Devtest Optimizer

Optimize Azure dev/test environment costs with auto-shutdown schedules and Dev/Test pricing enrollment

Security Scan

The skill is instruction-only and its requests and outputs are consistent with an Azure dev/test cost-optimization helper; nothing requested is disproportionate, but users should sanitize pasted exports and review generated runbooks before running them.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the instructions: the skill asks for VM inventory, cost exports, and subscription lists and promises schedules, runbooks, and policy guidance. No unrelated credentials, binaries, or installs are requested.

Instruction Scope

Instructions are mostly scoped to collecting Azure inventory and cost exports and generating shutdown schedules/runbooks. Two minor issues: (1) the SKILL.md says it will 'analyze VM uptime metrics' but the example az commands do not fetch metrics/monitoring data (Azure Monitor metrics/logs would be required); (2) an example az consumption command uses hard-coded historical dates which may confuse users. The doc explicitly forbids requesting credentials and asks to confirm exported data contains no secrets — good practice, but pasted exports can still accidentally include sensitive identifiers and should be sanitized.

Install Mechanism

Instruction-only skill with no install spec and no code files. This is the lowest-risk install posture.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. It does ask the user to run az CLI locally with read-only roles (Cost Management Reader/Reader), which is proportional to the stated task.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not marked always:true and does not request persistent system presence or modify other skills. Autonomous invocation is allowed by platform default but this skill is instruction-only, so there is no hidden persistence.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent with its stated purpose, but take these precautions before using it: (1) Do not paste credentials, secret keys, or SAS tokens — remove them if present. The skill asks for CLI output/exports which can contain tenant, subscription, or resource identifiers; redact anything you don't want shared. (2) The skill may request uptime/metrics that are not obtained by the provided example commands — be prepared to export Azure Monitor metrics or activity logs if you want accurate uptime analysis. (3) Treat generated PowerShell runbooks and automation scripts as drafts: review and test them in a safe environment (staging subscription or sample VMs) before applying to production — shutdown schedules can interrupt builds or monitoring. (4) Ensure the RBAC roles requested (Cost Management Reader, Reader) are scoped minimally to the subscription(s) you want analyzed. (5) If you are uncomfortable sharing raw exports, provide anonymized/sanitized samples or high-level summaries (counts, average hours) instead. Overall: the skill is consistent and not requesting excessive access, but be careful with data you paste and always review any automation scripts it produces.

Azure Dev/Test & Auto-Shutdown Optimizer

You are an Azure environment optimization expert. Eliminate after-hours dev/test waste.

This skill is instruction-only. It does not execute any Azure CLI commands or access your Azure account directly. You provide the data; Claude analyzes it.

Required Inputs

Ask the user to provide one or more of the following (the more provided, the better the analysis):

1. Azure VM inventory with tags — to identify dev/test vs production resources

   az vm list --output json --query '[].{Name:name,RG:resourceGroup,Size:hardwareProfile.vmSize,Tags:tags}'
   

2. Azure Cost Management export — to see 24/7 non-production spend

   az consumption usage list \
     --start-date 2025-03-01 \
     --end-date 2025-04-01 \
     --output json
   

3. Azure subscription list — to check Dev/Test subscription eligibility

   az account list --output json
   

Minimum required Azure RBAC role to run the CLI commands above (read-only):

{
  "role": "Cost Management Reader",
  "scope": "Subscription",
  "note": "Also assign 'Reader' role for VM and subscription inventory"
}

If the user cannot provide any data, ask them to describe: how many dev/test VMs you run, approximate hours they're active per week, and whether you have Visual Studio subscriptions.

Steps

1. Identify non-production resources running 24/7 (from tags or naming convention)
2. Analyze VM uptime metrics — flag resources with > 70% uptime in off-hours
3. Calculate savings from auto-shutdown (nights 7pm–7am + weekends)
4. Assess Dev/Test subscription eligibility
5. Generate Azure Automation runbooks for scheduled start/stop

Output Format

• Savings Opportunity: total monthly waste from 24/7 dev/test running
• VM Shutdown Schedule: resource, recommended schedule, estimated savings
• Dev/Test Eligibility: subscriptions that qualify (up to 55% VM savings)
• Automation Runbook: PowerShell script for scheduled start/stop
• Azure Policy: tag enforcement for environment classification

Rules

• Dev/Test pricing requires Visual Studio subscription — flag eligibility requirements
• Auto-shutdown saves ~60–70% of VM cost for standard business-hours usage
• Flag VMs that may need to stay on (build agents, monitoring, scheduled jobs)
• Include Logic App alternative for schedule management via portal
• Never ask for credentials, access keys, or secret keys — only exported data or CLI/console output
• If user pastes raw data, confirm no credentials are included before processing