Claude Deployment Assistant: End-to-End Example

This guide walks through a complete scenario: using Claude with the strata MCP server to validate, build, and preview an infrastructure deployment.

Scenario

You’re deploying a new environment to Azure AKS. Instead of manually running CLI commands, you ask Claude to:

  1. Generate a deployment YAML from a template

  2. Validate the YAML

  3. Show what will be built and deployed

  4. Suggest improvements

  5. Provide instructions for executing the deployment

Prerequisites

  • strata workspace initialized (strata sln init)

  • Claude Desktop installed (or Claude API access)

  • MCP server running: strata mcp serve in your workspace

  • Claude configured with strata MCP server (see Setup)

Step 1: Configure Claude Desktop

Add strata MCP server to your Claude configuration:

File: ~/.claude/claude-config.json (or %APPDATA%\Roaming\Claude\claude-config.json on Windows)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "strata": {
      "command": "strata",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "cwd": "/Users/yourname/projects/my-strata-workspace"
    }
  }
}

Replace /Users/yourname/projects/my-strata-workspace with your actual workspace path.

Restart Claude to load the new configuration.

Step 2: Verify MCP Connection

Start Claude Desktop and send:

β€œWhat tools do you have access to?”

Claude should respond with a list mentioning strata tools:

  • workspace_status β€” Check workspace state

  • validate_file β€” Validate YAML

  • scaffold_file β€” Generate YAML from template

  • build_plan β€” Preview build

  • deploy_plan β€” Preview deployment

  • … and more

If you don’t see strata tools, check:

  1. The configuration file path is correct

  2. cwd points to your workspace root (should contain .strata/)

  3. Claude Desktop was restarted after editing the config

Step 3: Full Workflow β€” Claude Guides You

3a. Generate Deployment YAML

You: β€œI need to deploy a new Azure AKS environment called β€˜staging’. Generate a deployment YAML for me.”

Claude will:

  1. Call workspace_status() to understand your setup

  2. Call scaffold_file(kind="deployment", name="staging-aks") to generate a template

  3. Show you the generated YAML

  4. Ask where you want to save it

You: β€œSave it as deploy/deploy-staging.yaml”

At this point, Claude has generated the file content (not written to disk yet). You copy the output and save it manually, or:

# Claude shows you the content, you save it
cat > deploy/deploy-staging.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: strata.huybrechts.xyz/v1
kind: deployment
meta:
  name: staging-aks
  annotations:
    description: "Staging environment on Azure AKS"
  labels:
    version: "1.0.0"
spec:
  stages:
    - name: infrastructure
      provisioner: terraform
      scope: all
      on_failure: stop
EOF

3b. Validate the YAML

You: β€œValidate the deployment file I just created.”

Claude will:

  1. Call validate_file(file_path="deploy/deploy-staging.yaml")

  2. Check structural validity (against JSON Schema)

  3. If you request, call with deep=True to check cross-references

Claude responds:

  • βœ… All valid β€” File passes structural validation

  • ⚠️ Warnings β€” File is valid but has non-critical issues (e.g., missing annotations)

  • ❌ Errors β€” File fails validation (Claude shows you the field errors and suggests fixes)

Example Claude response:

βœ… Validation passed!

File: deploy/deploy-staging.yaml
Kind: deployment
Name: staging-aks

The YAML is structurally valid. All required fields are present and correctly typed.

Observations:
- provisioner "terraform" is defined but not configured in your workspace yet
- No repositories linked to this deployment
- Stage "infrastructure" has no timeout specified (will use default 30m)

Next steps:
1. Add terraform provisioner configuration to your workspace.yaml
2. Validate deeper cross-references with --deep flag
3. Run build_plan to see what Terraform will generate

3c. Preview the Build

You: β€œShow me what will be built if I run the build.”

Claude will:

  1. Call build_plan(file="deploy/deploy-staging.yaml")

  2. Show you the expected artifacts (Terraform modules, configurations, etc.)

Claude responds:

πŸ”¨ Build Preview (Dry-Run)

Build would produce:
β”œβ”€β”€ platform.json (platform configuration artifact)
β”œβ”€β”€ terraform/
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ main.tf
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ variables.tf
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ outputs.tf
β”‚   └── versions.tf
β”œβ”€β”€ configs/
β”‚   └── azure-aks.yaml

Stage: infrastructure
  Provisioner: terraform
  Modules to instantiate:
    - azure/aks (v1.2.3)
    - azure/network (v1.1.0)

No actual resources would be provisioned (this is a dry-run).

Ready to commit this build? Run:
  strata build run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml

3d. Ask for Improvements

You: β€œAre there any improvements I should make to this deployment?”

Claude will:

  1. Review the YAML structure

  2. Call get_schema(kind="deployment") to check best practices

  3. Provide recommendations

Claude responds:

Here are suggested improvements:

1. **Add health checks** β€” Currently, no health_checks defined for the infrastructure stage
   Add:
   ```yaml
   stages:
     - name: infrastructure
       health_checks:
         - type: http
           target: "https://${azure_lb_ip}/health"
           interval_seconds: 30

  1. Specify timeouts β€” Add explicit timeout for infrastructure provisioning Add: timeout_minutes: 45

  2. Add labels β€” Help with organization and filtering Add to meta.labels: "environment": "staging", "team": "platform"

  3. Document dependencies β€” If this deployment depends on another, document it Consider stages order and on_failure policy

  4. Add approver role β€” Deployment to staging should require approval Add to meta.annotations: "require_approval": "true"


You can ask Claude to regenerate the YAML with these improvements.

### 3e. Preview the Deployment

**You:** "Show me what will actually be deployed if I run `strata deploy run`."

**Claude** will:
1. Call `build_plan()` to ensure artifacts are up-to-date
2. Call `deploy_plan(file="deploy/deploy-staging.yaml")` to show the deployment preview
3. Display Terraform plan output (what resources will be created/modified)

**Claude responds:**

πŸ“‹ Deployment Preview (Dry-Run)

Stage 1: infrastructure Provisioner: Terraform

Changes to be made: ✚ azurerm_resource_group.staging (new) ✚ azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.staging (new) ✚ azurerm_virtual_network.staging (new)

  • 8 more resources

Summary: Plan: Create 11 new resources Estimated cost: $2,340/month (compute + networking) Deployment time: ~15 minutes

⚠️ CRITICAL: This will create real Azure resources that cost money.

Next steps:

  1. Review the resource list above

  2. Confirm with your team

  3. Run via CLI: strata deploy run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml –force (Use –force to skip interactive confirmation)


### 3f. Check Current Status

**You:** "What's the current status of my workspace? Is everything ready to deploy?"

**Claude** will:
1. Call `workspace_status()`
2. Display readiness phases, active profile, repositories, etc.

**Claude responds:**

πŸ“Š Workspace Status

Readiness: Phase 1: Initialized βœ… Phase 2: Repositories configured βœ… Phase 3: Profiles set up βœ… (active: production) Phase 4: Deployment files created βœ… Phase 5: Validated βœ… Phase 6: Built ⏳ (pending) Phase 7: Deployed πŸ“‹ (next step) Phase 8: Monitoring ⏳ (after deployment)

Next recommended action:

  1. Run: strata build run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml

  2. Then: strata deploy run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml

Active profile: production Repositories: 2 configured Tools available: terraform, ansible, docker


---

## Step 4: Execute the Deployment

At this point, Claude can only preview. **The actual deployment must happen via the CLI** with explicit user confirmation.

```bash
# 1. Build the deployment artifacts
strata build run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml

# 2. Deploy to staging (this actually creates resources)
strata deploy run -f deploy/deploy-staging.yaml

Claude cannot execute these commands. This is intentional for safety:

  • MCP tools can query and preview

  • Only CLI can execute destructive operations

  • All operations are audited

Step 5: Monitor & Verify

After you’ve run the deployment via CLI:

You: β€œCheck the health of my deployed staging environment.”

Claude will:

  1. Call deploy_status(file="deploy/deploy-staging.yaml") to get current Terraform outputs

  2. Call deploy_health(file="deploy/deploy-staging.yaml") to run health checks

  3. Summarize the state

Claude responds:

βœ… Deployment Status

Stage: infrastructure
Provisioner: Terraform

Infrastructure Outputs:
  kubernetes_cluster_fqdn: staging-aks.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com
  kubernetes_cluster_id: /subscriptions/.../Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/staging-aks
  load_balancer_ip: 20.45.123.45

Health Checks:
  βœ… HTTP GET /health β†’ 200 OK (2.3s)
  βœ… API endpoint responding
  βœ… Kubernetes nodes healthy (3/3 ready)

Recent deployments:
  2026-07-05 14:23:45 β€” Deploy RUN (success, 8m 34s)
  2026-07-05 14:15:10 β€” Build RUN (success, 2m 11s)

All systems operational.

Step 6: Troubleshoot Issues

If something goes wrong:

You: β€œThe deployment failed. What went wrong?”

Claude will:

  1. Call deploy_history() to see recent deployment attempts

  2. Call audit_query() to check the error logs

  3. Suggest remediation steps

Claude responds:

❌ Deployment Failed

Last deployment:
  Time: 2026-07-05 14:52:30
  Status: FAILED
  Duration: 4m 15s
  Error stage: infrastructure

Error Details:
  terraform apply failed:
  Error: azurerm_resource_group.staging already exists
  
  This suggests a previous partial deployment left resources behind.

Suggested fixes:
  1. Check what resources exist in Azure (manual check needed)
  2. Import existing resources into Terraform state:
     terraform import azurerm_resource_group.staging /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/staging
  3. Try deploy again

Or:
  1. Change the resource group name in your deployment YAML
  2. Run build_plan to preview
  3. Re-run deploy

Summary: Claude Workflow Checklist

  • βœ… Generate YAML template β†’ scaffold_file()

  • βœ… Validate YAML structure β†’ validate_file()

  • βœ… Build Preview what will be generated β†’ build_plan()

  • βœ… Deploy Preview what will be provisioned β†’ deploy_plan()

  • βœ… Check Status of workspace β†’ workspace_status()

  • βœ… Get Schema for validation rules β†’ get_schema()

  • βœ… Monitor deployed infrastructure β†’ deploy_status(), deploy_health()

  • βœ… Query History of deployments β†’ deploy_history(), audit_query()

  • βœ… Troubleshoot failures β†’ audit logs + error analysis

CLI remains the executor β€” strata build run, strata deploy run, etc.

Tips & Best Practices

1. Always Validate Before Building

You: "Validate the file before we build."
Claude: βœ… [validates] β†’ Ready to build!

2. Always Preview Before Deploying

You: "Show me the deploy plan."
Claude: [runs deploy_plan()] β†’ Lists all resources that will be created
You: "That looks good, I'll deploy via CLI."

3. Use Claude for Analysis, CLI for Action

Claude (via MCP):       CLI:
- Validate             - Build
- Preview              - Deploy
- Query status         - Destroy
- Suggest fixes        - Execute operations

4. Ask for Improvements

You: "Are there any best-practice improvements I should make?"
Claude: [reviews YAML] β†’ Lists recommendations

5. Multi-Step Workflows

You: "Generate a namespace and deployment for staging. Validate both. Show me what will be built."
Claude: [calls scaffold_file(), validate_file(), build_plan()] β†’ Complete preview

Next Steps