Announcement: Azure Logic Apps' New Data Mapper for Visual Studio Code (Preview)
We are excited to announce the public preview of Data Mapper, Azure Logic Apps' new data mapping extension available now in Visual Studio Code. This release offers a modern and unified experience for XSLT mapping and transformation in a singular tool.
Introducing gRPC API Support in Azure API Management Self-Hosted Gateway
We’re excited to announce the public preview of gRPC support in Azure API Management in the self-hosted gateway. This new feature allows customers to manage their gRPC services as APIs in Azure API Management. What is gRPC? gRPC is a modern, high-performance framework that enables seamless communication between services. Leveraging HTTP/2 for transport and Protocol Buffers (protobuf) as the interface description language, gRPC facilitates lightweight, efficient communication perfect for microservices architecture. What the Preview Includes Full gRPC support. Perform unary, client streaming, server streaming, and bidirectional streaming calls. First-Class Schema Support. Import and manage gRPC services using their protobuf definitions and have Azure API Management handle the rest. Security and Compliance. Implement standard Azure API Management policies to protect your gRPC services. Unified Management. Manage gRPC APIs alongside other API in a single Azure API Management service instance. Deployment Flexibility. Securely and efficiently manage APIs on-premises, Azure, and other clouds from an API Management service instance by deploying self-hosted gateway near your backend services. Getting Started Ensure you have an active Azure subscription. If not, sign up for a free account today. Navigate to the Azure portal and create a new API Management service instance or use an existing one. Deploy a self-hosted gateway to the environment of your choice. Import your gRPC service’s protobuf definition into Azure API Management. Configure policies, monitor performance, and secure your gRPC services just like you would with any other API. For more information on using gRPC with Azure API Management, check out our documentation. We also encourage you to share your feedback using the comments below.Update To API Management Workspaces Breaking Changes: Built-in Gateway & Tiers Support
What’s changing? If your API Management service uses preview workspaces on the built-in gateway and meets the tier-based limits below, those workspaces will continue to function as-is and will automatically transition to general availability once built-in gateway support is fully announced. API Management tier Limit of workspaces on built-in gateway Premium and Premium v2 Up to 30 workspaces Standard and Standard v2 Up to 5 workspaces Basic and Basic v2 Up to 1 workspace Developer Up to 1 workspace Why this change? We introduced the requirement for workspace gateways to improve reliability and scalability in large, federated API environments. While we continue to recommend workspace gateways, especially for scenarios that require greater scalability, isolation, and long-term flexibility, we understand that many customers have established workflows using the preview workspaces model or need workspaces support in non-Premium tiers. What’s not changing? Other aspects of the workspace-related breaking changes remain in effect. For example, service-level managed identities are not available within workspaces. In addition to workspaces support on the built-in gateway described in the section above, Premium and Premium v2 services will continue to support deploying workspaces with workspace gateways. Resources Workspaces in Azure API Management Original breaking changes announcements Reduced tier availability Requirement for workspace gateways
🚀 New in Azure API Management: MCP in v2 SKUs + external MCP-compliant server support
Your APIs are becoming tools. Your users are becoming agents. Your platform needs to adapt. Azure API Management is becoming the secure, scalable control plane for connecting agents, tools, and APIs — with governance built in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, we’re announcing two major updates to bring the power of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) in Azure API Management to more environments and scenarios: MCP support in v2 SKUs — now in public preview Expose existing MCP-compliant servers through API Management These features make it easier than ever to connect APIs and agents with enterprise-grade control—without rewriting your backends. Why MCP? MCP is an open protocol that enables AI agents—like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and Azure OpenAI—to discover and invoke APIs as tools. It turns traditional REST APIs into structured, secure tools that agents can call during execution — powering real-time, context-aware workflows. Why API Management for MCP? Azure API Management is the single, secure control plane for exposing and governing MCP capabilities — whether from your REST APIs, Azure-hosted services, or external MCP-compliant runtimes. With built-in support for: Security using OAuth 2.1, Microsoft Entra ID, API keys, IP filtering, and rate limiting. Outbound token injection via Credential Manager with policy-based routing. Monitoring and diagnostics using Azure Monitor, Logs, and Application Insights. Discovery and reuse with Azure API Center integration. Comprehensive policy engine for request/response transformation, caching, validation, header manipulation, throttling, and more. …you get end-to-end governance for both inbound and outbound agent interactions — with no new infrastructure or code rewrites. ✅ What’s New? 1. MCP support in v2 SKUs Previously available only in classic tiers (Basic, Standard, Premium), MCP support is now in public preview for v2 SKUs — Basic v2, Standard v2, and Premium v2 — with no pre-requisites or manual enablement required. You can now: Expose any REST API as an MCP server in v2 SKUs Protect it with Microsoft Entra ID, keys or tokens Register tools in Azure API Center 2. Expose existing MCP-compliant servers (pass-through scenario) Already using tools hosted in Logic Apps, Azure Functions, LangChain or custom runtimes? Now you can govern those external tool servers by exposing them through API Management. Use API Management to: Secure external MCP servers with OAuth, rate limits, and Credential Manager Monitor and log usage with Azure Monitor and Application Insights Unify discovery with internal tools via Azure API Center 🔗 You bring the tools. API Management brings the governance. 🧭 What’s Next We’re actively expanding MCP capabilities in API Management: Tool-level access policies for granular governance Support for MCP resources and prompts to expand beyond tools 📚 Get Started 📘 Expose APIs as MCP servers 🌐 Connect external MCP servers 🔐 Secure access to MCP servers 🔎 Discover tools in API Center Summary Azure API Management is your single control plane for agents, tools and APIs — whether you're building internal copilots or connecting external toolchains. This preview unlocks more flexibility, less friction, and a secure foundation for the next wave of agent-powered applications. No new infrastructure. Secure by default. Built for the future.Announcing the availability of TLS 1.3 in Azure API Management in Preview
TLS 1.3 is the latest version of the internet’s most deployed security protocol, which encrypts data to provide a secure communication channel between two endpoints. TLS 1.3 support in Azure API Management is planned to rollout during the first week of February 2024. The rollout will happen in stages, this means some regions will get it first as we roll out globally.Workspaces Are Now Generally Available In Azure API Management Premium v2
We’re excited to announce the general availability of workspaces and workspace gateways in the Premium v2 tier of Azure API Management! Premium v2 tier remains in preview at the time of this announcement. Workspaces enable management and governance of APIs at scale. Whether you're supporting hundreds of APIs across teams or enabling new lines of business to independently manage their APIs, workspaces make it easier to adopt a federated API management model with central governance, observability, and security. To start using workspaces in Premium v2: Create an API Management Premium v2 service in a region where workspaces are available. Follow the documentation to create and set up workspaces. Learn more about workspaces.
