microsoft-code-reference

Synced v1.1.0 License: MIT Source: github/awesome-copilot/skills/microsoft-code-reference Commit: 4742f26 Latest included change: 2026-03-16

Look up Microsoft API references, find working code samples, and verify SDK code is correct. Use when working with Azure SDKs, .NET libraries, or Microsoft APIs—to find the right method, check parameters, get working examples, or troubleshoot errors. Catches hallucinated methods, wrong signatures, and deprecated patterns by querying official docs.

Summary

Purpose: Checks Microsoft API and SDK usage against official documentation and working code examples.
When to use: Use it to confirm an API's availability, signature, package, or version-specific pattern, or to investigate an SDK error.
Outputs: It provides relevant Microsoft reference details and code samples to guide a correct implementation.

Upstream changes (3, latest included 2026-03-16)

822d040 2026-03-16 Add Learn CLI option to microsoft-docs skills (#1003) Adds the mslearn CLI as a fallback to Microsoft Learn MCP, with run/install examples and mappings from MCP tools to CLI commands.

1918e6f 2026-01-14 add latest skill Updates API-reference lookup guidance, adds a troubleshooting recommendation, and replaces the quick-validation checklist with a three-step SDK verification workflow.

a3035a6 2025-12-22 Add Microsoft Code Reference and Microsoft Docs skills with detailed usage instructions Adds the Microsoft Code Reference skill with MCP guidance for finding code samples, looking up API details, troubleshooting errors, and validating SDK code.

npx skills add "lettucebo/Skills#v2.2.0@microsoft-code-reference" --full-depth

⚠ Available after v2.2.0 is published

Microsoft Code Reference

Tools

Need	Tool	Example
API method/class lookup	`microsoft_docs_search`	`"BlobClient UploadAsync Azure.Storage.Blobs"`
Working code sample	`microsoft_code_sample_search`	`query: "upload blob managed identity", language: "python"`
Full API reference	`microsoft_docs_fetch`	Fetch URL from `microsoft_docs_search` (for overloads, full signatures)

Finding Code Samples

Use microsoft_code_sample_search to get official, working examples:

microsoft_code_sample_search(query: "upload file to blob storage", language: "csharp")
microsoft_code_sample_search(query: "authenticate with managed identity", language: "python")
microsoft_code_sample_search(query: "send message service bus", language: "javascript")

When to use:

Before writing code—find a working pattern to follow
After errors—compare your code against a known-good sample
Unsure of initialization/setup—samples show complete context

API Lookups

# Verify method exists (include namespace for precision)
"BlobClient UploadAsync Azure.Storage.Blobs"
"GraphServiceClient Users Microsoft.Graph"

# Find class/interface
"DefaultAzureCredential class Azure.Identity"

# Find correct package
"Azure Blob Storage NuGet package"
"azure-storage-blob pip package"

Fetch full page when method has multiple overloads or you need complete parameter details.

Error Troubleshooting

Use microsoft_code_sample_search to find working code samples and compare with your implementation. For specific errors, use microsoft_docs_search and microsoft_docs_fetch:

Error Type	Query
Method not found	`"[ClassName] methods [Namespace]"`
Type not found	`"[TypeName] NuGet package namespace"`
Wrong signature	`"[ClassName] [MethodName] overloads"` → fetch full page
Deprecated warning	`"[OldType] migration v12"`
Auth failure	`"DefaultAzureCredential troubleshooting"`
403 Forbidden	`"[ServiceName] RBAC permissions"`

When to Verify

Always verify when:

Method name seems "too convenient" (UploadFile vs actual Upload)
Mixing SDK versions (v11 CloudBlobClient vs v12 BlobServiceClient)
Package name doesn't follow conventions (Azure.* for .NET, azure-* for Python)
Using an API for the first time

Validation Workflow

Before generating code using Microsoft SDKs, verify it's correct:

Confirm method or package exists — microsoft_docs_search(query: "[ClassName] [MethodName] [Namespace]")
Fetch full details (for overloads/complex params) — microsoft_docs_fetch(url: "...")
Find working sample — microsoft_code_sample_search(query: "[task]", language: "[lang]")

For simple lookups, step 1 alone may suffice. For complex API usage, complete all three steps.

CLI Alternative

If the Learn MCP server is not available, use the mslearn CLI from a terminal or shell (for example, Bash, PowerShell, or cmd) instead:

# Run directly (no install needed)
npx @microsoft/learn-cli search "BlobClient UploadAsync Azure.Storage.Blobs"

# Or install globally, then run
npm install -g @microsoft/learn-cli
mslearn search "BlobClient UploadAsync Azure.Storage.Blobs"

MCP Tool	CLI Command
`microsoft_docs_search(query: "...")`	`mslearn search "..."`
`microsoft_code_sample_search(query: "...", language: "...")`	`mslearn code-search "..." --language ...`
`microsoft_docs_fetch(url: "...")`	`mslearn fetch "..."`

Pass --json to search or code-search to get raw JSON output for further processing.