microsoft / microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure

Replace microsoft-foundry skill RBAC audit-and-assign with a script

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@tmeschter is already working on this.

Since Jul 6, 2026.

microsoft-foundry skills untriaged
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Python
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Description

## Summary

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

The candidate is the **RBAC audit-and-assign** sequence in the `microsoft-foundry` skill (`rbac/rbac.md`) — deterministic role-assignment audit/validate/assign+verify flows with hardcoded role GUIDs, duplicated across files.

## Candidate description

The skill runs several fixed RBAC command sequences:

1. **Audit** — the same `az role assignment list --scope` run three times with different `--query` projections.
2. **Validate** — get the signed-in user ID, then list role definitions to answer "is this role present?".
3. **Assign + verify** — `az role assignment create` then `list` to confirm (accounting for 1–5 min propagation).
4. **Managed identity** — `PRINCIPAL_ID=$(...)` then `az role assignment create` (get-then-set).

This is a strong script candidate because it is:
- **Deterministic, parameter-only** — literal role GUIDs (e.g. "Foundry User" `53ca6127-db72-4b80-b1b0-d745d6d5456d`) baked in.
- **Redundant calls** — the audit block runs the same `list` three times; a script can run it once and format all three views.
- **Output-heavy → small answer** — validate reduces heavy output to a present/absent answer.
- **Heavily duplicated** — the signed-in-user role query recurs in `create-foundry-project.md` (L35); the "Foundry User" GUID recurs in `post-deployment-validation.md` (L66).

**Sketch — `assign-and-verify-role.{sh,ps1}` (+ an `audit-roles` mode):**
- **Input:** `--assignee`, `--role`, `--scope` (built from sub/rg/account/project).
- **Output:** for assign — create-then-confirm result with propagation handling; for audit — the consolidated multi-view role list; for validate — a "has required role: yes/no".

> Choosing **which** role/scope to grant and least-privilege decisions stay in prose. The create-then-verify mechanics and audit/validate reductions are fully scriptable. Service-principal creation involves secret output — scriptable but the secret-handling portion needs care.

## Affected file and lines

- [`rbac/rbac.md` — audit/validate/assign/managed-identity sequences (L41–L95)](https://github.com/microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure/blob/3890cbfb65c548ce8daa96cabd1d8de63f7bbcca/plugin/skills/microsoft-foundry/rbac/rbac.md#L41-L95)
- [`project/create/create-foundry-project.md` — signed-in-user role query (L35)](https://github.com/microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure/blob/3890cbfb65c548ce8daa96cabd1d8de63f7bbcca/plugin/skills/microsoft-foundry/project/create/create-foundry-project.md#L35)
- [`resource/private-network/references/post-deployment-validation.md` — Foundry User role assignment (L55–L69)](https://github.com/microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure/blob/3890cbfb65c548ce8daa96cabd1d8de63f7bbcca/plugin/skills/microsoft-foundry/resource/private-network/references/post-deployment-validation.md#L55-L69)

## 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

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Assessment

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