feat: Add Aspire polyglot distributed-app orchestration skill #669
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Add comprehensive Aspire skill covering CLI, AppHost orchestration, service discovery, integrations (144+), MCP server, dashboard, testing, deployment, and troubleshooting. Includes reference docs for polyglot APIs, architecture, CLI, integrations catalog, and more.
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Pull request overview
This PR adds a comprehensive Aspire skill covering .NET Aspire's polyglot distributed-application orchestration toolchain. The skill provides detailed documentation for creating, running, debugging, configuring, deploying, and troubleshooting Aspire distributed applications.
Changes:
- Added new
aspireskill with main SKILL.md and 9 reference documents covering all aspects of Aspire - Updated README.skills.md to include the new skill with all bundled assets listed
- All files follow proper naming conventions (lowercase with hyphens)
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| skills/aspire/SKILL.md | Main skill file with front matter, progressive disclosure structure, and references to all 9 documentation files |
| skills/aspire/references/architecture.md | Deep dive into DCP engine, resource model, service discovery, networking, and telemetry |
| skills/aspire/references/cli-reference.md | Complete CLI command reference with flags and usage examples |
| skills/aspire/references/dashboard.md | Dashboard features, standalone mode, and GenAI Visualizer documentation |
| skills/aspire/references/deployment.md | Deployment targets (Docker, Kubernetes, Azure) and CI/CD integration |
| skills/aspire/references/integrations-catalog.md | 144+ integrations across 13 categories with package references |
| skills/aspire/references/mcp-server.md | MCP server setup for AI assistants with configuration examples |
| skills/aspire/references/polyglot-apis.md | Complete API reference for 10+ languages including C#, Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, and Rust |
| skills/aspire/references/testing.md | Integration testing patterns with xUnit, MSTest, and NUnit examples |
| skills/aspire/references/troubleshooting.md | Diagnostic codes and common issues with solutions |
| docs/README.skills.md | Updated to include the aspire skill entry with all 9 bundled assets |
Rewrite Section 1 (Researching Aspire Documentation) to use Context7 as the primary method for querying docs and code examples. Context7 provides a single-step lookup with code snippets and source links, vs the two-step GitHub search + file read approach. The GitHub method is preserved as a fallback.
Tested all 5 Context7 Aspire library IDs with identical queries to compare content freshness and quality. Key findings: - /microsoft/aspire.dev (repo) has the best coverage including Aspire 13+ APIs - /websites/learn_microsoft-en-us-dotnet-aspire (website) is a good alternative - /dotnet/docs-aspire is the LEGACY repo being superseded, missing newer APIs - Added quality ranking table, usage guidance per source, and expanded query examples
aaronpowell
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aaronpowell
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There's a number of inaccuracies in here that would result in an incorrectly created app
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Would love for feedback to make it better. We need this, you can ping me on Teams if easier this week. |
…s, simplify integrations catalog - Move all reference docs from cli/, mcp/, framework/ subfolders into references/ per agentskills.io spec - Update all cross-references in SKILL.md and reference files - Version-gate MCP tools: 9 tools in 13.1+, docs tools (list_docs/search_docs/get_doc) in 13.2+ - Simplify integrations-catalog.md to lead with MCP tool discovery (list_integrations/get_integration_docs) - Remove .vscode/mcp.json (test artifact from aspire mcp init)
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Thanks for the review @aaronpowell, pushed a refactor addressing all the feedback: CLI Reference: Removed aspire build, aspire test, aspire dev, and aspire list (none are valid in 13.1). Added an explicit "Commands That Do NOT Exist" section with alternatives. All remaining commands verified against CLI 13.1.0, including aspire add, aspire publish, aspire deploy, aspire do, aspire config, aspire cache, aspire update, and aspire mcp subcommands. Integrations Catalog: Replaced the full static NuGet package tables with MCP tool-based discovery (list_integrations / get_integration_docs). The file now points users to live data instead of maintaining a potentially stale list. Kept a summary "categories at a glance" table with example hosting packages. Community Toolkit called out as a separate namespace (CommunityToolkit.Aspire.*). MCP Server: Rewrote to match https://aspire.dev/get-started/configure-mcp/. Tools list now matches the official docs exactly (list_resources, list_console_logs, list_structured_logs, list_traces, list_trace_structured_logs, execute_resource_command, list_apphosts, select_apphost, list_integrations, get_integration_docs). Config example uses "type": "stdio" with "args": ["mcp", "start"]. Supported environments updated to VS Code, Copilot CLI, Claude Code, OpenCode. Docs strategy (version-gated): CLI 13.2+: Use the native MCP docs tools (list_docs, search_docs, get_doc) shipped in PR #14028. Ref: https://davidpine.dev/posts/aspire-docs-mcp-tools/ Dashboard: Fixed the docker run syntax (removed contradictory -it + -d flags and spurious aspire-dashboard argument). SKILL.md: Restructured guidance to lead with the Aspire MCP server's built-in tools rather than presenting Context7 as the primary approach. Context7 repositioned as a fallback. |
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I've reached out to the aspire team for a review, and they've suggested that this might be better contributed to their repo to ship as part of the Aspire CLI. That'd improve adoption by not requiring external discovery. |
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Description
Adds a comprehensive Aspire skill to the
skills/directory, covering .NET Aspire's polyglot distributed-application orchestration toolchain.What's included
skills/aspire/SKILL.md— Main skill file with progressive disclosure structure covering:9 reference documents in
skills/aspire/references/:polyglot-apis.md— Full method signatures and chaining optionsintegrations-catalog.md— 144+ integrations across 13 categoriescli-reference.md— All CLI commands with flags and usagearchitecture.md— DCP internals, resource model, networking, telemetrydeployment.md— Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Container Apps, App Servicemcp-server.md— MCP server setup for AI assistantsdashboard.md— Dashboard features, standalone mode, GenAI Visualizertesting.md— Integration testing patternstroubleshooting.md— Diagnostic codes, common errors, fixesChecklist
SKILL.mdfilenamefield matches folder name (aspire, lowercase)descriptionfield is non-empty (253 chars, within 10-1024 range)npm run skill:validatepasses (all 38 skills valid)npm run buildexecuted (README.skills.md updated)