Lunaris.WhatIfVisualizer 1.1.0

What-If Visualizer

What-If Visualizer is a .NET CLI that turns Azure CLI What-If output into reports that are easier to review in terminals, pull requests, and CI runs.

The repository produces a .NET global tool package named Lunaris.WhatIfVisualizer. Once installed, the command name is whatif-visualizer.

It reads the output of az deployment group what-if, az deployment sub what-if, az deployment mg what-if, or az deployment tenant what-if from stdin, parses the resource and property changes, adds summary and risk metadata, and then renders one of three report formats:

• plain text for logs and CI output
• ANSI-colored console output for terminal review
• a single self-contained HTML report for interactive inspection
• Markdown for PRs and pipeline summaries

What It Does

• Parses Azure What-If text output into a structured report model.
• Groups resources and property changes by change type.
• Highlights categories and risks to make impactful changes easier to spot.
• Applies suppression rules to remove known-noise resources or properties from the final report.
• Supports CI-friendly failure behavior with --fail-on-changes.

Quick Start

Run from the repository root.

Install as a global tool

From NuGet after a published release:

dotnet tool install --global Lunaris.WhatIfVisualizer

Build and install from a local package:

dotnet pack .\src\WhatIfVisualizer\WhatIfVisualizer.csproj -c Release -o .\artifacts\package /p:PackageVersion=0.1.0-local
dotnet tool install --global --add-source .\artifacts\package Lunaris.WhatIfVisualizer --version 0.1.0-local

Text output

az deployment group what-if --resource-group rg-demo --template-file main.bicep |
  whatif-visualizer --format text

ANSI output written to a file

Get-Content -Raw .\samples\simple\input.txt |
  whatif-visualizer --format ansi --output .\samples\simple\output.ansi

HTML output with a custom title

Get-Content -Raw .\samples\real-world\input.txt |
  whatif-visualizer --format html --title "Real-World Sample" --output .\report.html

HTML output with suppressions applied

Get-Content -Raw .\samples\suppressions\input.txt |
  whatif-visualizer --format html --title "Suppressions Sample" --suppressions .\samples\suppressions\suppressions.json --output .\report.html

Markdown output for a CI pipeline summary

Get-Content -Raw .\samples\simple\input.txt |
  whatif-visualizer --format markdown --title "Simple Sample"

Common Options

• --format text|ansi|html|markdown chooses the output format.
• --output <path> writes the report to a file instead of stdout.
• --title <value> sets the report title (used by HTML and Markdown output).
• --changes <list> filters the visible change types.
• --risk-only limits console output to high and critical resources.
• --suppressions <path> applies JSON suppression rules before formatting.
• --fail-on-changes returns exit code 2 when actionable changes remain after suppression.

Run whatif-visualizer --help for the full flag list.

CI/CD Integration

See the dedicated guides for publishing What-If reports inside pipelines:

• docs/ci-github-actions.md — GitHub Actions: Markdown job summary and HTML artifact upload
• docs/ci-azure-devops.md — Azure DevOps: Markdown pipeline summary and HTML artifact publish

Samples

The repo ships committed samples under samples. Each sample folder contains:

• input.txt
• generated output files
• a local README.md with the exact command used to generate them

Available samples:

• samples/simple
• samples/multi-scope
• samples/real-world
• samples/suppressions
• samples/no-changes

Documentation

Focused docs live under docs:

• docs/overview.md
• docs/usage.md
• docs/suppressions.md
• docs/diagnostics.md
• docs/categories-risks.md
• docs/ci-github-actions.md
• docs/ci-azure-devops.md

Local Development

The current repo supports both source builds and tool packaging.

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 10
• Azure CLI if you want to produce fresh What-If input from live deployments

Build

dotnet build .\WhatIfVisualizer.slnx

Test

dotnet test .\WhatIfVisualizer.slnx

Pack the tool

dotnet pack .\src\WhatIfVisualizer\WhatIfVisualizer.csproj -c Release -o .\artifacts\package /p:PackageVersion=0.1.0-local

Regenerate sample outputs

Use the commands in each sample folder README so the committed outputs stay aligned with the checked-in inputs and options.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Review CONTRIBUTING.md, keep sample outputs reproducible, and run the test suite before opening a change.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.