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Choose a Pattern

Deployment modes

Start with offline replay, then choose the smallest live profile that proves the behavior you need.

Profile Use when Main risk or prerequisite Success signal
offline You need to inspect the response contract immediately. It proves shape, not live retrieval. Answer plus MCP and Fabric trace evidence.
search-index An agentic-ready Search index already exists and you want the lowest-risk live path. Search data-plane permissions and a semantic configuration. Stable retrieve returns extracted text and searchIndex evidence; cleanup preserves the index.
mcp-search-index You want preview MCP routing over an existing Search service and index. Existing Azure OpenAI deployment plus Search managed identity model access. Independent Search and MCP checks pass before combined evidence; cleanup preserves all reused assets.
three-source Existing Search, OpenAI, and Fabric ontology assets should compose without provisioning. Same-tenant Fabric IDs, delegated user authorization, and model access. Search, MCP, and Fabric pass independently before combined evidence; all underlying assets survive cleanup.
mcp-only You want the first preview live path without Fabric. Azure AI Search preview and model availability. microsoft_docs_search appears in activity or references.
byo-fabric Existing governed Fabric semantics should ground retrieval. Workspace/ontology IDs and delegated user authorization. Separate checks prove both KS paths; the combined KB shows planner-selected routing.
full A greenfield platform demo must create everything. Billable Fabric F2 quota, longer duration, tenant settings, cleanup. Fabric GraphModel, both KS paths, app, and teardown pass.

Decision

Use search-index when an agentic-ready index already exists and stable extractive retrieval is enough. Upgrade that same service to mcp-search-index when an existing Azure OpenAI deployment and its Search managed identity grant are ready. Use three-source only when an existing native Fabric ontology and delegated authorization are also ready. Otherwise use mcp-only unless the answer to one of these is yes:

  • Existing Fabric workspace and ontology IDs are ready: use byo-fabric.
  • The audience must see Fabric sample creation from zero and quota is confirmed: use full.
  • No cloud mutation should occur: remain on offline.

Command Shapes

./liveks init --profile search-index --env liveks-index
# Add the existing endpoint, index, semantic configuration, and optional field lists.
./liveks plan --env liveks-index
./liveks up --env liveks-index
./liveks init --profile mcp-search-index --env liveks-combined
# Add the existing Search and Azure OpenAI deployment values.
./liveks plan --env liveks-combined
./liveks up --env liveks-combined --query "<index question>" --expect-term "<known term>"
./liveks init --profile three-source --env liveks-three
# Add existing Search, Azure OpenAI, Fabric workspace, and ontology values.
./liveks plan --env liveks-three
./liveks up --env liveks-three --query "<index question>" --expect-term "<known term>" --fabric-query "<ontology question>"
./liveks init --profile mcp-only --env liveks-mcp
./liveks plan --env liveks-mcp
./liveks up --env liveks-mcp
./liveks init --profile byo-fabric --env liveks-byo
# Add fabric.workspace_id and fabric.ontology_id to .liveks/liveks-byo.yaml.
./liveks plan --env liveks-byo
./liveks up --env liveks-byo
./liveks init --profile full --env liveks-full
./liveks plan --env liveks-full
./liveks up --env liveks-full --accept-fabric-capacity

Source Pattern

Knowledge Source pattern Sample entry point
Search Index KS Stable Search Index Knowledge Source
Search Index KS + MCP Server KS MCP + Search Index Knowledge Base
Search Index KS + MCP Server KS + Fabric Ontology KS Preview Three-Source Knowledge Base
MCP Server KS samples/rest/01-create-mcp-server-ks.http
Fabric Ontology KS samples/rest/04-create-fabric-ontology-ks.http
Combined Knowledge Base samples/rest/05-create-combined-kb.http

The direct combined verifiers use one Knowledge Base but supply one source parameter at a time before the combined query. In any combined Knowledge Base, the returned activity, references, and sourceData are the evidence of what actually ran.