Microsoftdocs Agent Skills

Included skill

Azure Container Instances

Expert knowledge for Azure Container Instances development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and deployment. Use when configuring ACI standby pools, static IP networking, GPU containers, secure ACR pulls, or GitHub Actions deploys, and other Azure Container Instances related development tasks. Not for Azure Container Apps (use azure-container-apps), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (use azure-kubernetes-service), Azure App Service (use azure-app-service), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines).

Source: /skills/azure-container-instances/SKILL.md

Azure Container Instances Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Container Instances. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, 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

Category Lines Description
Troubleshooting L36-L42 Diagnosing ACI issues using logs/events, understanding provisioning/runtime states, and troubleshooting deployment failures and container startup problems.
Best Practices L43-L47 Guidance on designing and running ACI workloads reliably: resource sizing, networking, storage, security, scaling, image management, and operational best practices.
Decision Making L48-L53 Guidance on cost-optimizing ACI with Spot containers and using prediction-based sizing to configure and right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools.
Architecture & Design Patterns L54-L60 Design patterns for giving ACI containers static inbound/outbound IPs using Application Gateway, firewalls, and NAT Gateway for controlled, predictable network egress/ingress.
Limits & Quotas L61-L69 ACI limits, quotas, and behaviors: max CPU/memory (Big Containers), per‑region quotas, standby pool limits, VNet constraints, and FAQs on scaling, performance, and resource usage.
Security L70-L84 Securing Azure Container Instances: TLS/HTTPS setup, secrets and CMK encryption, managed identities/RBAC, secure ACR pulls, DNS reuse protection, and Azure Policy for compliance.
Configuration L85-L116 Configuring ACI container groups: env vars, DNS, volumes, GPUs, probes, logging/monitoring, standby pools, restarts, entrypoints, updates, and runtime command execution.
Deployment L117-L120 Using GitHub Actions to build, push, and automatically deploy container images to Azure Container Instances, including workflow YAML setup and authentication configuration.

Troubleshooting

Topic URL
Retrieve Azure Container Instances logs and events for troubleshooting https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-get-logs
Troubleshoot Azure Container Instances deployment issues https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-troubleshooting
Interpret Azure Container Instances provisioning and runtime states https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-state

Best Practices

Topic URL
Apply Azure Container Instances workload best practices https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-best-practices-and-considerations

Decision Making

Topic URL
Decide when to use ACI Spot containers for cost savings https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-spot-containers-overview
Use prediction results to right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-prediction-results

Architecture & Design Patterns

Topic URL
Expose Azure Container Instances via Application Gateway static IP https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-application-gateway
Configure static outbound IP for Azure Container Instances with firewall https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-egress-ip-address
Configure Azure Container Instances egress via NAT Gateway https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-nat-gateway

Limits & Quotas

Topic URL
Use Big Containers with ACI vCPU and memory limits https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/big-containers
Azure Container Instances FAQs on limits and behavior https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-faq
Check Azure Container Instances resource and quota limits https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-resource-and-quota-limits
FAQ and limits for Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-faq
Understand ACI virtual network scenarios and limits https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-virtual-network-concepts

Security

Topic URL
Configure automatic HTTPS for Azure Container Instances using Caddy https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-container-group-automatic-ssl
Enable TLS for Azure Container Instances with Nginx sidecar https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-container-group-ssl
Encrypt Azure Container Instances deployment data with customer-managed keys https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-encrypt-data
Secure images and secrets for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-image-security
Configure managed identities for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-managed-identity
Configure RBAC permissions for Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-configure-permissions
Secure ACI pulls from Azure Container Registry with service principals https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-using-azure-container-registry
Mount secret volumes in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-secret
Set ACI DNS name reuse policy to prevent subdomain takeover https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/how-to-reuse-dns-names
Use built-in Azure Policy definitions for Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/policy-reference
Use managed identities for ACI access to Azure Container Registry https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/using-azure-container-registry-mi

Configuration

Topic URL
Use config maps to manage settings in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-config-map
Configure custom DNS for Azure Container Instances container groups https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-custom-dns
Configure environment variables for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-environment-variables
Execute commands in running Azure Container Instances containers https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-exec
Deploy GPU-enabled workloads on Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-gpu
Configure init containers in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-init-container
Configure liveness probes for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-liveness-probe
Configure Azure Container Instances log collection https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-log-analytics
Configure readiness probes for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-readiness-probe
Configure Azure Container Instances with YAML reference https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-reference-yaml
Configure restart policies for run-once tasks in ACI https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-restart-policy
Create standby pools for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-create
Retrieve details of Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-get-details
Understand and query health state of Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-health-state
Use standby pools to reduce Azure Container Instances scale-out latency https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-overview
Request container groups from Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-request-container
Update or delete Azure Container Instances standby pools https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-update-delete
Monitor Azure Container Instances standby pool events with Log Analytics https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pools-monitor-pool-events
Override container entrypoint command in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-start-command
Manually stop and start Azure Container Instances container groups https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-stop-start
Update running container groups in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-update
Mount Azure Files volumes in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-azure-files
Use emptyDir volumes to share data in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-emptydir
Mount gitRepo volumes in Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-gitrepo
Configure monitoring and alerts for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances
Configure monitoring and alerts for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances
Monitoring data reference for Azure Container Instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances-reference
View Azure Container Instances logs in Log Analytics via portal https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/viewing-logs-in-portal

Deployment

Topic URL
Automate ACI deployments with GitHub Actions workflow configuration https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-github-action