Microsoftdocs Agent Skills

Included skill

Azure Durable Task

Expert knowledge for Azure Durable Task development including best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, configuration, and deployment. Use when choosing Durable Functions vs SDK, versioning orchestrations, fan-out/fan-in flows, external events, or instance APIs, and other Azure Durable Task related development tasks. Not for Azure Functions (use azure-functions), Azure Logic Apps (use azure-logic-apps), Azure App Service (use azure-app-service), Azure Service Fabric (use azure-service-fabric).

Source: /skills/azure-durable-task/SKILL.md

Azure Durable Task Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Durable Task. Covers best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, 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
Best Practices L34-L42 Patterns and guidance for robust orchestrator design: constraints, retries, eternal/continue-as-new flows, external event handling, and singleton orchestration techniques.
Decision Making L43-L48 Guidance on when to use Durable Functions vs raw Durable Task SDK, and how to compare and choose durable storage providers/backends for orchestrations.
Architecture & Design Patterns L49-L56 Patterns for orchestrating Durable workflows: fan-out/fan-in, human approval steps, long-running monitors, and function chaining design and implementation.
Limits & Quotas L57-L62 Configuring orchestration status size/retention limits, querying status, and monitoring Durable Task Scheduler action metrics, performance, and billing impacts.
Configuration L63-L68 Configuring Durable Task hubs storage (connection, scaling, reliability) and using instance management APIs to query, control, and manage orchestration instances.
Deployment L69-L72 Guidance on safely deploying Durable orchestrations using versioning strategies, handling breaking changes, and managing upgrades without disrupting running workflows.

Best Practices

Topic URL
Apply orchestrator code constraints in Durable Task https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-code-constraints
Configure error handling and retries in Durable Functions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-error-handling
Implement eternal orchestrations with continue-as-new https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-eternal-orchestrations
Handle external events in Durable orchestrations https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-external-events
Implement singleton orchestrators in Durable Functions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-singletons

Decision Making

Topic URL
Choose Durable Functions vs Durable Task SDK hosting https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/choose-orchestration-framework
Compare Durable Task storage providers and choose backends https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-storage-providers

Architecture & Design Patterns

Topic URL
Implement fan-out/fan-in pattern in Durable Functions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-fan-in-fan-out
Design human interaction workflows in Durable Task https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-human-interaction
Build monitor pattern workflows with Durable orchestrations https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-monitor
Use function chaining pattern in Durable workflows https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-sequence

Limits & Quotas

Topic URL
Configure and query custom orchestration status limits https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-custom-orchestration-status
Monitor Durable Task Scheduler action metrics and billing https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-metrics

Configuration

Topic URL
Configure and manage Durable Task hubs storage https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-hubs
Use instance management APIs for Durable orchestrations https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-task-instance-management

Deployment

Topic URL
Use orchestration versioning for safe Durable deployments https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/durable-task/common/durable-orchestration-versioning