microsoft / microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure

Replace deploy skill environment-variable scan with a script

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#2,470 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
microsoft-foundry skills untriaged
Dominant language
Python
Stars
250
Forks
204
Avg merge
1d 12h
Merged PRs (30d)
67

Description

## Summary

Copilot has identified a portion of a skill that is a good candidate for replacement with a script.

The candidate is the **environment-variable scan** in the `foundry-agent/deploy` skill (`deploy.md`).

## Candidate description

**Environment-variable scan (Step 1)**

A per-language pattern search across source files (currently delegated to a sub-agent). The raw search is deterministic and output-heavy; only the matched variable names matter. A grep/`Select-String` script per language could perform the extraction. Note the *classification* (required vs optional, with default) still needs agent judgment — so a script would cover the search/extraction portion of the step, not the full step.

## Affected file and lines

- [`deploy.md` — Step 1: environment variable scan (L88–L98)](https://github.com/microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure/blob/164e0cda7b9d75d6e0d64b235d17bd7ff5e2909e/plugin/skills/microsoft-foundry/foundry-agent/deploy/deploy.md#L88-L98)

## Next steps

1. **Evaluate the candidate** — confirm the steps are stable and parameterizable, and that the script captures everything the skill needs.
2. **Create both a bash _and_ a PowerShell version** of the script so the skill works across platforms.
3. **Run integration tests** to verify the scripts behave correctly and the skill still completes end-to-end.

## Background Information

### Why replace regular steps with scripts

Replacing a regular, well-defined series of steps with a script can:

- **Reduce token usage** — the skill no longer needs to spell out each command and parse large command output inline; the agent invokes one script and reads a compact result.
- **Improve reliability** — the logic is written and tested once, instead of being re-derived by the agent on every run.
- **Improve determinism** — the same inputs always produce the same steps and output, removing run-to-run variation.
- **Improve speed of execution** — a single script call replaces multiple round-trips of command generation, execution, and large-output parsing.

### Authoring notes for the scripts

- **Reference scripts with markdown links**, not just a bare path to the script file.
- **Include examples** in the skill showing how to run each script (sample invocation with arguments).
- **Briefly explain what each script does** where it is referenced.
- **The script output should explain what it did**, so the agent and user can understand the result without re-inspecting raw command output.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with deploy.md Step 1, the environment-variable scan at L88–L98, and evaluate whether its search and extraction steps are stable and parameterizable. Create bash and PowerShell versions covering matched variable-name extraction, then run the integration tests to verify end-to-end behavior. Update the skill with linked scripts, invocation examples, and output that explains the result.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
bash, powershell
Domain
devops, tooling
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
58/100

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