npx skills add ...
npx skills add microsoft/azure-skills --skill azure-storage
npx skills add microsoft/azure-skills --skill azure-storage
Azure Storage Services including Blob Storage, File Shares, Queue Storage, Table Storage, and Data Lake. Answers questions about storage access tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive), when to use each tier, and tier comparison. Provides object storage, SMB file shares, async messaging, NoSQL key-value, and big data analytics. Includes lifecycle management. USE FOR: blob storage, file shares, queue storage, table storage, data lake, upload files, download blobs, storage accounts, access tiers, storage tiers, hot cool cold archive, storage tier comparison, when to use storage tiers, lifecycle management, Azure Storage concepts. DO NOT USE FOR: SQL databases, Cosmos DB (use azure-prepare), messaging with Event Hubs or Service Bus (use azure-messaging).
The same skill content is published under more than one repo. The install counts are split across them; any of these commands works.
| Service | Use When | MCP Tools | CLI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blob Storage | Objects, files, backups, static content | azure__storage | az storage blob |
| File Shares | SMB file shares, lift-and-shift | - | az storage file |
| Queue Storage | Async messaging, task queues | - | az storage queue |
| Table Storage | NoSQL key-value (consider Cosmos DB) | - | az storage table |
| Data Lake | Big data analytics, hierarchical namespace | - | az storage fs |
When Azure MCP is enabled:
azure__storage with command storage_account_list - List storage accountsazure__storage with command storage_container_list - List containers in accountazure__storage with command storage_blob_list - List blobs in containerazure__storage with command storage_blob_get - Download blob contentazure__storage with command storage_blob_put - Upload blob contentIf Azure MCP is not enabled: Run /azure:setup or enable via /mcp.
| Tier | Use Case | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | General purpose, backup | Milliseconds |
| Premium | Databases, high IOPS | Sub-millisecond |
| Tier | Access Frequency | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Hot | Frequent | Higher storage, lower access |
| Cool | Infrequent (30+ days) | Lower storage, higher access |
| Cold | Rare (90+ days) | Lower still |
| Archive | Rarely (180+ days) | Lowest storage, rehydration required |
| Type | Durability | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| LRS | 11 nines | Dev/test, recreatable data |
| ZRS | 12 nines | Regional high availability |
| GRS | 16 nines | Disaster recovery |
| GZRS | 16 nines | Best durability |
For deep documentation on specific services:
For building applications with Azure Storage SDKs, see the condensed guides:
For full package listing across all languages, see SDK Usage Guide.
For building applications that interact with Azure Storage programmatically, Azure provides SDK packages in multiple languages (.NET, Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust). See SDK Usage Guide for package names, installation commands, and quick start examples.