SetupScenario — Scenario Discovery, Configuration & Validation

⛔ ABSOLUTE RULE: Do NOT improvise, skip, or substitute any step. On ANY error, STOP and wait for the user.

When to use this skill (vs. the MCP server)

This skill is the human-interactive path: it shares state with the rest of the pipeline, prompts via exit codes, and renders cards. Use it when there is a user in the loop.

If you are an autonomous agent with no user to prompt, use the MCP tools directly: chaos_refresh_recommendations, chaos_list_recommended_scenarios, chaos_create_scenario_configuration, chaos_validate_scenario_configuration, chaos_fix_resource_permissions. See mcp/README.md.

Both surfaces target Microsoft.Chaos 2026-05-01-preview and use the local az login session for auth.

How It Works

All discovery, configuration, validation, and permission-fix logic lives in scripts/Invoke-SetupScenario.ps1. The script drives the Chaos Studio operations through the az chaos CLI extension — workspace evaluation, recommendation listing, scenario selection routing, parameter resolution, configuration creation, and the validate→fix→re-validate loop.

The AI orchestrator's only job is:

1. Set $env:STARTCHAOS_STATE_PATH to ${SESSION_DIR}/startchaos-state.json.
2. Run the script (no parameters needed for the first call).
3. Handle exit codes that require user input (see below).
4. Re-run the script with the user's answers as parameters.

Prerequisites

• state.workspace.status == "done" (workspace must exist; the script refuses otherwise)
• state.context.subscriptionId populated

Running the Script

$env:STARTCHAOS_STATE_PATH = "<session-dir>/startchaos-state.json"
& "<skill-dir>/scripts/Invoke-SetupScenario.ps1" @args

On resume: re-runs short-circuit when state.setup.status == "done".

Exit Codes → AI Actions

Important: Manual mode does NOT work

-ParameterMode manual uses Read-Host prompts that do not render in a non-interactive AI session. Always use -ParameterMode autofill combined with -ParameterValues for any overrides the user requests.

Important: Exit 2 → 3 chaining

When exit 2 is followed by exit 3 on re-run, combine both answers in the next invocation:

& Invoke-SetupScenario.ps1 -ScenarioName "ZoneDown-1.0" -ParameterMode "autofill" -ParameterValues @{ duration = 'PT5M' }

Script Parameters

What the Script Handles (no AI logic needed)

• Workspace evaluation via az chaos workspace refresh-recommendation (CLI awaits the LRO) + show-evaluation summary
• Scenario list (az chaos scenario list) filtered to recommendation.recommendationStatus == "Recommended"
• Auto-select when exactly one scenario is recommended; pause-and-emit-exit-2 otherwise
• ScenarioConfiguration create (az chaos scenario config create, --scenario-id auto-derived) with parameter merge (defaults + overrides)
• Validate (az chaos scenario config validate) → if not Succeeded → az chaos scenario config fix-permissions → re-validate
• RBAC propagation retry loop (up to 5 minutes, 20s interval) gated to permission-related errors only
• Atomic state writes with error envelopes
• Idempotent re-runs

Related Skills

• create-workspace — must complete before this skill
• run-scenario — next phase after setup