AMA Spotlight: Build Smarter with Azure Developer CLI 'AZD'
Weekly AMA 'Ask Me Anything': Build Smarter with Azure Developer CLI Calling all AI engineers, developers, and builders of the future, this is your backstage pass to the tools shaping scalable, agentic AI deployments. Join Kristen Womack, Product Manager for the Azure Developer CLI (azd) Developer CLI (azd), and the engineering team behind azd for a live Ask Me Anything session every Thursday at 12:30pm PT in the Azure AI Foundry Discord. Whether you're: đ§ Orchestrating multi-agent systems đŚ Deploying LLM-powered apps with Azure AI Foundry đ Navigating least-privilege infrastructure setups đ ď¸ Debugging and optimizing reproducible workflows âŚthis AMA is your chance to connect directly with the team building the CLI that powers it all. đĄ Why Join? Real-time answers from the azd engineers and product team Deployment walkthroughs for Foundry templates, from chatbots to document processors Tips for CI/CD, debugging, and reproducibility in enterprise environments Community-first mindset: bring your feedback, challenges, and ideas Kristen Womack brings deep insight into developer experience and product strategy; this is a rare opportunity to learn from the source and shape the future of AI tooling. đ§ Get Ready Before you join: Install azd đ Install Guide Explore Kristenâs work đ www.kristenwomack.io Join the Discord đ Azure AI Foundry Community đď¸ Weekly Schedule đ§ Thursdays at 12:30pm PT đ Azure AI Foundry Discord Bring your questions. Bring your curiosity. Build with the best. Additional resources: check out the AZD for Beginners course https://aka.ms/azd-for-beginnersEssential Microsoft Resources for MVPs & the Tech Community from the AI Tour
Unlock the power of Microsoft AI with redeliverable technical presentations, hands-on workshops, and open-source curriculum from the Microsoft AI Tour! Whether youâre a Microsoft MVP, Developer, or IT Professional, these expertly crafted resources empower you to teach, train, and lead AI adoption in your community. Explore top breakout sessions covering GitHub Copilot, Azure AI, Generative AI, and security best practicesâdesigned to simplify AI integration and accelerate digital transformation. Dive into interactive workshops that provide real-world applications of AI technologies. Take it a step further with Microsoftâs Open-Source AI Curriculum, offering beginner-friendly courses on AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, Cybersecurity, and GitHub Copilotâperfect for upskilling teams and fostering innovation. Donât just learnâlead. Access these resources, host impactful training sessions, and drive AI adoption in your organization. Start sharing today! Explore now: Microsoft AI Tour Resources.Practical ways to use AI in your Data Science and ML journey
Are you ready to take your learning from âjust readingâ to âactively doingâ? We are launching a series of interactive events designed to help you bridge the gap between theory and practice, connect with peers, and learn directly from experts, all in a vibrant, supportive Discord community. The series will guide you on practical ways to use AI in your learning journey with Data Science and Machine Learning. Join the series on Discord at: https://aka.ms/ds4beginners/discord Why You Should Join Guided Pathways: Move seamlessly from the popular Data Science for Beginners and Machine Learning for Beginners curriculums to interact with fellow learners in the Azure AI Foundry Discord community. Weâve designed study plans, office hours sessions, and showcases so you can learn, ask questions, and get feedback in real time. Practical AI Skills: See how Artificial Intelligence can supercharge your learning. . Community & Collaboration: Find peer learners with similar goals, collaborate on projects, and get support from experienced moderators and MVPs. Machine Learning AMA 1 Theme: Learning Machine Learning with AI, responsibly. Date: Tuesday, 23 September (10AM PST | 1PM ET | 5PM GMT | 8PM EAT) What to Expect: Curriculum overview, hands-on AI demos, critique and correct a simple classifier, and peer collaboration. Link: https://aka.ms/learnwithai/ml Data Science AMA 2 Theme: Learning Data Science with AI, responsibly. Date: Tuesday, 30 September (10AM PST | 1PM ET | 5PM GMT | 8PM EAT) What to Expect: Curriculum overview, integrating AI into your learning, live Q&A, and practical tips for responsible AI use. Link: https://aka.ms/learnwithai/ds Showcase 1: GitHub Copilot for Data Science Theme: Hands-on AI Agents for Data Scientists Date: Thursday, 25 September (10AM PST | 1PM ET | 5PM GMT | 8PM EAT) What to Expect: Learn to use Copilotâs advanced features in Python and Jupyter Notebooks, customize agents, and extend your analyses. Link: https://aka.ms/learnwithai/agents How to Get Involved Join the Discord Channels: https://aka.ms/ds4beginners/discord https://aka.ms/ml4beginners/discord Prepare: Make sure you have a GitHub account, VS Code, Data Wrangler, ready for hands-on sessions. What Makes This Program Different? Discord first learning: Experience higher engagement and deeper connections. Curriculum-anchored activities: Every event is designed to build on what youâve learned in the open-source curriculums. AI-powered study plans and resources: Get starter notebooks, prompt cards, and recap templates to accelerate your progress. Resources Hands-on workshop: https://aka.ms/ds-agents Data Science for beginner's curriculum: https://aka.ms/ds4beginners Machine Learning for beginner's curriculum: https://aka.ms/ml4beginners Ready to transform your learning journey? Join us for these exciting events and join us in the Azure AI Foundry Discord community. Whether youâre just starting out or looking to deepen your skills, thereâs a place for you here!Quest 1 â I Want to Build a Local Gen AI Prototype
In this quest, youâll build a local Gen AI app prototype using JavaScript or TypeScript. Youâll explore open-source models via GitHub, test them in a visual playground, and use them in real code â all from the comfort of VS Code with the AI Toolkit. Itâs fast, hands-on, and sets you up to build real AI apps, starting with a sketch.JS AI Build-a-thon Setup in 5 Easy Steps
đĽ TL;DR â Youâre 5 Steps Away from an AI Adventure Set up your project repo, follow the quests, build cool stuff, and level up. Everythingâs automated, community-backed, and designed to help you actually learn AI â using the skills you already have. Letâs build the future. One quest at a time. đ Join the Build-a-thon | Chat on Discordđ¨Introducing the JS AI Build-a-thon đ¨
Weâre entering a future where AI-first and agentic developer experiences will shape how we build â and you donât want to be left behind. This isnât your average hackathon. Itâs a hands-on, quest-driven learning experience designed for developers, packed with: Interactive quests that guide you step by step â from your first prototype to production-ready apps Community-powered support via our dedicated Discord and local, community-led study jams Showcase moments to share your journey, get inspired, and celebrate what you build Whether you're just starting your AI journey or looking to sharpen your skills with frameworks like LangChain.js, tools like the Azure AI Foundry and AI Toolkit Extensions, or diving deeper into agentic app design â this is your moment to start building.How to use Comments as Prompts in GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio
GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can run in various environments and help you be more efficient in your daily coding tasks. In this new short video, Bruno shows you how to use inline comments to generate code with GitHub Copilot.European AI and Cloud Summit 2025
Dusseldorf , Germany added 3,000+ tech enthusiast and hosted the Microsoft for Startups Cloud AI Pitch Competition between May 26-28, 2025. We were pleased to attend the European AI Cloud and Collaboration Summits and Biz Apps Summitâ to participate and to gain so much back from everyone. It was a packed week filled with insights, feedback, and fun. Below is a recap of various aspects of the event - across keynotes, general sessions, breakout sessions, and the Expo Hall. The event in a nutshell: 3,000+ attendees 237 speakers overall â 98 Microsoft Valued Professionals, 16 Microsoft Valued Professional Regional Directorss, 51 from Microsoft Product Groups and Engineering 306 sessions | 13 tutorials (workshops) 70 sponsors | One giant Expo Hall PreDay Workshop AI Beginner Development Powerclass This workshop is designed to give you a hands-on introduction to the core concepts and best practices for interacting with OpenAI models in Azure AI Foundry portal. Innovate with Azure OpenAI's GPT-4o multimodal model in this hands-on experience in Azure AI Foundry. Learn the core concepts and best practices to effectively generate with text, sound, and images using GPT-4o-mini, DALL-E and GPT-4o-realtime. Create AI assistants that enhance user experiences and drive innovation. Workshop for you azure-ai-foundry/ai-tutorials: This repo includes a collection of tutorials to help you get started with building Generative AI applications using Azure AI Foundry. Each tutorial is designed to be self-contained and provides step-by-step instructions to guide you in the development process. Keynotes & general sessions Day 1 Keynote The Future of AI Is Already Here, Marco Casalaina, VP Products of Azure AI and AI Futurist at Microsoft This session discussed the new and revolutionary changes that you're about to see in AI - and how many of them are available for you to try now. Marco shared how AI is becoming ubiquitous, multimodal, multilingual, and autonomous, and how it will change our lives and our businesses. This session covered: ⢠Incredible advances in multilingual AI ⢠How Copilot (and every AI) are grounded to data, and how we do it in Azure OpenAI ⢠Responsible AI, including evaluation for correctness, and real time content safety ⢠The rise of AI Agents ⢠And how AI is going to move from question-answering to taking action Day 2 Keynote Leveraging Microsoft AI: Navigating the EU AI Act and Unlocking Future Opportunities, Azar Koulibaly, General Manager and Associate General Counsel This session was for developers and business decision makers, Azar set the stage for Microsoftâs advancements in AI and how they align with the latest regulatory framework. Exploring the EU AI Act, its key components, and its implications for AI development and deployment within the European Union. The audience gained a comprehensive understanding of the EU AI Act's objectives, including the promotion of trustworthy AI, the mitigation of risks, and the enhancement of transparency and accountability. Learning aboutMicrosoft's Cloud and AI Services provide robust support for compliance with these new regulations, ensuring that your AI projects are both innovative and legally sound and Microsoft trust center resources. He delved into the opportunities that come with using Microsoftâs state-of-the-art tools, services, and technologies. Discover how partnering with Microsoft can accelerate your AI initiatives, drive business growth, and create competitive advantages in an evolving regulatory landscape. Join us to unlock the full potential of AI while navigating the complexities of the EU AI Act with confidence. General Sessions It is crucial to ensure your organization is technically ready for the full potential of AI. The sessions focused on technical readinessâŻand ensuring you have the latest guidance. Our experts will shared the best practices and provide guidance on how to leverage AI and Azure AI Foundry to maximize the benefits of Agents, LLM and Generative within your organization. Expo Hall + Cloud AI Statup Stage + tutorials The Expo Hall was Buzzing with demos, discussions, interviews, podcasts, lightning talks, popcorn, catering trucks, cotton candy, SWAG, prizes, and community. There was a busy Cloud AI StartupStage, a Business Stage, and shorter talks delivered in front of a shiny airstream trailer. Cloud AI Startup Stage This was a highly informative and engaging event focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential for startups. The Microsoft for Startups is a platform to provide startups with the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed. This portion of the event offered value to budding entrepreneurs and established startups looking to scale. For example, on day 2, we focused on accelerating innovation with Microsoft Founders Hub and Azure AI. Startups could kickstart their journey with Azure credits and gain access to 30+ tools and services, benefiting from additional credits and offerings as they evolve. Itâs a great way for Startups to navigate technical and business challenges. Cloud AI Startup Pitch The Microsoft for Startups AI Pitch Competition and Startup Stage at European Cloud Summit 2025 This was a highly informative and engaging event focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential for startups. The Microsoft Startup Programme was introduced as a platform that provides startups with the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed. The AI Empowerment session provided an in-depth overview of the various AI services available through Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and how these cutting-edge technologies can be integrated into business operations. This was perfect for startups looking to get started with AI or those interested in joining the Microsoft Startup Programme. The Spotlight on Innovation session showcased innovative startups from the European Cloud Summit, giving attendees a unique insight into the cutting-edge ideas that are shaping our future. The Empowering Innovation session featured a panel of experts and successful startup founders sharing insights on leveraging Microsoft technologies, navigating the startup ecosystem, and securing funding. This was valuable for budding entrepreneurs or established startups looking to scale. Startup Showcases Holistic AI - End to End AI Governance Platform, Raj Bharat Patel, Securing Advantage in the Era of Agentic AI With this autonomy comes high variability: the difference between a minor efficiency and a major one could mean millions in savings. Conversely, a seemingly small misstep could cascade into catastrophic reputational or compliance risk. The stakes are highâbut so is the potential. The next frontier introduces a new paradigm: AI managing AI. As organizations deploy swarms of autonomous agents across business functions, the challenge expands beyond governing human-AI interactions. Now, it's about ensuring that AI agents can monitor, evaluate, and optimize each otherâin real time, at scale. This demands a shift in both architecture and mindset: toward native-AI platforms and a new human role, moving from human-in-the-loop to human-on-the-loopâstrategically overseeing autonomous systems, not micromanaging them. In this session, Raj Bharat Patel will explore how forward-thinking enterprises can prepare for this emerging realityâbuilding governance and orchestration infrastructures that enable scale, speed, and safety in the age of agentic AI. D-ID | The #1 Choice for AI Generated Video Creation Platform, Yaniv Levi In a world increasingly powered by AI, how do we make digital experiences feel more human? At D-ID we enable businesses to create lifelike, interactive avatars that are transforming the way users communicate with AI, making it more intuitive, personal, and memorable. In this session, weâll share how our collaboration with Microsoft for Startups helped us scale and innovate, enabling seamless integration with Microsoftâs tools to enhance customer-facing AI agents, and LLM-powered solutions while adding a powerful and personalized new layer of humanlike expression. Startup Pitch Competition Day 2 of the event focused on accelerating innovation with Microsoft Starups and Azure AI Foundry. Startups can kickstart their journey with Azure credits and gain access to 30+ tools and services, benefiting from additional credits and offerings as they evolve. The Azure AI Foundry provides access to an extensive range of AI models, including OpenAI, Meta, Nvidia, Hugging Face. Moreover, startups can navigate through technical and business challenges with the help of free 1:1 sessions with Microsoft experts. The Cloud Startup Stage Competition showcased the most innovative startups in the Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI ecosystem, highlighting their groundbreaking solutions and business models. This was a celebration of innovation and success and provided insights into the experiences, challenges, and future plans of these startups The Judges The Pitches . The Winners 1 st Place Graia 2 nd Place iThink365 3 rd Place ShArc Overall, this event was highly informative, engaging, and valuable for anyone interested in AI and its potential for startups. The Microsoft Startup Programme and Azure AI Foundry are powerful tools that can help startups achieve success and transform their ideas into successful businesses. In the end... We are grateful for this year's active and engaging #CollabSummit & #CloudSummit #BizAppSummitâ so much goodness, caring, learning, and fun! Great questions, stories, understanding of your concerns, and the sharing in fun. Thank you and see you next year! We look forward to seeing in Cololgne - May 5-7, 2025 â Collaboration Summit (@CollabSummit), Cloud Summit (@EUCloudSummit), and BizApps Summit (@BizAppsSummit) and continue the discussion around AI in our Azure AI Discord CommunityUsing DeepSeek-R1 on Azure with JavaScript
The pace at which innovative AI models are being developed is outstanding! DeepSeek-R1 is one such model that focuses on complex reasoning tasks, providing a powerful tool for developers to build intelligent applications. The week, we announced its availability on GitHub Models as well as on Azure AI Foundry. In this article, weâll take a look at how you can deploy and use the DeepSeek-R1 models in your JavaScript applications. TL;DR key takeaways DeepSeek-R1 models focus on complex reasoning tasks, and is not designed for general conversation You can quickly switch your configuration to use Azure AI, GitHub Models, or even local models with Ollama. You can use OpenAI Node SDK or LangChain.js to interact with DeepSeek models. What you'll learn here Deploying DeepSeek-R1 model on Azure. Switching between Azure, GitHub Models, or local (Ollama) usage. Code patterns to start using DeepSeek-R1 with various libraries in TypeScript. Reference links DeepSeek on Azure - JavaScript demos repository Azure AI Foundry OpenAI Node SDK LangChain.js Ollama Requirements GitHub account. If you don't have one, you can create a free GitHub account. You can optionally use GitHub Copilot Free to help you write code and ship your application even faster. Azure account. If you're new to Azure, get an Azure account for free to get free Azure credits to get started. If you're a student, you can also get free credits with Azure for Students. Getting started We'll use GitHub Codespaces to get started quickly, as it provides a preconfigured Node.js environment for you. Alternatively, you can set up a local environment using the instructions found in the GitHub repository. Click on the button below to open our sample repository in a web-based VS Code, directly in your browser: Once the project is open, wait a bit to ensure everything has loaded correctly. Open a terminal and run the following command to install the dependencies: npm install Running the samples The repository contains several TypeScript files under the samples directory that demonstrate how to interact with DeepSeek-R1 models. You can run a sample using the following command: npx tsx samples/<sample>.ts For example, let's start with the first one: npx tsx samples/01-chat.ts Wait a bit, and you should see the response from the model in your terminal. You'll notice that it may take longer than usual to respond, and see a weird response that starts with a <think> tag. This is because DeepSeek-R1 is designed to be used for task that need complex reasoning, like solving problems or answering math questions, and not for you usual chat interactions. Model configuration By default, the repository is configured to use GitHub Models, so you can run any example using Codespaces without any additional setup. While it's great for quick experimentation, GitHub models limit the number of requests you can make in a day and the amount of data you can send in a single request. If you want to use the model more extensively, you can switch to Azure AI or even use a local model with Ollama. You can take a look at the samples/config.ts to see how the different configurations are set up. We'll not cover using Ollama models in this article, but you can find more information in the repository documentation. Deploying DeepSeek-R1 on Azure To experiment with the full capabilities of DeepSeek-R1, you can deploy it on Azure AI Foundry. Azure AI Foundry is a platform that allows you to deploy, manage and develop with AI models quickly. To use Azure AI Foundry, you need to have an Azure account. Let's start by deploying the model on Azure AI Foundry. First, follow this tutorial to deploy a serverless endpoint with the model. When it's time to choose the model, make sure to select the DeepSeek-R1 model in the catalog. Once your endpoint is deployed, you should be able to see your endpoint details and retrieve the URL and API key: Screenshot showing the endpoint details in Azure AI Foundry Then create a .env file in the root of the project and add the following content: AZURE_AI_BASE_URL="https://<your-deployment-name>.<region>.models.ai.azure.com/v1" AZURE_AI_API_KEY="<your-api-key>" Tip: if you're copying the endpoint from the Azure AI Foundry portal, make sure to add the /v1 at the end of the URL. Open the samples/config.ts file and update the default export to use Azure: export default AZURE_AI_CONFIG; Now all samples will use the Azure configuration. Explore reasoning with DeepSeek-R1 Now that you have the model deployed, you can start experimenting with it. Open the samples/08-reasoning.ts file to see how the model handles more complex tasks, like helping us understand a well-known weird piece of code. const prompt = ` float fast_inv_sqrt(float number) { long i; float x2, y; const float threehalfs = 1.5F; x2 = number * 0.5F; y = number; i = *(long*)&y; i = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 ); y = *(float*)&i; y = y * ( threehalfs - ( x2 * y * y ) ); return y; } What is this code doing? Explain me the magic behind it. `; Now run this sample with the command: npx tsx samples/08-reasoning.ts You should see the model's response streaming piece by piece in the terminal, while describing its thought process before providing the actual answer to our question. Screenshot showing the model's response streaming in the terminal Brace yourself, as it might take a while to get the full response! At the end of the process, you should see the model's detailed explanation of the code, along with some context around it. Leveraging frameworks Most examples in this repository are built with the OpenAI Node SDK, but you can also use LangChain.js to interact with the model. This might be especially interested if you need to integrate other sources of data or want to build a more complex application. Open the file samples/07-langchain.ts to have a look at the setup, and see how you can reuse the same configuration we used with the OpenAI SDK. Going further Now it's your turn to experiment and discover the full potential of DeepSeek-R1! You can try more advanced prompts, integrate it into your larger application, or even build agents to make the most out of the model. To continue your learning journey, you can check out the following resources: Generative AI with JavaScript (GitHub): code samples and resources to learn Generative AI with JavaScript. Build a serverless AI chat with RAG using LangChain.js (GitHub): a next step code example to build an AI chatbot using Retrieval-Augmented Generation and LangChain.js.Week 2 . Microsoft Agents Hack Online Events and Readiness Resources
https://aka.ms/agentshack 2025 is the year of AI agents! But what exactly is an agent, and how can you build one? Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, this FREE three-week virtual hackathon is your chance to dive deep into AI agent development. Register Now: https://aka.ms/agentshack đĽ Learn from expert-led sessions streamed live on YouTube, covering top frameworks like Semantic Kernel, Autogen, the new Azure AI Agents SDK and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK. Week 2 Events: April 14th-18th Day/Time Topic Track 4/14 08:00 AM PT Building custom engine agents with Azure AI Foundry and Visual Studio Code Copilots 4/15 07:00 AM PT Your first AI Agent in JS with Azure AI Agent Service JS 4/15 09:00 AM PT Building Agentic Applications with AutoGen v0.4 Python 4/15 12:00 PM PT AI Agents + .NET Aspire C# 4/15 03:00 PM PT Prototyping AI Agents with GitHub Models Python 4/16 04:00 AM PT Multi-agent AI apps with Semantic Kernel and Azure Cosmos DB C# 4/16 06:00 AM PT Building declarative agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio & Teams Toolkit Copilots 4/16 07:00 AM PT Prompting is the New Scripting: Meet GenAIScript JS 4/16 09:00 AM PT Building agents with an army of models from the Azure AI model catalog Python 4/16 12:00 PM PT Multi-Agent API with LangGraph and Azure Cosmos DB Python 4/16 03:00 PM PT Mastering Agentic RAG Python 4/17 06:00 AM PT Build your own agent with OpenAI, .NET, and Copilot Studio C# 4/17 09:00 AM PT Building smarter Python AI agents with code interpreters Python 4/17 12:00 PM PT Building Java AI Agents using LangChain4j and Dynamic Sessions Java 4/17 03:00 PM PT Agentic Voice Mode Unplugged Python
