guidelines

Collection of framework-to-framework migration rules and transformation patterns (e.g., Struts→Spring MVC, JSP→Thymeleaf, EJB→Spring Boot). Triggers: "check…

npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/github-copilot-modernization --skill guidelines

User Input

You MUST consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

Purpose

Guidelines are curated, domain-specific knowledge bases providing:

  • Migration patterns: Technology-to-technology recipes
  • Transformation rules: Concrete mappings and conversion templates
  • Checklists: Step-by-step validation criteria

Directory Structure

skills/guidelines/
├── SKILL.md                    # This file - lookup mechanism
├── struts-to-spring/           # Struts 2 → Spring Boot 3.x
│   └── SKILL.md
└── {domain}/                   # Future guideline domains
    └── SKILL.md

Lookup Mechanism

When other skills need guideline lookup:

  1. Context Analysis: Extract technology keywords from spec/plan/code.
  2. Guideline Discovery: Search skills/guidelines/ subdirectories for matching patterns.
  3. Application: Load matching SKILL.md, extract applicable rules for current phase.

Integration Points

Workflow StepGuideline Application
SpecificationDomain constraints, scope boundaries
PlanningTechnology decisions, architecture patterns
TasksTransformation tasks, file-by-file changes
ImplementationCode transformation rules, test patterns
CompletenessValidation checklists, coverage criteria

Creating New Guidelines

  1. Create directory: skills/guidelines/{domain}/
  2. Create SKILL.md with:
    • Metadata header (name, description, triggers)
    • Rules organized by migration step
    • Concrete transformation examples (before/after)
    • Validation checklist

Documenting Applied Guidelines

When guidelines are applied, document in the relevant artifact:

## Applied Guidelines
- **Guideline**: struts-to-spring
- **Rules Used**: convert-action-to-controller, convert-validation
- **Reference**: skills/guidelines/struts-to-spring/SKILL.md

More skills from microsoft

oss-growth
microsoft
OSS growth hacker persona
agent-framework-azure-ai-py
microsoft
Build Azure AI Foundry agents using the Microsoft Agent Framework Python SDK (agent-framework-azure-ai). Use when creating persistent agents with AzureAIAgentsProvider, using hosted tools (code interpreter, file search, web search), integrating MCP servers, managing conversation threads, or implementing streaming responses. Covers function tools, structured outputs, and multi-tool agents.
development
airunway-aks-setup
microsoft
Set up AI Runway on AKS — from bare cluster to running model. Covers cluster verification, controller install, GPU assessment, provider setup, and first deployment. WHEN: "setup AI Runway", "onboard AKS cluster", "install AI Runway", "airunway setup", "deploy model to AKS", "GPU inference on AKS", "KAITO setup on AKS", "run LLM on AKS", "vLLM on AKS", "set up model serving on AKS", "AI Runway controller".
devops
appinsights-instrumentation
microsoft
Guidance for instrumenting webapps with Azure Application Insights. Provides telemetry patterns, SDK setup, and configuration references. WHEN: how to instrument app, App Insights SDK, telemetry patterns, what is App Insights, Application Insights guidance, instrumentation examples, APM best practices.
devops
applicationinsights-web-ts
microsoft
Instrument browser/web apps with the Application Insights JavaScript SDK (@microsoft/applicationinsights-web). Use for Real User Monitoring (RUM) — page views, clicks, AJAX/fetch dependencies, exceptions, custom events, and browser-side GenAI agent traces correlated to backend OpenTelemetry traces. Covers SDK Loader Script and npm setup, framework extensions (React, React Native, Angular), Click Analytics, telemetry initializers, and OTel GenAI semantic conventions for agent/tool/model spans emitted from the browser.
devops
azure-ai-anomalydetector-java
microsoft
Build anomaly detection applications with Azure AI Anomaly Detector SDK for Java. Use when implementing univariate/multivariate anomaly detection, time-series analysis, or AI-powered monitoring.
development
azure-ai-language-conversations-py
microsoft
Implement Conversational Language Understanding (CLU) using the azure-ai-language-conversations Python SDK. Use when working with ConversationAnalysisClient to analyze conversation intent and entities, building NLP features, or integrating language understanding into applications.
development
azure-ai-ml-py
microsoft
Azure Machine Learning SDK v2 for Python. Use for ML workspaces, jobs, models, datasets, compute, and pipelines. Triggers: "azure-ai-ml", "MLClient", "workspace", "model registry", "training jobs", "datasets".
development