azure-well-architected-framework

Q: How do I install azure-well-architected-framework?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/josiahsiegel/claude-plugin-marketplace --skill azure-well-architected-framework in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/azure-well-architected-framework/ (personal) or .claude/skills/azure-well-architected-framework/ (project).

by josiahsiegelDevOps & Cloud

Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF) for cloud architecture review. PROACTIVELY activate for: (1) Azure architecture review or design, (2) Reliability pillar (availability zones, geo-replication, backup/restore, RPO/RTO), (3) Security pillar (Zero Trust, encryption at rest/in transit, identity, network segmentation), (4) Cost Optimization pillar (rightsizing, reserved instances, savings plans, FinOps), (5) Operational Excellence pillar (IaC, observability, automation), (6) Performance Efficiency pillar (caching, autoscaling, async patterns), (7) Sustainability pillar, (8) WAF Reviews via the WAF Assessment Tool, (9) Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) alignment. Provides: pillar-by-pillar checklist, WAF assessment workflow, common antipatterns by pillar, and Azure Advisor mapping.

Installs: 171
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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/josiahsiegel/claude-plugin-marketplace --skill azure-well-architected-framework

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads azure-well-architected-framework automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Azure Well-Architected Framework

The Azure Well-Architected Framework is a set of guiding tenets for building high-quality cloud solutions. It consists of five pillars of architectural excellence.

Overview

Purpose: Help architects and engineers build secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure for applications.

The Five Pillars:

Reliability
Security
Cost Optimization
Operational Excellence
Performance Efficiency

Pillar 1: Reliability

Definition: The ability of a system to recover from failures and continue to function.

Key Principles:

Design for failure
Use availability zones and regions
Implement redundancy
Monitor and respond to failures
Test disaster recovery

Best Practices:

Availability Zones:

# Deploy VM across availability zones
az vm create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --name MyVM \
  --zone 1 \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_D2s_v3

# Availability SLAs:
# - Single VM (Premium SSD): 99.9%
# - Availability Set: 99.95%
# - Availability Zones: 99.99%

Backup and Disaster Recovery:

# Enable Azure Backup
az backup protection enable-for-vm \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --vault-name MyVault \
  --vm MyVM \
  --policy-name DefaultPolicy

# Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data loss is acceptable
# Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How long can system be down

Health Probes:

Application Gateway health probes
Load Balancer probes
Traffic Manager endpoint monitoring

Pillar 2: Security

Definition: Protecting applications and data from threats.

Key Principles:

Defense in depth
Least privilege access
Secure the network
Protect data at rest and in transit
Monitor and audit

Best Practices:

Identity and Access:

# Use managed identities (no credentials in code)
az vm identity assign \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --name MyVM

# RBAC assignment
az role assignment create \
  --assignee <principal-id> \
  --role "Contributor" \
  --scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/MyRG

Network Security:

Use Network Security Groups (NSGs)
Implement Azure Firewall or Application Gateway WAF
Use Private Endpoints for PaaS services
Enable DDoS Protection Standard for public-facing apps

Data Protection:

# Enable encryption at rest (automatic for most services)
# Enable TLS 1.2+ for data in transit

# Azure Storage encryption
az storage account update \
  --name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --min-tls-version TLS1_2 \
  --https-only true

Security Monitoring:

# Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud
az security pricing create \
  --name VirtualMachines \
  --tier Standard

# Enable Azure Sentinel
az sentinel onboard \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --workspace-name MyWorkspace

Pillar 3: Cost Optimization

Definition: Managing costs to maximize the value delivered.

Key Principles:

Plan and estimate costs
Provision with optimization
Use monitoring and analytics
Maximize efficiency of cloud spend

Best Practices:

Right-Sizing:

# Use Azure Advisor recommendations
az advisor recommendation list \
  --category Cost \
  --output table

# Common optimizations:
# 1. Shutdown dev/test VMs when not in use
# 2. Use Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows/SQL
# 3. Purchase reservations for consistent workloads
# 4. Use autoscaling to match demand

Reserved Instances:

1-year or 3-year commitment
Save up to 72% vs pay-as-you-go
Available for VMs, SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Synapse, Storage

Azure Hybrid Benefit:

# Apply Windows license to VM
az vm update \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --name MyVM \
  --license-type Windows_Server

# SQL Server Hybrid Benefit
az sql vm create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --name MySQLVM \
  --license-type AHUB

Cost Management:

# Create budget
az consumption budget create \
  --budget-name MyBudget \
  --category cost \
  --amount 1000 \
  --time-grain monthly \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-12-31

# Set up alerts at 80%, 100%, 120% of budget

Pillar 4: Operational Excellence

Definition: Operations processes that keep a system running in production.

Key Principles:

Automate operations
Monitor and gain insights
Refine operations procedures
Anticipate failure
Stay current with updates

Best Practices:

Infrastructure as Code:

# Use ARM, Bicep, or Terraform
# Version control all infrastructure
# Implement CI/CD for infrastructure

# Example: Bicep deployment
az deployment group create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters @parameters.json

Monitoring and Alerting:

# Application Insights for apps
az monitor app-insights component create \
  --app MyApp \
  --location eastus \
  --resource-group MyRG

# Log Analytics for infrastructure
az monitor log-analytics workspace create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --workspace-name MyWorkspace

# Create alerts
az monitor metrics alert create \
  --name HighCPU \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --scopes <vm-id> \
  --condition "avg Percentage CPU > 80" \
  --description "CPU usage is above 80%"

DevOps Practices:

Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
Blue-green deployments
Canary releases
Feature flags
Automated testing

Pillar 5: Performance Efficiency

Definition: The ability of a system to adapt to changes in load.

Key Principles:

Scale horizontally
Choose the right resources
Monitor performance
Optimize network and data access

Best Practices:

Scaling:

# Horizontal scaling (preferred)
# VM Scale Sets
az vmss create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --name MyVMSS \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --instance-count 3 \
  --vm-sku Standard_D2s_v3

# Autoscaling
az monitor autoscale create \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --resource MyVMSS \
  --resource-type Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets \
  --name MyAutoscale \
  --min-count 2 \
  --max-count 10

Caching:

Azure Cache for Redis
Azure CDN for static content
Application-level caching

Data Access:

Use indexes on databases
Implement caching strategies
Use CDN for global content delivery
Optimize queries (SQL, Cosmos DB)

Networking:

# Use Azure Front Door for global apps
az afd profile create \
  --profile-name MyFrontDoor \
  --resource-group MyRG \
  --sku Premium_AzureFrontDoor

# Features:
# - Global load balancing
# - CDN capabilities
# - Web Application Firewall
# - SSL offloading
# - Caching

Assessment and Tools

Azure Well-Architected Review:

# Self-assessment tool in Azure Portal
# Generates recommendations per pillar
# Provides actionable guidance

Azure Advisor:

# Get recommendations
az advisor recommendation list --output table

# Categories:
# - Reliability (High Availability)
# - Security
# - Performance
# - Cost
# - Operational Excellence

Implementation Checklist

Reliability:

Security:

Enable Azure AD authentication
Implement RBAC (least privilege)
Encrypt data at rest and in transit
Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Implement network segmentation (NSGs, Firewall)
Use Key Vault for secrets

Cost Optimization:

Right-size resources
Purchase reservations for predictable workloads
Enable autoscaling
Use Azure Hybrid Benefit
Implement budget alerts
Review Azure Advisor cost recommendations

Operational Excellence:

Implement Infrastructure as Code
Set up CI/CD pipelines
Enable comprehensive monitoring
Create operational runbooks
Implement automated alerting
Use tags for resource organization

Performance Efficiency:

Common Patterns

Highly Available Web Application:

Application Gateway (WAF enabled)
App Service (Premium tier, multiple instances)
Azure SQL Database (Zone-redundant)
Azure Cache for Redis
Application Insights
Azure Front Door (global distribution)

Mission-Critical Application:

Multi-region deployment
Traffic Manager or Front Door (global routing)
Availability Zones in each region
Geo-redundant storage (GRS or RA-GRS)
Automated backups with geo-replication
Comprehensive monitoring and alerting

Cost-Optimized Dev/Test:

Auto-shutdown for VMs
B-series (burstable) VMs
Dev/Test pricing tiers
Shared App Service plans
Azure DevTest Labs

References

Official Framework: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/
Azure Advisor: https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Expert/AdvisorMenuBlade/overview
Well-Architected Review: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/assessments/azure-architecture-review/
Architecture Center: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/

Key Takeaways

Balance the Pillars: Trade-offs exist between pillars (e.g., cost vs. reliability)
Continuous Improvement: Architecture is not static, revisit regularly
Measure and Monitor: Use data to drive decisions
Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to improve reliability and reduce costs
Security First: Integrate security into every layer of architecture

The Well-Architected Framework provides a consistent approach to evaluating architectures and implementing designs that scale over time.

FAQ

What does the azure-well-architected-framework skill do?

How do I install azure-well-architected-framework?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/josiahsiegel/claude-plugin-marketplace --skill azure-well-architected-framework in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/azure-well-architected-framework/ (personal) or .claude/skills/azure-well-architected-framework/ (project).

Which AI agents can use azure-well-architected-framework?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is azure-well-architected-framework safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains azure-well-architected-framework?

It is published by josiahsiegel in josiahsiegel/claude-plugin-marketplace. It has 171 recorded installs.