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FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Agentic InfraOps.

Jump to: General · IaC Tracks · Usage · Troubleshooting

General

How do I get started?

Create your own repository from the Accelerator template — click "Use this template" on GitHub, clone your new repo, and open it in the dev container. See the Quickstart for the step-by-step guide.

This upstream repository (azure-agentic-infraops) is the source project. The Accelerator template is the recommended starting point for new users.

Is this project production-ready?

Agentic InfraOps is currently at v0.10.0 (pre-1.0). It is suitable for development, testing, and proof-of-concept deployments. The generated IaC templates follow Azure Verified Modules standards and include security baselines, but you should always review generated code before deploying to production environments.

See the Changelog for release history and maturity indicators.

What AI models does this require?

The project is built for GitHub Copilot in VS Code. Agents specify their preferred model in their frontmatter — most use the latest Claude Opus or GPT Codex models. The Conductor and review-heavy agents perform best with the latest Claude Opus model.

Model versions evolve — check agent frontmatter for current selections.

You need an active GitHub Copilot license (Individual, Business, or Enterprise).

Do I need an Azure subscription?

For learning: No. You can run the full workflow through Steps 1-5 (requirements, architecture, design, planning, code generation) without an Azure subscription. The generated templates are valid and ready to deploy.

For deployment: Yes. Step 6 (Deploy) requires an active Azure subscription with permissions to create resources. Step 2 (Architecture) optionally uses the Azure Pricing MCP server, which queries public pricing APIs and does not require a subscription.

IaC Tracks

Bicep or Terraform — which should I choose?

Both tracks produce production-quality output. Choose based on your team's expertise and organizational standards:

Factor Bicep Terraform
Azure-only Native DSL, first-class Azure support Multi-cloud, Azure via AzureRM provider
State No state file (ARM-managed) State file (Azure Storage backend)
Learning curve Lower if you know ARM/Azure Lower if you know HCL/multi-cloud
AVM modules br/public:avm/res/ registry.terraform.io/Azure/avm-res-*/
CI/CD az deployment group create terraform plan + terraform apply

The Requirements agent (Step 1) captures your iac_tool preference, and the Conductor routes all subsequent steps to the correct track automatically.

See How It Works for a deeper comparison.

Can I switch IaC tracks mid-workflow?

Not directly. The iac_tool field in 01-requirements.md determines the track for Steps 4-6. To switch, update the iac_tool field in requirements and re-run from Step 4 (Planning). Steps 1-3 are shared and do not need to be repeated.

Usage

Can I use this offline?

No. Agentic InfraOps requires:

  • GitHub Copilot — cloud-hosted AI service
  • MCP servers — Azure Pricing, GitHub, and Terraform MCP servers provide real-time data to agents

The dev container itself runs locally, but agent conversations and MCP tool calls require internet connectivity.

How do I customize agents or add new ones?

Agents are defined in .github/agents/*.agent.md as YAML frontmatter + markdown body. To create a new agent:

  1. Copy an existing agent file as a template
  2. Update the frontmatter (name, description, model, tools, skills)
  3. Write the agent body with instructions
  4. Reload VS Code — the agent appears in the Ctrl+Shift+A picker

See Contributing for contribution guidelines and the Agent and Skill Workflow for how agents fit into the system.

What's the difference between agents and skills?
Aspect Agents Skills
Invocation Manual (Ctrl+Shift+A) or via Conductor Automatic or explicit
Interaction Conversational with handoffs Task-focused
State Session context Stateless
Output Multiple artifacts Specific outputs
When to use Core workflow steps Specialized capabilities

Agents are the actors in the 8-step workflow. Skills are reusable knowledge modules that agents load on demand. See the Workflow page for details.

How do I resume a failed or interrupted workflow?

The Conductor supports session resume via the session-resume skill. To resume:

  1. Open Copilot Chat and select InfraOps Conductor
  2. Say: "Resume the workflow from where we left off. Check agent-output/{project}/ for existing artifacts."
  3. The Conductor reads 00-session-state.json and existing artifacts to determine which steps are complete, then continues from the next pending step.

See the Quickstart for the full getting-started flow.

Is there a guided hands-on exercise?

Yes — the MicroHack is a hands-on, guided challenge where you build Azure infrastructure end-to-end using AI agents, from requirements to deployment. It includes structured exercises, guided prompts, and reference solutions for each of the 8 workflow steps.

Troubleshooting

The Conductor doesn't delegate to other agents — what's wrong?

The most common cause is the subagent orchestration setting not being enabled. Add this to your VS Code User Settings (not workspace settings):

{
  "chat.customAgentInSubagent.enabled": true
}

See Troubleshooting for detailed steps.

Where do I report bugs or request features?
What happens if an agent produces bad output?

Use specific follow-up prompts to correct the issue. For example: "The VNet address space conflicts with our on-premises range. Change to 172.16.0.0/16." If the error persists, start a fresh chat session — context accumulation can degrade output quality. The Troubleshooting guide covers common failure modes and recovery steps.

What if MCP servers are unreachable?

The workflow degrades gracefully. Steps 1-5 can proceed without MCP — agents skip real-time pricing lookups and use documented defaults. Only Step 2 cost estimation and Step 7 as-built cost updates depend directly on the Pricing MCP server. Governance discovery (Step 3.5) uses Azure REST API, not MCP.

Step 6 (Deploy) requires Azure credentials

If you attempt deployment without an active Azure subscription and az login, the deploy agent will fail with an authentication error. See Troubleshooting for recovery steps.

See also: Troubleshooting · Prompt Guide · Glossary