUs, or modernize Azure SDK dependencies in source code. WHEN: upgrade Consumption to Flex Consumption, upgrade Azure Functions plan, change hosting plan, function app SKU, migrate App Service to Container Apps, modernize legacy Azure Java SDKs (com.microsoft.azure to com.azure), migrate Azure Cache for Redis (ACR/ACRE) to Azure Managed Redis (AMR).