Azure Developer CLI (azd) Bicep Starter

A starter blueprint for getting your application up on Azure using Azure Developer CLI (azd). Add your application code, write Infrastructure as Code assets in Bicep to get your application up and running quickly.

The following assets have been provided:

Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) Bicep files under the infra folder that demonstrate how to provision resources and setup resource tagging for azd.
A dev container configuration file under the .devcontainer directory that installs infrastructure tooling by default. This can be readily used to create cloud-hosted developer environments such as GitHub Codespaces.
Continuous deployment workflows for CI providers such as GitHub Actions under the .github directory, and Azure Pipelines under the .azdo directory that work for most use-cases.

Next Steps

Step 1: Add application code

Initialize the service source code projects anywhere under the current directory. Ensure that all source code projects can be built successfully.
- Note: For function services, it is recommended to initialize the project using the provided quickstart tools.
Once all service source code projects are building correctly, update azure.yaml to reference the source code projects.
Run azd package to validate that all service source code projects can be built and packaged locally.

Step 2: Provision Azure resources

Update or add Bicep files to provision the relevant Azure resources. This can be done incrementally, as the list of Azure resources are explored and added.

A reference library that contains all of the Bicep modules used by the azd templates can be found here.
All Azure resources available in Bicep format can be found here.

Run azd provision whenever you want to ensure that changes made are applied correctly and work as expected.

Step 3: Tie in application and infrastructure

Certain changes to Bicep files or deployment manifests are required to tie in application and infrastructure together. For example:

Set up application settings for the code running in Azure to connect to other Azure resources.
If you are accessing sensitive resources in Azure, set up managed identities to allow the code running in Azure to securely access the resources.
If you have secrets, it is recommended to store secrets in Azure Key Vault that then can be retrieved by your application, with the use of managed identities.
Configure host configuration on your hosting platform to match your application's needs. This may include networking options, security options, or more advanced configuration that helps you take full advantage of Azure capabilities.

For more details, see additional details below.

When changes are made, use azd to validate and apply your changes in Azure, to ensure that they are working as expected:

Run azd up to validate both infrastructure and application code changes.
Run azd deploy to validate application code changes only.

Step 4: Up to Azure

Finally, run azd up to run the end-to-end infrastructure provisioning (azd provision) and deployment (azd deploy) flow. Visit the service endpoints listed to see your application up-and-running!

Additional Details

The following section examines different concepts that help tie in application and infrastructure.

Application settings

It is recommended to have application settings managed in Azure, separating configuration from code. Typically, the service host allows for application settings to be defined.

For appservice and function, application settings should be defined on the Bicep resource for the targeted host. Reference template example here.
For aks, application settings are applied using deployment manifests under the <service>/manifests folder. Reference template example here.

Managed identities

Managed identities allows you to secure communication between services. This is done without having the need for you to manage any credentials.

Azure Key Vault

Azure Key Vault allows you to store secrets securely. Your application can access these secrets securely through the use of managed identities.

Host configuration

For appservice, the following host configuration options are often modified:

Language runtime version
Exposed port from the running container (if running a web service)
Allowed origins for CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) protection (if running a web service backend with a frontend)
The run command that starts up your service