Azure Command-line Tools Ignite 2023 Announcement
The priority for Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell remains to provide our customers with the most complete, secure, and easy-to-use tools for managing Azure resources. At Microsoft Ignite 2023, we are announcing the following new capabilities delivering on our priorities: Extending our coverage and improving how we build commands. Improving the supportability of Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell Usability improvementsAzure CLI and PowerShell Tools Build 2024 Announcement
The priority for Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell remains to provide our customers with the most complete, secure, and easy-to-use tools to manage Azure resources. At Microsoft Build 2024, we are announcing the following new capabilities delivering on our priorities: Extending our coverage and commands API version upgrade. Improvements in user login experience. Security improvements. Invested in Copilot in Azure
az next: AI-powered interactive assistant
Recently, we’d been receiving more feedback and requests around better in tool help/guidance from some of you. Across the wide variety of feedback, the scenario of not knowing what I could be running next to accomplish my task stood out to us – in fact, this is also the area where we received concern around the incompleteness and inaccuracy on az help and az find. Since then, our team collaborated with the data science team to develop a new command call az next, a feature that would provide contextual command recommendations for potential next steps. Gif 1: az next guidance in creating a webapp This feature, which adopts our latest design guidelines, should help making the Azure CLI more approachable for all users, including beginners How az next can help you: Our goal with az next is to guide users through their scenarios or sequence of jobs-to-be-done in tool, so that they could remain focused and steer clear of unnecessary external documentation searches. There are 2 scenarios az next currently supports. One is the simple walkthrough as shown above where upon the execution of az next, the user is presented with a set of command options. This mode aims to optimizes the success of your subsequent commands via predictive recommendations. The second mode is the end-to-end scenario walkthrough with the aim to help you achieve a specific scenario in mind. The options are presented in the form of summary instead of individual explicit commands. Upon option selection, the tool will then guide you through individual's command completion one by one: Figure 1: List of relevant end-to-end scenario for az next after webapp create Figure 2: Scenario summary and command walkthrough upon option 4 selection Figure 3: Continuation of scenario walkthrough Give them a try! Customization: If you prefer a non-interactive experience, set az config set next.execute_in_prompt = False If you prefer the options to be more elaborated with parameters, set az config next.show_arugments=True For additional customization, az next –help will provide more context Technical details: az next is the first CLI recommender to provide contextual command recommendations based on the analysis of user behavior and session context. The recommender employs a hybrid model where it combines the recommendations from both the: i) quantitative model build by the data science team, which provides the next set of commands with the maximum likelihood based on the aggregation of all users’ in tool behavior ; and ii) the knowledge base built by the engineering team, which comprises of automatic scripting detection and manual curated recommendations that represent the ground truth for certain scenarios, to ensure optimal accuracy in the command predictability. The model reinforces its learning and improves on its prediction accuracy based on users feature & selection usage, as part of its feedback mechanism. Which is to say, both theoretically and practically, as users’ feature usage increase, az next’s prediction accuracy would also increase since it’s designed to continuously optimize its prediction accuracy. Getting started: We hope you find this feature as useful and delightful as some of our preview customers do! To get started, simply https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli and log issues or feature requests in our GitHub repo: https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli Share us your feedback below! • What are some of the scenarios for which for you’d find az next helpful? • How do we feel about the overall UX design and walkthrough? • How can we further improve/fine-tune the feature to deliver greater value for you and team? • …
Empowering Azure CLI developers with AI
With over 2500 commands, tens of thousands of parameters, and new Azure features being developed daily, maintaining simplicity is a challenge. In this post, we want to introduce you to three of our AI-powered features we’ve developed to ensure the Azure CLI remains easy to use, consistent, and “evergreen”. These features include: generating up-to-date examples, enabling natural language search in command line, and assisting with failure recovery.Introducing Azure CLI v2.9 with improved performance and user experience
In the past few months, the CLI team has been working diligently to improve the in-tool user experience (UX) for you. We listened to your feedback and designed the features so that they could be useful and applicable the moment you start interacting with the tool. In the following article, we will share with you our latest updates on performance improvement on command execution and configurable output with the “only-show-errors” tag. Significant performance improvements on client-side command execution One top frustration we’ve been hearing from both our new and experienced CLI users is that the speed of command execution could use some improvement. Our team recognized this challenge and immediately followed up with optimizations. And the result was phenomenal! Every client-side command is now 74% faster. Figure 1: Comparison of the performance of client side command execution, before vs. after Interruption free automation with "--only-show-errors" flag: For those of you who’d been frustrated with Azure CLI’s warning messages endlessly interrupting your ongoing scripts, we’re delighted to share with you a simple resolution! Our team recently released the “--only-show-errors” flag which enables you to disable all non-error output (i.e warnings, info, debug messages) in the stderr stream. This has been highly requested by our DevOps and Architect fans and we hope you can take advantage of this as well. We support the feature on both the per command basis and also via direct updates in the https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/azure-cli-configuration?view=azure-cli-latest#cli-configuration-values-and-environment-variables. This way you could easily leverage the feature either interactively, or for scripting/automation purposes To enable it, simply append --only-show-errors to the end of any az command. For instance: az timeseriesinsights environment list --only-show-errors Below is an example of before vs. after of enabling the flag. We can see that the experimental message has been suppressed: Fun fact: our team has actually considered the verbiage around “--no-warnings” and “--quiet” but eventually settled on “--only-show-errors” given its syntactical intuitiveness. Call to action: Similar to last time, some of these improvements are early in the preview or experimental stage but we certainly do look forward to improving them to serve you better. If you’re interested, https://aka.ms/cli_RN is where you can learn more. We’d love for you to try out these new experiences and share us your https://aka.ms/cli_feedback on their usability and applicability for your day-to-day use cases. Also please don’t hesitate to share us any ideas and feature requests on how to improve your overall in tool experience! Stay tuned for our upcoming blogs and subscribe to it ! See you soonAzure CLI and Azure PowerShell Build 2025 Announcement
The key investment areas for Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell in 2025 are quality and security. We’ve also made meaningful efforts to improve the overall user experience. In parallel, we've enhanced the quality and performance of Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell responses in Copilot, ensuring a more reliable user experience. We encourage you to try out the improved Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell in the Copilot experience and see how it can help streamline your Azure workflows. At Microsoft Build 2025, we're excited to announce several new capabilities aligned with these priorities: Improvements in quality and security. Enhancements to user experience. Ongoing improvements to Copilot's response quality and performance. Improvements in quality and security Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell Long Term Support (LTS) releases support In November 2024, Azure PowerShell became the first to introduce both Standard Term Support (STS) and Long-Term Support (LTS) versions, providing users with more flexibility in managing their tools. At Microsoft Build 2025, we are excited to announce that Azure CLI now also supports both STS and LTS release models. This allows users to choose the version that best fits their project needs, whether they prefer the stability of LTS releases or want to stay up to date with the latest features in STS releases. Users can continue using an LTS version until the next LTS becomes available or choose to upgrade more frequently with STS versions. To learn more about the definitions and support timelines for Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell STS and LTS versions, please refer to the following documentation: Azure CLI lifecycle and support | Microsoft Learn Azure PowerShell support lifecycle | Microsoft Learn Users can choose between the Long-Term Support (LTS) and Short-Term Support (STS) versions of Azure CLI based on their specific needs. It is important to understand the trade-offs: LTS versions provide a stable and predictable environment with a support cycle of up to 12 months, making them ideal for scenarios where stability and minimal maintenance are priorities. STS versions, on the other hand, offer access to the latest features and more frequent bug fixes. However, this comes with the potential need for more frequent script updates as changes are introduced with each release. It is also worth noting that platforms such as Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions typically default to using newer CLI versions. That said, users still have the option to pin to a specific version if greater consistency is required in their CI/CD pipelines. When using Azure CLI to deploy services like Azure Functions within CI/CD workflows, the actual CLI version in use will depend on the version selected by the pipeline environment (e.g., GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps), and it is recommended to verify or explicitly set the version to align with your deployment requirements. SecureString update for Azure PowerShell Our team is gradually transitioning to using SecureString for tokens, account keys, and secrets, replacing the traditional string types. In November 2024, we offered an opt-in method for the Get-AzAccessToken cmdlet. At the 2025 Build event, we’ve made this option mandatory, which is a breaking change: Get-AzAccessToken Get-AzAccessToken Token : System.Security.SecureString ExpiresOn : 5/13/2025 1:09:15 AM +00:00 TenantId : 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 UserId : user@mail.com Type : Bearer In 2026, we plan to implement this secure method in more commands, converting all keys, tokens, and similar data from string types to SecureString. Please continue to pay attention to our upcoming breaking changes documentation. Install Azure PowerShell from Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) Installing Azure PowerShell from Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) brings several key advantages for enterprise users, particularly in terms of security, performance, and simplified artifact management. Stronger Security and Supply Chain Integrity Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) enhances security by ensuring only Microsoft can publish official packages, eliminating risks like name squatting. It also improves software supply chain integrity by offering greater transparency and control over artifact provenance. Faster and More Reliable Delivery By caching Az modules in your own ACR instances with MAR as an upstream source, customers benefit from faster downloads and higher reliability, especially within the Azure network. You can try installing Azure PowerShell from MAR using the following PowerShell command: $acrUrl = 'https://mcr.microsoft.com' Register-PSResourceRepository -Name MAR -Uri $acrUrl -ApiVersion ContainerRegistry Install-PSResource -Name Az -Repository MAR For detailed installation instructions and prerequisites, refer to the official documentation: Optimize the installation of Azure PowerShell | Microsoft Learn Enhancements to user experience Azure PowerShell Enhancements at Microsoft Build 2025 As part of the Microsoft Build 2025 announcements, Azure PowerShell has introduced several significant improvements to enhance usability, automation flexibility, and overall user experience. Real-Time Progress Bar for Long-Running Operations Cmdlets that perform long-running operations now display a real-time progress bar, offering users clear visual feedback during execution. Smarter Output Formatting Based on Result Count Output formatting is now dynamically adjusted based on the number of results returned: A detailed list view is shown when a single result is returned, helping users quickly understand the full details. A table view is presented when multiple results are returned, providing a concise summary that's easier to scan. JSON-Based Resource Creation for Improved Automation Azure PowerShell now supports creating resources using raw JSON input, making it easier to integrate with infrastructure-as-code (IaC) pipelines. When this feature is enabled (by default in Azure environments), applicable cmdlets accept: JSON strings directly via *ViaJsonString External JSON files via *ViaJsonFilePath This capability streamlines scripting and automation, especially for users managing complex configurations. We're always looking for feedback, so try the new features and let us know what you think. Improved for custom and disconnected clouds: Azure CLI now reads extended ARM metadata In disconnected environments like national clouds, air-gapped setups, or Azure Stack, customers often define their own cloud configurations, including custom dataplane endpoints. However, older versions of Azure CLI and its extensions relied heavily on hardcoded endpoint values based only on the cloud name, limiting functionality in these isolated environments. To address this, Azure CLI now supports reading richer cloud metadata from Azure Resource Manager (ARM) using API version 2022-09-01. This metadata includes extended data plane endpoints, such as those for Arc-enabled services and private registries previously unavailable in older API versions. When running az cloud register with the --endpoint-resource-manager flag, Azure CLI automatically parses and loads these custom endpoints into its runtime context. All extensions, like connectedk8s, k8s-configuration, and others, can now dynamically use accurate, environment-specific endpoints without needing hardcoded logic. Key Benefits: Improved Support for Custom Clouds: Enables more reliable automation and compatibility with Azure Local. Increased Security and Maintainability: Removes the need for manually hardcoding endpoints. Unified Extension Behavior: Ensures consistent behavior across CLI and its extensions using centrally managed metadata. Try it out: Register cloud az cloud register -n myCloud --endpoint-resource-manager https://management.azure.com/ Check cloud az cloud show -n myCloud For the original implementation, please refer to https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli/pull/30682. Azure PowerShell WAM authentication update Since Azure PowerShell 12.0.0, Azure PowerShell supports Web Authentication Manager (WAM) as the default authentication mechanism. Using Web Account Manager (WAM) for authentication in Azure enhances security through its built-in identity broker and default system browser integration. It also delivers a faster and more seamless sign-in experience. All major blockers have been resolved, and we are actively working on the pending issues. For detailed announcements on specific issues, please refer to the WAM issues and Workarounds issue. We encourage users to enable WAM functionality using the command: Update-AzConfig -EnableLoginByWam $true. under Windows operating systems to ensure security. If you encounter issues, please report them in Issues · Azure/azure-powershell. Improve Copilot's response quality and performance Azure CLI/PS enhancement with Copilot in Azure In the first half of 2025, we improved the knowledge of Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell commands for Azure Copilot end-to-end scenarios based on best practices to answer questions related to commands and scripts. In the past six months, we have optimized the following scenarios: Introduced Azure concept documents to RAG to provide more accurate and comprehensive answers. Improved the accuracy and relevance of knowledge retrieval query and chunking strategies Support more accurate rejection of the out-of-scope questions. AI Shell brings AI to the command line, enabling natural conversations with language models and customizable workflows. AI Shell is in public preview and allows you to access Copilot in Azure. All the optimizations apply to AI Shell. For more information about AI Shell releases, see: AI Shell To learn more about Microsoft Copilot for Azure and how it can help you, visit: Microsoft Copilot for Azure Breaking Changes You can find the latest breaking change guidance documents at the links below. To learn more about the breaking changes, ensure your environment is ready to install the newest version of Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, see the release notes and migration guides. Azure CLI: Release notes & updates – Azure CLI | Microsoft Learn Azure PowerShell: Migration guide for Az 14.0.0 | Microsoft Learn Milestone timelines: Azure CLI Milestones Azure PowerShell Milestones Thank you for using the Azure command-line tools. We look forward to continuing to improve your experience. We hope you enjoy Microsoft Build and all the great work released this week. We'd love to hear your feedback, so feel free to reach out anytime. GitHub: o https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli o https://github.com/Azure/azure-powershell Let's stay in touch on X (Twitter) : @azureposh @AzureCliAnnouncing a new login experience with Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression” said Will Rogers, this also applies to the Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell with the first command to execute. After hearing from our customers, our team spent the last few months improving the first experience of the Azure client tools. The new experience prioritizes access to usable information and shorter path to selecting your subscription.
