Expanding the Public Preview of the Azure SRE Agent
We are excited to share that the Azure SRE Agent is now available in public preview for everyone instantly – no sign up required. A big thank you to all our preview customers who provided feedback and helped shape this release! Watching teams put the SRE Agent to work taught us a ton, and we’ve baked those lessons into a smarter, more resilient, and enterprise-ready experience. You can now find Azure SRE Agent directly in the Azure Portal and get started, or use the link below. 📖 Learn more about SRE Agent. 👉 Create your first SRE Agent (Azure login required) What’s New in Azure SRE Agent - October Update The Azure SRE Agent now delivers secure-by-default governance, deeper diagnostics, and extensible automation—built for scale. It can even resolve incidents autonomously by following your team’s runbooks. With native integrations across Azure Monitor, GitHub, ServiceNow, and PagerDuty, it supports root cause analysis using both source code and historical patterns. And since September 1, billing and reporting are available via Azure Agent Units (AAUs). Please visit product documentation for the latest updates. Here are a few highlights for this month: Prioritizing enterprise governance and security: By default, the Azure SRE Agent operates with least-privilege access and never executes write actions on Azure resources without explicit human approval. Additionally, it uses role-based access control (RBAC) so organizations can assign read-only or approver roles, providing clear oversight and traceability from day one. This allows teams to choose their desired level of autonomy from read-only insights to approval-gated actions to full automation without compromising control. Covering the breadth and depth of Azure: The Azure SRE Agent helps teams manage and understand their entire Azure footprint. With built-in support for AZ CLI and kubectl, it works across all Azure services. But it doesn’t stop there—diagnostics are enhanced for platforms like PostgreSQL, API Management, Azure Functions, AKS, Azure Container Apps, and Azure App Service. Whether you're running microservices or managing monoliths, the agent delivers consistent automation and deep insights across your cloud environment. Automating Incident Management: The Azure SRE Agent now plugs directly into Azure Monitor, PagerDuty, and ServiceNow to streamline incident detection and resolution. These integrations let the Agent ingest alerts and trigger workflows that match your team’s existing tools—so you can respond faster, with less manual effort. Engineered for extensibility: The Azure SRE Agent incident management approach lets teams reuse existing runbooks and customize response plans to fit their unique workflows. Whether you want to keep a human in the loop or empower the Agent to autonomously mitigate and resolve issues, the choice is yours. This flexibility gives teams the freedom to evolve—from guided actions to trusted autonomy—without ever giving up control. Root cause, meet source code: The Azure SRE Agent now supports code-aware root cause analysis (RCA) by linking diagnostics directly to source context in GitHub and Azure DevOps. This tight integration helps teams trace incidents back to the exact code changes that triggered them—accelerating resolution and boosting confidence in automated responses. By bridging operational signals with engineering workflows, the agent makes RCA faster, clearer, and more actionable. Close the loop with DevOps: The Azure SRE Agent now generates incident summary reports directly in GitHub and Azure DevOps—complete with diagnostic context. These reports can be assigned to a GitHub Copilot coding agent, which automatically creates pull requests and merges validated fixes. Every incident becomes an actionable code change, driving permanent resolution instead of temporary mitigation. Getting Started Start here: Create a new SRE Agent in the Azure portal (Azure login required) Blog: Announcing a flexible, predictable billing model for Azure SRE Agent Blog: Enterprise-ready and extensible – Update on the Azure SRE Agent preview Product documentation Product home page Community & Support We’d love to hear from you! Please use our GitHub repo to file issues, request features, or share feedback with the teamDeployment and Build from Azure Linux based Web App
TOC Introduction Deployment Sources From Laptop From CI/CD tools Build Source From Oryx Build From Runtime From Deployment Sources Walkthrough Laptop + Oryx Laptop + Runtime Laptop CI/CD concept Conclusion 1. Introduction Deployment on Azure Linux Web Apps can be done through several different methods. When a deployment issue occurs, the first step is usually to identify which method was used. The core of these methods revolves around the concept of Build, the process of preparing and loading the third-party dependencies required to run an application. For example, a Python app defines its build process as pip install packages, a Node.js app uses npm install modules, and PHP or Java apps rely on libraries. In this tutorial, I’ll use a simple Python app to demonstrate four different Deployment/Build approaches. Each method has its own use cases and limitations. You can even combine them, for example, using your laptop as the deployment tool while still using Oryx as the build engine. The same concepts apply to other runtimes such as Node.js, PHP, and beyond. 2. Deployment Sources From Laptop Scenarios: Setting up a proof of concept Developing in a local environment Advantages: Fast development cycle Minimal configuration required Limitations: Difficult for the local test environment to interact with cloud resources OS differences between local and cloud environments may cause integration issues From CI/CD tools Scenarios: Projects with established development and deployment workflows Codebases requiring version control and automation Advantages: Developers can focus purely on coding Automatic deployment upon branch commits Limitations: Build and runtime environments may still differ slightly at the OS level 3. Build Source From Oryx Build Scenarios: Offloading resource-intensive build tasks from your local or CI/CD environment directly to the Azure Web App platform, reducing local computing overhead. Advantages: Minimal extra configuration Multi-language support Limitations: Build performance is limited by the App Service SKU and may face performance bottlenecks The build environment may differ from the runtime environment, so apps sensitive to minor package versions should take caution From Runtime Scenarios: When you want the benefits and pricing of a PaaS solution but need control similar to an IaaS setup Advantages: Build occurs in the runtime environment itself Allows greater flexibility for low-level system operations Limitations: Certain system-level settings (e.g., NTP time sync) remain inaccessible From Deployment Sources Scenarios: Pre-package all dependencies and deploy them together, eliminating the need for a separate build step. Advantages: Supports proprietary or closed-source company packages Limitations: Incompatibility may arise if the development and runtime environments differ significantly in OS or package support Type Method Scenario Advantage Limitation Deployment From Laptop POC / Dev Fast setup Poor cloud link Deployment From CI/CD Auto pipeline Focus on code OS mismatch Build From Oryx Platform build Simple, multi-lang Performance cap Build From Runtime High control Flexible ops Limited access Build From Deployment Pre-built deploy Use private pkg Env mismatch 4. Walkthrough Laptop + Oryx Add Environment Variables SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false (Purpose: prevents the deployment environment from packaging during publish; this must also be set in the deployment environment itself.) WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE=false (Purpose: tells Azure Web App not to run the app from a prepackaged file.) ENABLE_ORYX_BUILD=true (Purpose: allows the Azure Web App platform to handle the build process automatically after a deployment event.) Add startup command bash /home/site/wwwroot/run.sh (The run.sh file corresponds to the script in your project code.) Check sample code requirements.txt — defines Python packages (similar to package.json in Node.js). Flask==3.0.3 gunicorn==23.0.0 app.py — main Python application code. from flask import Flask app = Flask(__name__) @app.route("/") def home(): return "Deploy from Laptop + Oryx" if __name__ == "__main__": import os app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) run.sh — script used to start the application. #!/bin/bash gunicorn --bind=0.0.0.0:8000 app:app .deployment — VS Code deployment configuration file. [config] SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false Deployment Once both the deployment and build processes complete successfully, you should see the expected result. Laptop + Runtime Add Environment Variables (Screenshots omitted since the process is similar to previous steps) SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false Purpose: Prevents the deployment environment from packaging during the publishing process. This setting must also be added in the deployment environment itself. WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE=false Purpose: Instructs Azure Web App not to run the application from a prepackaged file. ENABLE_ORYX_BUILD=false Purpose: Ensures that Azure Web App does not perform any build after deployment; all build tasks will instead be handled during the startup script execution. Add Startup Command (Screenshots omitted since the process is similar to previous steps) bash /home/site/wwwroot/run.sh (The run.sh file corresponds to the script of the same name in your project code.) Check Sample Code (Screenshots omitted since the process is similar to previous steps) requirements.txt: Defines Python packages (similar to package.json in Node.js). Flask==3.0.3 gunicorn==23.0.0 app.py: The main Python application code. from flask import Flask app = Flask(__name__) @app.route("/") def home(): return "Deploy from Laptop + Runtime" if __name__ == "__main__": import os app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) run.sh: Startup script. In addition to launching the app, it also creates a virtual environment and installs dependencies, all build-related tasks happen here. #!/bin/bash python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install -r requirements.txt gunicorn --bind=0.0.0.0:8000 app:app .deployment: VS Code deployment configuration file. [config] SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false Deployment (Screenshots omitted since the process is similar to previous steps) Once both deployment and build are completed, you should see the expected output. Laptop Add Environment Variables (Screenshots omitted as the process is similar to previous steps) SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false Purpose: Prevents the deployment environment from packaging during publish. This must also be set in the deployment environment itself. WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE=false Purpose: Instructs Azure Web App not to run the app from a prepackaged file. ENABLE_ORYX_BUILD=false Purpose: Prevents Azure Web App from building after deployment. All build tasks will instead execute during the startup script. Add Startup Command (Screenshots omitted as the process is similar to previous steps) bash /home/site/wwwroot/run.sh (The run.sh corresponds to the same-named file in your project code.) Check Sample Code (Screenshots omitted as the process is similar to previous steps) requirements.txt: Defines Python packages (like package.json in Node.js). Flask==3.0.3 gunicorn==23.0.0 app.py: The main Python application. from flask import Flask app = Flask(__name__) @app.route("/") def home(): return "Deploy from Laptop" if __name__ == "__main__": import os app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=8000) run.sh: The startup script. In addition to launching the app, it activates an existing virtual environment. The creation of that environment and installation of dependencies will occur in the next section. #!/bin/bash source venv/bin/activate gunicorn --bind=0.0.0.0:8000 app:app .deployment: VS Code deployment configuration file. [config] SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT=false Deployment Before deployment, you must perform a local build process. Run commands locally (depending on the language, usually for installing dependencies). python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install -r requirements.txt After completing the local build, deploy your app. Once deployment finishes, you should see the expected result. CI/CD concept For example, when using Azure DevOps (ADO) as your CI/CD tool, its behavior conceptually mirrors deploying directly from a laptop, but with enhanced automation, governance, and reproducibility. Essentially, ADO pipelines translate your manual local deployment steps into codified, repeatable workflows defined in a YAML pipeline file, executed by Microsoft-hosted or self-hosted agents. A typical azure-pipelines.yml defines the stages (e.g., build, deploy) and their corresponding jobs and steps. Each stage runs on a specified VM image (e.g., ubuntu-latest) and executes commands, the same npm install, pip install which you would normally run on your laptop. The ADO pipeline acts as your automated laptop, every build command, environment variable, and deployment step you’d normally execute locally is just formalized in YAML. Whether you build inline, use Oryx, or deploy pre-built artifacts, the underlying concept remains identical: compile, package, and deliver code to Azure. The distinction lies in who performs it. 5. Conclusion Different deployment and build methods lead to different debugging and troubleshooting approaches. Therefore, understanding the selected deployment method and its corresponding troubleshooting process is an essential skill for every developer and DevOps engineer.Who Created This Azure Resource? Here's How to Find Out
One of the most common questions Azure customers and administrators ask is: “How do I know who created this resource?” If you’ve ever been in charge of managing a large subscription with dozens (or even thousands) of resources, you know how important it is to answer this question quickly. Whether it’s for troubleshooting, governance, or compliance, tracking the origin of a resource can save time and reduce confusion. The good news: Azure makes this information available. You just need to know where to look. Step 1: Open the Resource Overview Navigate to the Overview page of the resource in question. This gives you the usual metadata like resource group, subscription, location, login server, and provisioning state. At first glance, however, you won’t see who created the resource. That information isn’t shown in the overview fields. Step 2: Switch to JSON View On the Overview page, look for the link labeled “JSON View” in the top right corner. Clicking this opens the full resource definition in JSON format. Step 3: Scroll to the systemData Section Within the JSON, scroll until you find the systemData object. This is where Azure tracks metadata about the resource lifecycle. Here’s what you’ll find: "systemData": { "createdBy": "someuser@domain.com", "createdByType": "User", "createdAt": "2025–05–20T19:50:33.1511397Z", "lastModifiedBy": "someuser@domain.com", "lastModifiedByType": "User", "lastModifiedAt": "2025–05–20T19:50:33.1511397Z" } What This Tells You createdBy → The user or service principal that created the resource. createdByType → Whether it was created by a human user, managed identity, or another Azure service. createdAt → The exact timestamp of creation (UTC). lastModifiedBy, lastModifiedByType, and lastModifiedAt → Useful if the resource was updated after creation. This metadata gives you clear visibility into who provisioned the resource and when. Why It Matters Governance — Understand ownership and responsibility. Troubleshooting — Track down configuration changes. Compliance & Auditing — Satisfy requirements for accountability in your cloud environment. By making the systemData object part of your standard investigation checklist, you’ll save yourself the guesswork the next time you’re wondering, “Who created this resource?”Search Less, Build More: Inner Sourcing with GitHub CoPilot and ADO MCP Server
Developers burn cycles context‑switching: opening five repos to find a logging example, searching a wiki for a data masking rule, scrolling chat history for the latest pipeline pattern. Organisations that I speak to are often on the path of transformational platform engineering projects but always have the fear or doubt of "what if my engineers don't use these resources". While projects like Backstage still play a pivotal role in inner sourcing and discoverability I also empathise with developers who would argue "How would I even know in the first place, which modules have or haven't been created for reuse". In this blog we explore how we can ensure organisational standards and developer satisfaction without any heavy lifting on either side, no custom model training, no rewriting or relocating of repositories and no stagnant local data. Using GitHub CoPilot + Azure DevOps MCP server (with the free `code_search` extension) we turn the IDE into an organizational knowledge interface. Instead of guessing or re‑implementing, engineers can start scaffolding projects or solving issues as they would normally (hopefully using CoPilot) and without extra prompting. GitHub CoPilot can lean into organisational standards and ensure recommendations are made with code snippets directly generated from existing examples. What Is the Azure DevOps MCP Server + code_search Extension? MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets agents (like GitHub Copilot) pull in structured, on-demand context from external systems. MCP servers contain natural language explanations of the tools that the agent can utilise allowing dynamic decision making of when to implement certain toolsets over others. The Azure DevOps MCP Server is the ADO Product Team's implementation of that standard. It exposes your ADO environment in a way CoPilot can consume. Out of the box it gives you access to: Projects – list and navigate across projects in your organization. Repositories – browse repos, branches, and files. Work items – surface user stories, bugs, or acceptance criteria. Wiki's – pull policies, standards, and documentation. This means CoPilot can ground its answers in live ADO content, instead of hallucinating or relying only on what’s in the current editor window. The ADO server runs locally from your own machine to ensure that all sensitive project information remains within your secure network boundary. This also means that existing permissions on ADO objects such as Projects or Repositories are respected. Wiki search tooling available out of the box with ADO MCP server is very useful however if I am honest I have seen these wiki's go unused with documentation being stored elsewhere either inside the repository or in a project management tool. This means any tool that needs to implement code requires the ability to accurately search the code stored in the repositories themself. That is where the code_search extension enablement in ADO is so important. Most organisations have this enabled already however it is worth noting that this pre-requisite is the real unlock of cross-repo search. This allows for CoPilot to: Query for symbols, snippets, or keywords across all repos. Retrieve usage examples from code, not just docs. Locate standards (like logging wrappers or retry policies) wherever they live. Back every recommendation with specific source lines. In short: MCP connects CoPilot to Azure DevOps. code_search makes that connection powerful by turning it into a discovery engine. What is the relevance of CoPilot Instructions? One of the less obvious but most powerful features of GitHub CoPilot is its ability to follow instructions files. CoPilot automatically looks for these files and uses them as a “playbook” for how it should behave. There are different types of instructions you can provide: Organisational instructions – apply across your entire workspace, regardless of which repo you’re in. Repo-specific instructions – scoped to a particular repository, useful when one project has unique standards or patterns. Personal instructions – smaller overrides layered on top of global rules when a local exception applies. (Stored in .github/copilot-instructions.md) In this solution, I’m using a single personal instructions file. It tells CoPilot: When to search (e.g., always query repos and wikis before answering a standards question). Where to look (Azure DevOps repos, wikis, and with code_search, the code itself). How to answer (responses must cite the repo/file/line or wiki page; if no source is found, say so). How to resolve conflicts (prefer dated wiki entries over older README fragments). As a small example, a section of a CoPilot instruction file could look like this: # GitHub Copilot Instructions for Azure DevOps MCP Integration This project uses Azure DevOps with MCP server integration to provide organizational context awareness. Always check to see if the Azure DevOps MCP server has a tool relevant to the user's request. ## Core Principles ### 1. Azure DevOps Integration - **Always prioritize Azure DevOps MCP tools** when users ask about: - Work items, stories, bugs, tasks - Pull requests and code reviews - Build pipelines and deployments - Repository operations and branch management - Wiki pages and documentation - Test plans and test cases - Project and team information ### 2. Organizational Context Awareness - Before suggesting solutions, **check existing organizational patterns** by: - Searching code across repositories for similar implementations - Referencing established coding standards and frameworks - Looking for existing shared libraries and utilities - Checking architectural decision records (ADRs) in wikis ### 3. Cross-Repository Intelligence - When providing code suggestions: - **Search for existing patterns** in other repositories first - **Reference shared libraries** and common utilities - **Maintain consistency** with organizational standards - **Suggest reusable components** when appropriate ## Tool Usage Guidelines ### Work Items and Project Management When users mention bugs, features, tasks, or project planning: ``` ✅ Use: wit_my_work_items, wit_create_work_item, wit_update_work_item ✅ Use: wit_list_backlogs, wit_get_work_items_for_iteration ✅ Use: work_list_team_iterations, core_list_projects The result... To test this I created 3 ADO Projects each with between 1-2 repositories. The repositories were light with only ReadMe's inside containing descriptions of the "repo" and some code snippets examples for usage. I have then created a brand-new workspace with no context apart from a CoPilot instructions document (which could be part of a repo scaffold or organisation wide) which tells CoPilot to search code and the wikis across all ADO projects in my demo environment. It returns guidance and standards from all available repo's and starts to use it to formulate its response. In the screenshot I have highlighted some key parts with red boxes. The first being a section of the readme that CoPilot has identified in its response, that part also highlighted within CoPilot chat response. I have highlighted the rather generic prompt I used to get this response at the bottom of that window too. Above I have highlighted CoPilot using the MCP server tooling searching through projects, repo's and code. Finally the largest box highlights the instructions given to CoPilot on how to search and how easily these could be optimised or changed depending on the requirements and organisational coding standards. How did I implement this? Implementation is actually incredibly simple. As mentioned I created multiple projects and repositories within my ADO Organisation in order to test cross-project & cross-repo discovery. I then did the following: Enable code_search - in your Azure DevOps organization (Marketplace → install extension). Login to Azure - Use the AZ CLI to authenticate to Azure with "az login". Create vscode/mcp.json file - Snippet is provided below, the organisation name should be changed to your organisations name. Start and enable your MCP server - In the mcp.json file you should see a "Start" button. Using the snippet below you will be prompted to add your organisation name. Ensure your CoPilot agent has access to the server under "tools" too. View this setup guide for full setup instructions (azure-devops-mcp/docs/GETTINGSTARTED.md at main · microsoft/azure-devops-mcp) Create a CoPilot Instructions file - with a search-first directive. I have inserted the full version used in this demo at the bottom of the article. Experiment with Prompts – Start generic (“How do we secure APIs?”). Review the output and tools used and then tailor your instructions. Considerations While this is a great approach I do still have some considerations when going to production. Latency - Using MCP tooling on every request will add some latency to developer requests. We can look at optimizing usage through copilot instructions to better identify when CoPilot should or shouldn't use the ADO MCP server. Complex Projects and Repositories - While I have demonstrated cross project and cross repository retrieval my demo environment does not truly simulate an enterprise ADO environment. Performance should be tested and closely monitored as organisational complexity increases. Public Preview - The ADO MCP server is moving quickly but is currently still public preview. We have demonstrated in this article how quickly we can make our Azure DevOps content discoverable. While their are considerations moving forward this showcases a direction towards agentic inner sourcing. Feel free to comment below how you think this approach could be extended or augmented for other use cases! Resources MCP Server Config (/.vscode/mcp.json) { "inputs": [ { "id": "ado_org", "type": "promptString", "description": "Azure DevOps organization name (e.g. 'contoso')" } ], "servers": { "ado": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@azure-devops/mcp", "${input:ado_org}"] } } } CoPilot Instructions (/.github/copilot-instructions.md) # GitHub Copilot Instructions for Azure DevOps MCP Integration This project uses Azure DevOps with MCP server integration to provide organizational context awareness. Always check to see if the Azure DevOps MCP server has a tool relevant to the user's request. ## Core Principles ### 1. Azure DevOps Integration - **Always prioritize Azure DevOps MCP tools** when users ask about: - Work items, stories, bugs, tasks - Pull requests and code reviews - Build pipelines and deployments - Repository operations and branch management - Wiki pages and documentation - Test plans and test cases - Project and team information ### 2. Organizational Context Awareness - Before suggesting solutions, **check existing organizational patterns** by: - Searching code across repositories for similar implementations - Referencing established coding standards and frameworks - Looking for existing shared libraries and utilities - Checking architectural decision records (ADRs) in wikis ### 3. Cross-Repository Intelligence - When providing code suggestions: - **Search for existing patterns** in other repositories first - **Reference shared libraries** and common utilities - **Maintain consistency** with organizational standards - **Suggest reusable components** when appropriate ## Tool Usage Guidelines ### Work Items and Project Management When users mention bugs, features, tasks, or project planning: ``` ✅ Use: wit_my_work_items, wit_create_work_item, wit_update_work_item ✅ Use: wit_list_backlogs, wit_get_work_items_for_iteration ✅ Use: work_list_team_iterations, core_list_projects ``` ### Code and Repository Operations When users ask about code, branches, or pull requests: ``` ✅ Use: repo_list_repos_by_project, repo_list_pull_requests_by_repo ✅ Use: repo_list_branches_by_repo, repo_search_commits ✅ Use: search_code for finding patterns across repositories ``` ### Documentation and Knowledge Sharing When users need documentation or want to create/update docs: ``` ✅ Use: wiki_list_wikis, wiki_get_page_content, wiki_create_or_update_page ✅ Use: search_wiki for finding existing documentation ``` ### Build and Deployment When users ask about builds, deployments, or CI/CD: ``` ✅ Use: pipelines_get_builds, pipelines_get_build_definitions ✅ Use: pipelines_run_pipeline, pipelines_get_build_status ``` ## Response Patterns ### 1. Discovery First Before providing solutions, always discover organizational context: ``` "Let me first check what patterns exist in your organization..." → Search code, check repositories, review existing work items ``` ### 2. Reference Organizational Standards When suggesting code or approaches: ``` "Based on patterns I found in your [RepositoryName] repository..." "Following your organization's standard approach seen in..." "This aligns with the pattern established in [TeamName]'s implementation..." ``` ### 3. Actionable Integration Always offer to create or update Azure DevOps artifacts: ``` "I can create a work item for this enhancement..." "Should I update the wiki page with this new pattern?" "Let me link this to the current iteration..." ``` ## Specific Scenarios ### New Feature Development 1. **Search existing repositories** for similar features 2. **Check architectural patterns** and shared libraries 3. **Review related work items** and planning documents 4. **Suggest implementation** based on organizational standards 5. **Offer to create work items** and documentation ### Bug Investigation 1. **Search for similar issues** across repositories and work items 2. **Check related builds** and recent changes 3. **Review test results** and failure patterns 4. **Provide solution** based on organizational practices 5. **Offer to create/update** bug work items and documentation ### Code Review and Standards 1. **Compare against organizational patterns** found in other repositories 2. **Reference coding standards** from wiki documentation 3. **Suggest improvements** based on established practices 4. **Check for reusable components** that could be leveraged ### Documentation Requests 1. **Search existing wikis** for related content 2. **Check for ADRs** and technical documentation 3. **Reference patterns** from similar projects 4. **Offer to create/update** wiki pages with findings ## Error Handling If Azure DevOps MCP tools are not available or fail: 1. **Inform the user** about the limitation 2. **Provide alternative approaches** using available information 3. **Suggest manual steps** for Azure DevOps integration 4. **Offer to help** with configuration if needed ## Best Practices ### Always Do: - ✅ Search organizational context before suggesting solutions - ✅ Reference existing patterns and standards - ✅ Offer to create/update Azure DevOps artifacts - ✅ Maintain consistency with organizational practices - ✅ Provide actionable next steps ### Never Do: - ❌ Suggest solutions without checking organizational context - ❌ Ignore existing patterns and implementations - ❌ Provide generic advice when specific organizational context is available - ❌ Forget to offer Azure DevOps integration opportunities --- **Remember: The goal is to provide intelligent, context-aware assistance that leverages the full organizational knowledge base available through Azure DevOps while maintaining development efficiency and consistency.**Disciplined Guardrail Development in enterprise application with GitHub Copilot
What Is Disciplined Guardrail-Based Development? In AI-assisted software development, approaches like Vibe Coding—which prioritize momentum and intuition—often fail to ensure code quality and maintainability. To address this, Disciplined Guardrail-Based Development introduces structured rules ("guardrails") that guide AI systems during coding and maintenance tasks, ensuring consistent quality and reliability. To get AI (LLMs) to generate appropriate code, developers must provide clear and specific instructions. Two key elements are essential: What to build – Clarifying requirements and breaking down tasks How to build it – Defining the application architecture The way these two elements are handled depends on the development methodology or process being used. Here are examples as follows. How to Set Up Disciplined Guardrails in GitHub Copilot To implement disciplined guardrail-based development with GitHub Copilot, two key configuration features are used: 1. Custom Instructions (.github/copilot-instructions.md): This file allows you to define persistent instructions that GitHub Copilot will always refer to when generating code. Purpose: Establish coding standards, architectural rules, naming conventions, and other quality guidelines. Best Practice: Instead of placing all instructions in a single file, split them into multiple modular files and reference them accordingly. This improves maintainability and clarity. Example Use: You might define rules like using camelCase for variables, enforcing error boundaries in React, or requiring TypeScript for all new code. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/configure-custom-instructions/add-repository-instructions 2. Chat Modes (.github/chatmodes/*.chatmode.md): These files define specialized chat modes tailored to specific tasks or workflows. Purpose: Customize Copilot’s behavior for different development contexts (e.g., debugging, writing tests, refactoring). Structure: Each .chatmode.md file includes metadata and instructions that guide Copilot’s responses in that mode. Example Use: A debug.chatmode.md might instruct Copilot to focus on identifying and resolving runtime errors, while a test.chatmode.md could prioritize generating unit tests with specific frameworks. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/custom-chat-modes The files to be created and their relationships are as follows. Next, there are introductions for the specific creation method. #1: Custom Instructions With custom instructions, you can define commands that are always provided to GitHub Copilot. The prepared files are always referenced during chat sessions and passed to the LLM (this can also be confirmed from the chat history). An important note is to split the content into several files and include links to those files within the .github/copilot-instructions.md file. Because it can become too long if everything is written in a single file. There are mainly two types of content that should be described in custom instructions: A: Development Process (≒ outcome + Creation Method) What documents or code will be created: requirements specification, design documents, task breakdown tables, implementation code, etc. In what order and by whom they will be created: for example, proceed in the order of requirements definition → design → task breakdown → coding. B: Application Architecture How will the outcome be defined in A be created? What technology stack and component structure will be used? A concrete example of copilot-instructions.md is shown below. # Development Rules ## Architecture - When performing design and coding tasks, always refer to the following architecture documents and strictly follow them as rules. ### Product Overview - Document the product overview in `.github/architecture/product.md` ### Technology Stack - Document the technologies used in `.github/architecture/techstack.md` ### Coding Standards - Document coding standards in `.github/architecture/codingrule.md` ### Project Structure - Document the project directory structure in `.github/architecture/structure.md` ### Glossary (Japanese-English) - Document the list of terms used in the project in `.github/architecture/dictionary.md` ## Development Flow - Follow a disciplined development flow and execute the following four stages in order (proceed to the next stage only after completing the current one): 1. Requirement Definition 2. Design 3. Task Breakdown 4. Coding ### 1. Requirement Definition - Document requirements in `docs/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/requirement.md` - Use `requirement.chatmode.md` to define requirements - Focus on clarifying objectives, understanding the current situation, and setting success criteria - Once requirements are defined, obtain user confirmation before proceeding to the next stage ### 2. Design - Document design in `docs/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/design.md` - Use `design.chatmode.md` to define the design - Define UI, module structure, and interface design - Once the design is complete, obtain user confirmation before proceeding to the next stage ### 3. Task Breakdown - Document tasks in `docs/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/tasks.md` - Use `tasks.chatmode.md` to define tasks - Break down tasks into executable units and set priorities - Once task breakdown is complete, obtain user confirmation before proceeding to the next stage ### 4. Coding - Implement code under `src/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/` - Perform coding task by task - Update progress in `docs/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/tasks.md` - Report to the user upon completion of each task Note: The only file that is always sent to the LLM is `copilot-instructions.md`. Documents linked from there (such as `product.md` or `techstack.md`) are not guaranteed to be read by the LLM. That said, a reasonably capable LLM will usually review these files before proceeding with the work. If the LLM does not properly reference each file, you may explicitly add these architecture documents to the context. Another approach is to instruct the LLM to review these files in the **chat mode settings**, which will be described later. There are various “schools of thought” regarding application architecture, and it is still an ongoing challenge to determine exactly what should be defined and what documents should be created. The choice of architecture depends on factors such as the business context, development scale, and team structure, so it is difficult to prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach. That said, as a general guideline, it is desirable to summarize the following: Product Overview: Overview of the product, service, or business, including its overall characteristics Technology Stack: What technologies will be used to develop the application? Project Structure: How will folders and directories be organized during development? Module Structure: How will the application be divided into modules? Coding Rules: Rules for handling exceptions, naming conventions, and other coding practices Writing all of this from scratch can be challenging. A practical approach is to create template information with the help of Copilot and then refine it. Specifically, you can: Use tools like M365 Copilot Researcher to create content based on general principles Analyze a prototype application and have the architecture information summarized (using Ask mode or Edit mode, feed the solution files to a capable LLM for analysis) However, in most cases, the output cannot be used as-is. The structure may not be analyzed correctly (hallucinations may occur) Project-specific practices and rules may not be captured Use the generated content as a starting point, and then refine it to create architecture documentation tailored to your own project. When creating architecture documents for enterprise-scale application development, a useful approach is to distinguish between the foundational parts and the individual application parts. Discipline-based guardrail development is particularly effective when building multiple applications in a “cookie-cutter” style on top of a common foundation. A cler example of this is Data-Oriented Architecture (DOA). In DOA, individual business applications are built on top of a shared database that serves as the overall common foundation. In this case, the foundational parts (the database layer) should not be modified arbitrarily by individual developers. Instead, focus on how to standardize the development of the individual application parts (the blue-framed sections) while ensuring consistency. Architecture documentation should be organized with this distinction in mind, emphasizing the uniformity of application-level development built upon the stable foundation. #2 Chat Mode By default, GitHub Copilot provides three chat modes: Ask, Edit, and Agent. However, by creating files under .github/chatmodes/*.chatmode.md, you can customize the Agent mode to create chat modes tailored for specific tasks. Specifically, you can configure the following three aspects. Functionally, this allows you to perform a specific task without having to manually change the model or tools, or write detailed instructions each time: model: Specify the default LLM to use (Note: The user can still manually switch to another LLM if desired) tools: Restrict which tools can be used (Note: The user can still manually select other tools if desired) custom instructions: Provide custom instructions specific to this chat mode A concrete example of .github/chatmodes/*.chatmode.md is shown below. description: This mode is used for requirement definition tasks. model: Claude Sonnet 4 tools: ['changes', 'codebase', 'editFiles', 'fetch', 'findTestFiles', 'githubRepo', 'new', 'openSimpleBrowser', 'runCommands', 'search', 'searchResults', 'terminalLastCommand', 'terminalSelection', 'usages', 'vscodeAPI', 'mssql_connect', 'mssql_disconnect', 'mssql_list_servers', 'mssql_show_schema'] --- # Requirement Definition Mode In this mode, requirement definition tasks are performed. Specifically, the project requirements are clarified, and necessary functions and specifications are defined. Based on instructions or interviews with the user, document the requirements according to the format below. If any specifications are ambiguous or unclear, Copilot should ask the user questions to clarify them. ## File Storage Location Save the requirement definition file in the following location: - Save as `requirement.md` under the directory `docs/[subsystem_name]/[business_name]/` ## Requirement Definition Format While interviewing the user, document the following items in the Markdown file: - **Subsystem Name**: The name of the subsystem to which this business belongs - **Business Name**: The name of the business - **Overview**: A summary of the business - **Use Cases**: Clarify who uses this business, when/under what circumstances, and for what purpose, using the following structure: - **Who (Persona)**: User or system roles - **When/Under What Circumstances (Scenario)**: Timing when the business is executed - **Purpose (Goal)**: Objectives or expected outcomes of the business - **Importance**: The importance of the business (e.g., High, Medium, Low) - **Acceptance Criteria**: Conditions that must be satisfied for the requirement to be considered met - **Status**: Current state of the requirement (e.g., In Progress, Completed) ## After Completion - Once requirement definition is complete, obtain user confirmation and proceed to the next stage (Design). Tips for Creating Chat Modes Here are some tips for creating custom chat modes: Align with the development process: Create chat modes based on the workflow and the deliverables. Instruct the LLM to ask the user when unsure: Direct the LLM to request clarification from the user if any information is missing. Clarify what deliverables to create and where to save them: Make it explicit which outputs are expected and their storage locations. The second point is particularly important. Many AI (LLMs) tend to respond to user prompts in a sycophantic manner (known as sycophancy). As a result, they may fill in unspecified requirements or perform tasks that were not requested, often with the intention of being helpful. The key difference between Ask/Edit modes and Agent mode is that Agent mode allows the LLM to proactively ask questions and engage in dialogue with the user. However, unless the user explicitly includes a prompt such as “ask if you don’t know,” the AI rarely initiates questions on its own. By creating a custom chat mode and instructing the LLM to “ask the user when unsure,” you can fully leverage the benefits of Agent mode. About Tools You can easily check tool names from the list of available tools in the command palette. Alternatively, as shown in the diagram below, it can be convenient to open the custom chat mode file and specify the tool configuration. You can specify not only the MCP server functionality but also built-in tools and Copilot Extensions. Example of Actual Operation An example interaction when using this chat mode is as follows: The LLM behaves according to the custom instructions defined in the chat mode. When you answer questions from GHC, the LLM uses that information to reason and proceed with the task. However, the output is not guaranteed to be correct (hallucinations may occur) → A human should review the output and make any necessary corrections before committing. The basic approach to disciplined guardrail-based development has been covered above. In actual business application development, it is also helpful to understand the following two points: Referencing the database schema Integrated management of design documents and implementation code (Important) Reading the Database Schema In business application development, requirements definition and functional design are often based on the schema information of entities. There are two main ways to allow the system to read schema information: Dynamically read the schema from a development/test DB server using MCP or similar tools. Include a file containing schema information within the project and read from it. A development/test database can be prepared, and schema information can be read via the MCP server or Copilot Extensions. For SQL Server or Azure SQL Database, an MCP Server is available, but its setup can be cumbersome. Therefore, using Copilot Extensions is often easier and recommended. This approach is often seen online, but it is not recommended for the following reasons: Setting up MCP Server or Copilot Extensions can be cumbersome (installation, connection string management, etc.) It is time-consuming (the LLM needs schema information → reads the schema → writes code based on it) Connecting to a DB server via MCP or similar tools is useful for scenarios such as “querying a database in natural language” for non-engineers performing data analysis. However, if the goal is simply to obtain the schema information of entities needed for business application development, the method described below is much simpler. Storing Schema Information Within the Project Place a file containing the schema information inside the project. Any of the following formats is recommended. Write custom instructions so that development refers to this file: DDL (full CREATE DATABASE scripts) O/R mapper files (e.g., Entity Framework context files) Text files documenting schema information, etc. DDL files are difficult for humans to read, but AI (LLMs) can easily read and accurately understand them. In .NET + SQL development, it is recommended to include both the DDL and EF O/R mapper files. Additionally, if you include links to these files in your architecture documents and chat mode instructions, the LLM can generate code while understanding the schema with high accuracy. Integrated Management of Design Documents and Implementation Code Disciplined guardrail-based development with LLMs has made it practical to synchronize and manage design documents and implementation code together—something that was traditionally very difficult. In long-standing systems, it is common for old design documents to become largely useless. During maintenance, code changes are often prioritized. As a result, updating and maintaining design documents tends to be neglected, leading to a significant divergence between design documents and the actual code. For these reasons, the following have been considered best practices (though often not followed in reality): Limit requirements and external design documents to the minimum necessary. Do not create internal design documents; instead, document within the code itself. Always update design documents before making changes to the implementation code. When using LLMs, guardrail-based development makes it easier to enforce a “write the documentation first” workflow. Following the flow of defining specifications, updating the documents, and then writing code also helps the LLM generate appropriate code more reliably. Even if code is written first, LLM-assisted code analysis can significantly reduce the effort required to update the documentation afterward. However, the following points should be noted when doing this: Create and manage design documents as text files, not Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Use text-based technologies like Mermaid for diagrams. Clearly define how design documents correspond to the code. The last point is especially important. It is crucial to align the structure of requirements and design documents with the structure of the implementation code. For example: Place design documents directly alongside the implementation code. Align folder structures, e.g., /doc and /src. Information about grouping methods and folder mapping should be explicitly included in the custom instructions. Conclusion of Disciplined Guardrail-Based Development with GHC Formalizing and Applying Guardrails Define the development flow and architecture documents in .github/copilot-instructions.md using split references. Prepare .github/chatmodes/* for each development phase, enforcing “ask the AI if anything is unclear.” Synchronization of Documents and Implementation Code Update docs first → use the diff as the basis for implementation (Doc-first). Keep docs in text format (Markdown/Mermaid). Fix folder correspondence between /docs and /src. Handling Schemas Store DDL/O-R mapper files (e.g., EF) in the repository and have the LLM reference them. Minimize dynamic DB connections, prioritizing speed, reproducibility, and security. This disciplined guardrail-based development technique is an AI-assisted approach that significantly improves the quality, maintainability, and team efficiency of enterprise business application development. Adapt it appropriately to each project to maximize productivity in application development.
Unlocking Application Modernisation with GitHub Copilot
AI-driven modernisation is unlocking new opportunities you may not have even considered yet. It's also allowing organisations to re-evaluate previously discarded modernisation attempts that were considered too hard, complex or simply didn't have the skills or time to do. During Microsoft Build 2025, we were introduced to the concept of Agentic AI modernisation and this post from Ikenna Okeke does a great job of summarising the topic - Reimagining App Modernisation for the Era of AI | Microsoft Community Hub. This blog post however, explores the modernisation opportunities that you may not even have thought of yet, the business benefits, how to start preparing your organisation, empowering your teams, and identifying where GitHub Copilot can help. I’ve spent the last 8 months working with customers exploring usage of GitHub Copilot, and want to share what my team members and I have discovered in terms of new opportunities to modernise, transform your applications, bringing some fun back into those migrations! Let’s delve into how GitHub Copilot is helping teams update old systems, move processes to the cloud, and achieve results faster than ever before. Background: The Modernisation Challenge (Then vs Now) Modernising legacy software has always been hard. In the past, teams faced steep challenges: brittle codebases full of technical debt, outdated languages (think decades-old COBOL or VB6), sparse documentation, and original developers long gone. Integrating old systems with modern cloud services often requiring specialised skills that were in short supply – for example, check out this fantastic post from Arvi LiVigni (@arilivigni ) which talks about migrating from COBOL “the number of developers who can read and write COBOL isn’t what it used to be,” making those systems much harder to update". Common pain points included compatibility issues, data migrations, high costs, security vulnerabilities, and the constant risk that any change could break critical business functions. It’s no wonder many modernisation projects stalled or were “put off” due to their complexity and risk. So, what’s different now (circa 2025) compared to two years ago? In a word: Intelligent AI assistance. Tools like GitHub Copilot have emerged as AI pair programmers that dramatically lower the barriers to modernisation. Arvi’s post talks about how only a couple of years ago, developers had to comb through documentation and Stack Overflow for clues when deciphering old code or upgrading frameworks. Today, GitHub Copilot can act like an expert co-developer inside your IDE, ready to explain mysterious code, suggest updates, and even rewrite legacy code in modern languages. This means less time fighting old code and more time implementing improvements. As Arvi says “nine times out of 10 it gives me the right answer… That speed – and not having to break out of my flow – is really what’s so impactful.” In short, AI coding assistants have evolved from novel experiments to indispensable tools, reimagining how we approach software updates and cloud adoption. I’d also add from my own experience – the models we were using 12 months ago have already been superseded by far superior models with ability to ingest larger context and tackle even further complexity. It's easier to experiment, and fail, bringing more robust outcomes – with such speed to create those proof of concepts, experimentation and failing faster, this has also unlocked the ability to test out multiple hypothesis’ and get you to the most confident outcome in a much shorter space of time. Modernisation is easier now because AI reduces the heavy lifting. Instead of reading the 10,000-line legacy program alone, a developer can ask Copilot to explain what the code does or even propose a refactored version. Rather than manually researching how to replace an outdated library, they can get instant recommendations for modern equivalents. These advancements mean that tasks which once took weeks or months can now be done in days or hours – with more confidence and less drudgery - more fun! The following sections will dive into specific opportunities unlocked by GitHub Copilot across the modernisation journey which you may not even have thought of. Modernisation Opportunities Unlocked by Copilot Modernising an application isn’t just about updating code – it involves bringing everyone and everything up to speed with cloud-era practices. Below are several scenarios and how GitHub Copilot adds value, with the specific benefits highlighted: 1. AI-Assisted Legacy Code Refactoring and Upgrades Instant Code Comprehension: GitHub Copilot can explain complex legacy code in plain English, helping developers quickly understand decades-old logic without scouring scarce documentation. For example, you can highlight a cryptic COBOL or C++ function and ask Copilot to describe what it does – an invaluable first step before making any changes. This saves hours and reduces errors when starting a modernisation effort. Automated Refactoring Suggestions: The AI suggests modern replacements for outdated patterns and APIs, and can even translate code between languages. For instance, Copilot can help convert a COBOL program into JavaScript or C# by recognising equivalent constructs. It also uses transformation tools (like OpenRewrite for Java/.NET) to systematically apply code updates – e.g. replacing all legacy HTTP calls with a modern library in one sweep. Developers remain in control, but GitHub Copilot handles the tedious bulk edits. Bulk Code Upgrades with AI: GitHub Copilot’s App Modernisation capabilities can analyse an entire codebase and generate a detailed upgrade plan, then execute many of the code changes automatically. It can upgrade framework versions (say from .NET Framework 4.x to .NET 6, or Java 8 to Java 17) by applying known fix patterns and even fixing compilation errors after the upgrade. Teams can finally tackle those hundreds of thousand-line enterprise applications – a task that could take multiple years with GitHub Copilot handling the repetitive changes. Technical Debt Reduction: By cleaning up old code and enforcing modern best practices, GitHub Copilot helps chip away at years of technical debt. The modernised codebase is more maintainable and stable, which lowers the long-term risk hanging over critical business systems. Notably, the tool can even scan for known security vulnerabilities during refactoring as it updates your code. In short, each legacy component refreshed with GitHub Copilot comes out safer and easier to work on, instead of remaining a brittle black box. 2. Accelerating Cloud Migration and Azure Modernisation Guided Azure Migration Planning: GitHub Copilot can assess a legacy application’s cloud readiness and recommend target Azure services for each component. For instance, it might suggest migrating an on-premises database to Azure SQL, moving file storage to Azure Blob Storage, and converting background jobs to Azure Functions. This provides a clear blueprint to confidently move an app from servers to Azure PaaS. One-Click Cloud Transformations: GitHub Copilot comes with predefined migration tasksthat automate the code changes required for cloud adoption. With one click, you can have the AI apply dozens of modifications across your codebase. For example: File storage: Replace local file read/writes with Azure Blob Storage SDK calls. Email/Comms: Swap out SMTP email code for Azure Communication Services or SendGrid. Identity: Migrate authentication from Windows AD to Azure AD (Entra ID) libraries. Configuration: Remove hard-coded configurations and use Azure App Configuration or Key Vault for secrets. GitHub Copilot performs these transformations consistently, following best practices (like using connection strings from Azure settings). After applying the changes, it even fixes any compile errors automatically, so you’re not left with broken builds. What used to require reading countless Azure migration guides is now handled in minutes. Automated Validation & Deployment: Modernisation doesn’t stop at code changes. GitHub Copilot can also generate unit tests to validate that the application still behaves correctly after the migration. It helps ensure that your modernised, cloud-ready app passes all its checks before going live. When you’re ready to deploy, GitHub Copilot can produce the necessary Infrastructure-as-Code templates (e.g. Azure Resource Manager Bicep files or Terraform configs) and even set up CI/CD pipeline scripts for you. In other words, the AI can configure the Azure environment and deployment process end-to-end. This dramatically reduces manual effort and error, getting your app to the cloud faster and with greater confidence. Integrations: GitHub Copilot also helps tackle larger migration scenarios that were previously considered too complex. For example, many enterprises want to retire expensive proprietary integration platforms like MuleSoft or Apigee and use Azure-native services instead, but rewriting hundreds of integration workflows was daunting. Now, GitHub Copilot can assist in translating those workflows: for instance, converting an Apigee API proxy into an Azure API Management policy, or a MuleSoft integration into an Azure Logic App. Multi-Cloud Migrations: if you plan to consolidate from other clouds into Azure, GitHub Copilot can suggest equivalent Azure services and SDK calls to replace AWS or GCP-specific code. These AI-assisted conversions significantly cut down the time needed to reimplement functionality on Azure. The business impact can be substantial. By lowering the effort of such migrations, GitHub Copilot makes it feasible to pursue opportunities that deliver big cost savings and simplification. 3. Boosting Developer Productivity and Quality Instant Unit Tests (TDD Made Easy): Writing tests for old code can be tedious, but GitHub Copilot can generate unit test cases on the fly. Developers can highlight an existing function and ask Copilot to create tests; it will produce meaningful test methods covering typical and edge scenarios. This makes it practical to apply test-driven development practices even to legacy systems – you can quickly build a safety net of tests before refactoring. By catching bugs early through these AI-generated tests, teams gain confidence to modernise code without breaking things. It essentially injects quality into the process from the start, which is crucial for successful modernisation. DevOps Automation: GitHub Copilot helps modernise your build and deployment process as well. It can draft CI/CD pipeline configurations, Dockerfiles, Kubernetes manifests, and other DevOps scripts by leveraging its knowledge of common patterns. For example, when setting up a GitHub Actions workflow to deploy your app, GitHub Copilot will autocomplete significant parts (like build steps, test runs, deployment jobs) based on the project structure. This not only saves time but also ensures best practices (proper caching, dependency installation, etc.) are followed by default. Microsoft even provides an extension where you can describe your Azure infrastructure needs in plain language and have GitHub Copilot generate the corresponding templates and pipeline YAML. By automating these pieces, teams can move to cloud-based, automated deployments much faster. Behaviour-Driven Development Support: Teams practicing BDD write human-readable scenarios (e.g. using Gherkin syntax) describing application behaviour. GitHub Copilot’s AI is adept at interpreting such descriptions and suggesting step definition code or test implementations to match. For instance, given a scenario “When a user with no items checks out, then an error message is shown,” GitHub Copilot can draft the code for that condition or the test steps required. This helps bridge the gap between non-technical specifications and actual code. It makes BDD more efficient and accessible, because even if team members aren’t strong coders, the AI can translate their intent into working code that developers can refine. Quality and Consistency: By using AI to handle boilerplate and repetitive tasks, developers can focus more on high-value improvements. GitHub Copilot’s suggestions are based on a vast corpus of code, which often means it surfaces well-structured, idiomatic patterns. Starting from these suggestions, developers are less likely to introduce errors or reinvent the wheel, which leads to more consistent code quality across the project. The AI also often reminds you of edge cases (for example, suggesting input validation or error handling code that might be missed), contributing to a more robust application. In practice, many teams find that adopting GitHub Copilot results in fewer bugs and quicker code reviews, as the code is cleaner on the first pass. It’s like having an extra set of eyes on every pull request, ensuring standards are met. Business Benefits of AI-Powered Modernisation Bringing together the technical advantages above, what’s the payoff for the business and stakeholders? Modernising with GitHub Copilot can yield multiple tangible and intangible benefits: Accelerated Time-to-Market: Modernisation projects that might have taken a year can potentially be completed in a few months, or an upgrade that took weeks can be done in days. This speed means you can deliver new features to customers sooner and respond faster to market changes. It also reduces downtime or disruption since migrations happen more swiftly. Cost Savings: By automating repetitive work and reducing the effort required from highly paid senior engineers, GitHub Copilot can trim development costs. Faster project completion also means lower overall project cost. Additionally, running modernised apps on cloud infrastructure (with updated code) often lowers operational costs due to more efficient resource usage and easier maintenance. There’s also an opportunity cost benefit: developers freed up by Copilot can work on other value-adding projects in parallel. Improved Quality & Reliability: GitHub Copilot’s contributions to testing, bug-fixing, and even security (like patching known vulnerabilities during upgrades) result in more robust applications. Modernised systems have fewer outages and security incidents than shaky legacy ones. Stakeholders will appreciate that with GitHub Copilot, modernisation doesn’t mean “trading one set of bugs for another” – instead, you can increase quality as you modernise (GitHub’s research noted higher code quality when using Copilot, as developers are less likely to introduce errors or skip tests). Business Agility: A modernised application (especially one refactored for cloud) is typically more scalable and adaptable. New integrations or features can be added much faster once the platform is up-to-date. GitHub Copilot helps clear the modernisation hurdle, after which the business can innovate on a solid, flexible foundation (for example, once a monolith is broken into microservices or moved to Azure PaaS, you can iterate on it much faster in the future). AI-assisted modernisation thus unlocks future opportunities (like easier expansion, integrations, AI features, etc.) that were impractical on the legacy stack. Employee Satisfaction and Innovation: Developer happiness is a subtle but important benefit. When tedious work is handled by AI, developers can spend more time on creative tasks – designing new features, improving user experience, exploring new technologies. This can foster a culture of innovation. Moreover, being seen as a company that leverages modern tools (like AI Co-pilots) helps attract and retain top tech talent. Teams that successfully modernise critical systems with Copilot will gain confidence to tackle other ambitious projects, creating a positive feedback loop of improvement. To sum up, GitHub Copilot acts as a force-multiplier for application modernisation. It enables organisations to do more with less: convert legacy “boat anchors” into modern, cloud-enabled assets rapidly, while improving quality and developer morale. This aligns IT goals with business goals – faster delivery, greater efficiency, and readiness for the future. Call to Action: Embrace the Future of Modernisation GitHub Copilot has proven to be a catalyst for transforming how we approach legacy systems and cloud adoption. If you’re excited about the possibilities, here are next steps and what to watch for: Start Experimenting: If you haven’t already, try GitHub Copilot on a sample of your code. Use Copilot or Copilot Chat to explain a piece of old code or generate a unit test. Seeing it in action on your own project can build confidence and spark ideas for where to apply it. Identify a Pilot Project: Look at your application portfolio for a candidate that’s ripe for modernisation – maybe a small legacy service that could be moved to Azure, or a module that needs a refactor. Use GitHub Copilot to assess and estimate the effort. Often, you’ll find tasks once deemed “too hard” might now be feasible. Early successes will help win support for larger initiatives. Stay Tuned for Our Upcoming Blog Series: This post is just the beginning. In forthcoming posts, we’ll dive deeper into: Setting Up Your Organisation for Copilot Adoption: Practical tips on preparing your enterprise environment – from licensing and security considerations to training programs. We’ll discuss best practices (like running internal awareness campaigns, defining success metrics, and creating Copilot champions in your teams) to ensure a smooth rollout. Empowering Your Colleagues: How to foster a culture that embraces AI assistance. This includes enabling continuous learning, sharing prompt techniques and knowledge bases, and addressing any scepticism. We’ll cover strategies to support developers in using Copilot effectively, so that everyone from new hires to veteran engineers can amplify their productivity. Identifying High-Impact Modernisation Areas: Guidance on spotting where GitHub Copilot can add the most value. We’ll look at different domains – code, cloud, tests, data – and how to evaluate opportunities (for example, using telemetry or feedback to find repetitive tasks suited for AI, or legacy components with high ROI if modernised). Engage and Share: As you start leveraging Copilot for modernisation, share your experiences and results. Success stories (even small wins like “GitHub Copilot helped reduce our code review times” or “we migrated a component to Azure in 1 sprint”) can build momentum within your organisation and the broader community. We invite you to discuss and ask questions in the comments or in our tech community forums. Take a look at the new App Modernisation Guidance—a comprehensive, step-by-step playbook designed to help organisations: Understand what to modernise and why Migrate and rebuild apps with AI-first design Continuously optimise with built-in governance and observability Modernisation is a journey, and AI is the new compass and co-pilot to guide the way. By embracing tools like GitHub Copilot, you position your organisation to break through modernisation barriers that once seemed insurmountable. The result is not just updated software, but a more agile, cloud-ready business and a happier, more productive development team. Now is the time to take that step. Empower your team with Copilot, and unlock the full potential of your applications and your developers. Stay tuned for more insights in our next posts, and let’s modernise what’s possible together!Has anyone here integrated JIRA with Azure DevOps
We are currently using Azure Pipelines for our deployment process and Azure Boards to track issues and tickets. However, our company recently decided to move the ticketing system to JIRA, and I have been tasked with integrating JIRA with Azure DevOps. If you have done something similar, I will appreciate any guidance, best practices, or things to watch out for.How to deploy n8n on Azure App Service and leverage the benefits provided by Azure.
Lately, n8n has been gaining serious traction in the automation world—and it’s easy to see why. With its open-source core, visual workflow builder, and endless integration capabilities, it has become a favorite for developers and tech teams looking to automate processes without being locked into a single vendor. Given all the buzz, I thought it would be the perfect time to share a practical way to run n8n on Microsoft Azure using App Service. Why? Because Azure offers a solid, scalable, and secure platform that makes deployment easy, while still giving you full control over your container and configurations. Whether you're building a quick demo or setting up a production-ready instance, Azure App Service brings a lot of advantages to the table—like simplified scaling, integrated monitoring, built-in security features, and seamless CI/CD support. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to get your own n8n instance up and running on Azure—from creating the resource group to setting up environment variables and deploying the container. If you're into low-code automation and cloud-native solutions, this is a great way to combine both worlds. The first step is to create our Resource Group (RG); in my case, I will name it "n8n-rg". Now we proceed to create the App Service. At this point, it's important to select the appropriate configuration depending on your needs—for example, whether or not you want to include a database. If you choose to include one, Azure will handle the connections for you, and you can select from various types. In my case, I will proceed without a database. Proceed to configure the instance details. First, select the instance name, the 'Publish' option, and the 'Operating System'. In this case, it is important to choose 'Publish: Container', set the operating system to Linux, and most importantly select the region closest to you or your clients. Service Plan configuration. Here, you should select the plan based on your specific needs. Keep in mind that we are using a PaaS offering, which means that underlying compute resources like CPU and RAM are still being utilized. Depending on the expected workload, you can choose the most appropriate plan. Secondly—and very importantly—consider the features offered by each tier, such as redundancy, backup, autoscaling, custom domains, etc. In my case, I will use the Basic B1 plan. In the Database section, we do not select any option. Remember that this will depend on your specific requirements. In the Container section, under 'Image Source', select 'Other container registries'. For production environments, I recommend using Azure Container Registry (ACR) and pulling the n8n image from there. Now we will configure the Docker Hub options. This step is related to the previous one, as the available options vary depending on the image source. In our case, we will use the public n8n image from Docker Hub, so we select 'Public' and proceed to fill in the required fields: the first being the server, and the second the image name. This step is very important—use the exact same values to avoid issues. In the Networking section, we will select the values as shown in the image. This configuration will depend on your specific use case—particularly whether to enable Virtual Network (VNet) integration or not. VNet integration is typically used when the App Service needs to securely communicate with private resources (such as databases, APIs, or services) that reside within an Azure Virtual Network. Since this is a demo environment, we will leave the default settings without enabling VNet integration. In the 'Monitoring and Security' section, it is essential to enable these features to ensure traceability, observability, and additional security layers. This is considered a minimum requirement in production environments. At the very least, make sure to enable Application Insights by selecting 'Yes'. Finally, click on 'Create' and wait for the deployment process to complete. Now we will 'stop' our Web App, as we need to make some preliminary modifications. To do this, go to the main overview page of the Web App and click on 'Stop'. In the same Web App overview page, navigate through the left-hand panel to the 'Settings' section. Once there, click on it and select 'Environment Variables'. Environment variables are key-value pairs used to configure the behavior of your application without changing the source code. In the case of n8n, they are essential for defining authentication, webhook behavior, port configuration, timezone settings, and more. Environment variables within Azure specifically in Web Apps function the same way as they do outside of Azure. They allow you to configure your application's behavior without modifying the source code. In this case, we will add the following variables required for n8n to operate properly. Note: The variable APP_SERVICE_STORAGE should only be modified by setting it to true. Once the environment variables have been added, proceed to save them by clicking 'Apply' and confirming the changes. A confirmation dialog will appear to finalize the operation. Restart the Web App. This second startup may take longer than usual, typically around 5 to 7 minutes, as the environment initializes with the new configuration. Now, as we can see, the application has loaded successfully, and we can start using our own n8n server hosted on Azure. As you can observe, it references the host configured in the App Service. I hope you found this guide helpful and that it serves as a useful resource for deploying n8n on Azure App Service. If you have any questions or need further clarification, feel free to reach out—I'd be happy to help.
