Read this before running azldev or editing azldev config, and whenever working in a repo that contains an azldev.toml file; do not guess azldev's commands or config. Explains how to use the azldev CLI to build a distro from TOML config, including the core concepts (components, overlays, distros, rendered specs, locks), running azldev (repo root or -C, plus the -q and -O json flags), the common commands, and where to go for each workflow. Triggers include azldev, comp build, comp render, comp update, build a component, add a component, distro config.
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/azurelinux --skill azldev
azldev builds a Linux distribution from TOML configuration. It imports RPM specs
from an upstream distro and customizes them with an overlay system — no spec
forking. Components render to specs and sidecar build inputs, then build into RPMs;
images assemble RPMs into bootable artifacts.
azldev.toml lives), or pass -C <dir>.-q (quiet) and -O json (machine-readableoutput). They work on every command.
azldev.toml includes the distro and projectconfig, which include the component files (**/*.comp.toml) into one namespace.
then builds into one or more RPMs. Its spec source is upstream (default), a pinned
upstream distro/version, or a local spec.
you customize upstream without forking it.
*.distro.toml) with upstream URIs, releaseversions, and build inputs.
.spec after overlays; a build input, neverhand-edited.
fingerprint.
Top-level commands in this build:
azldev completion — Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shellazldev component — Manage componentsazldev config — Manage tool configurationazldev docs — Documentation commandsazldev image — Manage Azure Linux imagesazldev package — Manage binary package configurationazldev project — Manage Azure Linux projectsazldev repo — Inspect and manage RPM repositoriesazldev version — Print the CLI versionEveryday tasks (add -q -O json when scripting):
| Task | Command |
| --- | --- |
| List components | azldev comp list -a |
| Inspect one component | azldev comp list -p <name> |
| Add a component | azldev comp add |
| Build a component | azldev comp build -p <name> |
| Render specs | azldev comp render -p <name> (or -a) |
| Refresh a lock | azldev comp update -p <name> |
| List / build images | azldev image list / azldev image build |
comp is an alias for component. Always confirm current syntax with
azldev <command> --help.
The hidden advanced group (adv) contains specialist integrations such as MCP and
mock helpers; it is intentionally omitted from normal help.
azldev-add-component skill.azldev-comp-toml skill.azldev-overlays skill.azldev-build-component skill.azldev-image skill.azldev-update-component skill.azldev-remove-component skill.azldev-mock skill.produced by azldev. Change the source config and re-render.
azldev comp update before opening a PR — the lock fingerprint coversthe whole component config, and lock / rendered-spec CI checks run on committed state.
description explaining why the change is needed.Generated by azldev docs agent; do not hand-edit. Generated for azldev version v0.1.0.
Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes. Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes of automated generation.
Use when the user asks to run Codex CLI (codex exec, codex resume) or references OpenAI Codex for code analysis, refactoring, or automated editing. Uses GPT-5.2 by default for state-of-the-art software engineering.
Implement memory-safe programming with RAII, ownership, smart pointers, and resource management across Rust, C++, and C. Use when writing safe systems code, managing resources, or preventing memory bugs.
Python/HTSlib workflows for genomic files. Use when reading, querying, filtering, or writing SAM/BAM/CRAM, VCF/BCF, FASTA/FASTQ, or tabix data with pysam, including pileup, coverage, indexing, and CRAM references.
Evaluate scientific claims and evidence quality. Use for assessing experimental design validity, identifying biases and confounders, applying evidence grading frameworks (GRADE, Cochrane Risk of Bias), or teaching critical analysis. Best for understanding evidence quality, identifying flaws. For formal peer review writing use peer-review.
Use when a user asks to debug or fix failing GitHub PR checks that run in GitHub Actions; use `gh` to inspect checks and logs, summarize failure context, draft a fix plan, and implement only after explicit approval. Treat external providers (for example Buildkite) as out of scope and report only the details URL.
Documentation generation workflow covering API docs, architecture docs, README files, code comments, and technical writing.
Use when the user wants to translate a repository README, make a repo multilingual, localize docs, add a language switcher, internationalize the README, or update localized README variants in a GitHub-style repository.
Take microsoft/azldev from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.