/azure-container-instances

name: azure-container-instances
description: Expert knowledge for Azure Container Instances development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and deployment. Use when configuring ACI networking/IPs, standby pools, Spot containers, GitHub Actions deploys, or secure ACR pulls, and other Azure Container Instances related development tasks. Not for Azure Container Apps (use azure-container-apps), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (use azure-kubernetes-service), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines), Azure Batch (use azure-batch).
compatibility: Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
metadata:
  generated_at: "2026-11-08"
  generator: "docs2skills/1.0.0"

Azure Container Instances Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Container Instances. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and deployment. It combines local quick-reference content with remote documentation fetching capabilities.

How to Use This Skill

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: Use the **Category Index** below to locate relevant sections. For categories with line ranges (e.g., `L35-L120`), use `read_file` with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., `[security.md](security.md)`), use `read_file` on the linked reference file

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: If `metadata.generated_at` is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If `mcp_microsoftdocs` tools are not available, suggest the user install it: [Installation Guide](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/mcp/blob/main/README.md)

This skill requires **network access** to fetch documentation content:

• **Preferred**: Use `mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill`. Returns Markdown.
• **Fallback**: Use `fetch_webpage` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown`. Returns Markdown.

Category Index

| Category | Lines | Description | |----------|-------|-------------| | Troubleshooting | L36-L42 | Diagnosing ACI issues using logs/events, understanding provisioning/runtime states, and troubleshooting deployment failures and container startup problems. | | Best Practices | L43-L47 | Guidance on designing and running ACI workloads reliably: resource sizing, networking, storage, security, scaling, image management, and operational best practices. | | Decision Making | L48-L53 | Guidance on cost-optimizing ACI with Spot containers and using prediction-based sizing to configure and right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools. | | Architecture & Design Patterns | L54-L60 | Design patterns for giving ACI containers static inbound/outbound IPs using Application Gateway, firewalls, and NAT Gateway for controlled, predictable network egress/ingress. | | Limits & Quotas | L61-L69 | ACI CPU/memory limits, quotas, standby pool caps, VNet constraints, and FAQs on scaling, resource behavior, and how to check or stay within these limits. | | Security | L70-L84 | Securing Azure Container Instances: TLS/HTTPS setup, secrets and CMK encryption, managed identities/RBAC, secure ACR pulls, DNS reuse protection, and Azure Policy for compliance. | | Configuration | L85-L116 | Configuring ACI behavior: DNS, env vars, commands/entrypoints, probes, restart policies, volumes, GPUs, standby pools, logging, and monitoring/log analytics setup. | | Deployment | L117-L120 | Using GitHub Actions to build, push, and automatically deploy container images to Azure Container Instances, including workflow YAML setup and authentication configuration. |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Retrieve Azure Container Instances logs and events for troubleshooting | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-get-logs | | Troubleshoot Azure Container Instances deployment issues | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-troubleshooting | | Interpret Azure Container Instances provisioning and runtime states | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-state |

Best Practices

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Apply Azure Container Instances workload best practices | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-best-practices-and-considerations |

Decision Making

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Decide when to use ACI Spot containers for cost savings | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-spot-containers-overview | | Use prediction results to right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-prediction-results |

Architecture & Design Patterns

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Expose Azure Container Instances via Application Gateway static IP | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-application-gateway | | Configure static outbound IP for Azure Container Instances with firewall | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-egress-ip-address | | Configure Azure Container Instances egress via NAT Gateway | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-nat-gateway |

Limits & Quotas

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Use Big Containers with ACI vCPU and memory limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/big-containers | | Azure Container Instances FAQs on limits and behavior | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-faq | | Check Azure Container Instances resource and quota limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/conta