azure-diagnostics
microsoft/azure-skills
Debug Azure production issues using AppLens, Azure Monitor, resource health, and systematic triage.
What is azure-diagnostics?
Azure Diagnostics provides structured troubleshooting for production issues across App Service, Container Apps, Function Apps, AKS, and messaging services. Use it when debugging failures, analyzing logs, investigating performance problems, or finding root causes in Azure resources.
- Systematic diagnosis flow: identify symptoms, check resource health, review logs, analyze metrics, investigate changes
- AI-powered diagnostics via AppLens MCP for automated issue detection and remediation recommendations
- Resource health checks and activity log analysis to determine Azure service status
- KQL-based log queries and Azure Monitor integration for performance analysis
- Troubleshooting guides for App Service (CPU, deployments, crashes), Container Apps (image pull, cold starts), Function Apps (invocation, timeouts), AKS (nodes, pods, networking), and messaging (Event Hubs, Service Bus)
- Safe triage routing to specialized guides for AKS incidents and messaging SDK errors
How to install azure-diagnostics
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/azure-skills --skill azure-diagnostics- Azure CLI installed and authenticated
- Access to target Azure resources and resource groups
- App Insights or Log Analytics workspace linked to monitored resources (for advanced queries)
How to use azure-diagnostics
- 1.Identify the symptom or failing Azure service (App Service, Container Apps, Functions, AKS, or Messaging)
- 2.Check resource health using `az resource show` or the AppLens MCP tool
- 3.Review relevant logs using provided KQL queries or `az monitor app-insights query`
- 4.Analyze metrics and recent changes to identify patterns
- 5.Follow the service-specific troubleshooting guide from the references section
- 6.Document findings and attempted remediation steps
Use cases
- Diagnose App Service high CPU usage or deployment failures
- Investigate Container Apps image pull failures or health probe issues
- Troubleshoot Function App invocation failures and cold start problems
- Debug AKS cluster access, node readiness, and pod crash loops
- Resolve Event Hubs or Service Bus AMQP connection and message lock failures
- Azure platform engineers troubleshooting production incidents
- DevOps teams debugging containerized and serverless deployments
- SREs investigating Kubernetes cluster and messaging service failures
- Application developers diagnosing App Service and Function App issues
azure-diagnostics FAQ
Use Azure Diagnostics for initial triage and systematic diagnosis across any Azure service. It routes you to specialized guides for AKS incidents and messaging SDK errors when needed.
AppLens is an MCP tool that provides AI-powered diagnostics. Call it with the resource ID and 'diagnose' command to get automated issue detection and remediation recommendations.
Use the Azure Monitor MCP tool with a KQL query and workspace ID, or use `az monitor app-insights query` for Function Apps. See kql-queries.md for common diagnostic queries.
App Service, Container Apps, Function Apps, AKS clusters, Event Hubs, and Service Bus. Each has dedicated troubleshooting guides for common issues.
Use the resource health MCP tool with the resource ID, or run `az resource show --ids RESOURCE_ID` and `az monitor activity-log list` to check recent activity.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from microsoft/azure-skills.
name: azure-diagnostics description: "Debug Azure production issues on Azure using AppLens, Azure Monitor, resource health, and safe triage. WHEN: debug production issues, troubleshoot app service, app service high CPU, app service deployment failure, troubleshoot container apps, troubleshoot functions, troubleshoot AKS, kubectl cannot connect, kube-system/CoreDNS failures, pod pending, crashloop, node not ready, upgrade failures, analyze logs, KQL, insights, image pull failures, cold start issues, health probe failures, resource health, root cause of errors, troubleshoot event hubs, troubleshoot service bus, messaging SDK error, AMQP connection failure, message lock lost, service bus dead letter." license: MIT metadata: author: Microsoft version: "1.1.6"
Azure Diagnostics
AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE — MANDATORY COMPLIANCE
This document is the official source for debugging and troubleshooting Azure production issues. Follow these instructions to diagnose and resolve common Azure service problems systematically.
Triggers
Activate this skill when user wants to:
- Debug or troubleshoot production issues
- Diagnose errors in Azure services
- Analyze application logs or metrics
- Fix image pull, cold start, or health probe issues
- Investigate why Azure resources are failing
- Find root cause of application errors
- Troubleshoot App Service issues (high CPU, deployment failures, crashes, slow responses, TLS/custom domains)
- Respond to prompts like "troubleshoot app service", "app service high CPU", or "app service deployment failure"
- Troubleshoot Azure Function Apps (invocation failures, timeouts, binding errors)
- Find the App Insights or Log Analytics workspace linked to a Function App
- Troubleshoot AKS clusters, nodes, pods, ingress, or Kubernetes networking issues
- Troubleshoot Azure Messaging SDK issues (Event Hubs, Service Bus connection failures, AMQP errors, message lock issues)
Rules
- Start with systematic diagnosis flow
- Use AppLens (MCP) for AI-powered diagnostics when available
- Check resource health before deep-diving into logs
- Select appropriate troubleshooting guide based on service type
- Document findings and attempted remediation steps
- Route AKS incidents to the dedicated AKS troubleshooting document
Quick Diagnosis Flow
- Identify symptoms - What's failing?
- Check resource health - Is Azure healthy?
- Review logs - What do logs show?
- Analyze metrics - Performance patterns?
- Investigate recent changes - What changed?
Troubleshooting Guides by Service
| Service | Common Issues | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Container Apps | Image pull failures, cold starts, health probes, port mismatches | container-apps/ |
| App Service | High CPU, deployment failures, crashes, slow responses, TLS/custom domains | app-service/ |
| Function Apps | App details, invocation failures, timeouts, binding errors, cold starts, missing app settings | functions/ |
| AKS | Cluster access, nodes, kube-system, scheduling, crash loops, ingress, DNS, upgrades | AKS Troubleshooting |
| Messaging | Event Hubs & Service Bus SDK errors, AMQP failures, message lock, connectivity | Messaging Troubleshooting |
Routing
- Keep Container Apps and Function Apps diagnostics in this parent skill.
- Route active AKS incidents, AKS-specific intake, evidence gathering, and remediation guidance to AKS Troubleshooting.
- Route Azure Messaging SDK troubleshooting (Event Hubs, Service Bus) to Messaging Troubleshooting.
Quick Reference
Common Diagnostic Commands
# Check resource health
az resource show --ids RESOURCE_ID
# View activity log
az monitor activity-log list -g RG --max-events 20
# Container Apps logs
az containerapp logs show --name APP -g RG --follow
# Function App logs (query App Insights traces)
az monitor app-insights query --apps APP-INSIGHTS -g RG \
--analytics-query "traces | where timestamp > ago(1h) | order by timestamp desc | take 50"
AppLens (MCP Tools)
For AI-powered diagnostics, use:
mcp_azure_mcp_applens
intent: "diagnose issues with <resource-name>"
command: "diagnose"
parameters:
resourceId: "<resource-id>"
Provides:
- Automated issue detection
- Root cause analysis
- Remediation recommendations
Azure Monitor (MCP Tools)
For querying logs and metrics:
mcp_azure_mcp_monitor
intent: "query logs for <resource-name>"
command: "logs_query"
parameters:
workspaceId: "<workspace-id>"
query: "<KQL-query>"
See kql-queries.md for common diagnostic queries.
Check Azure Resource Health
Using MCP
mcp_azure_mcp_resourcehealth
intent: "check health status of <resource-name>"
command: "get"
parameters:
resourceId: "<resource-id>"
Using CLI
# Check specific resource health
az resource show --ids RESOURCE_ID
# Check recent activity
az monitor activity-log list -g RG --max-events 20
References
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