Bicep CLI commands

This article describes the commands you can use in the Bicep CLI. You have two options for executing these commands: either by utilizing Azure CLI or by directly invoking Bicep CLI commands. Each method requires a distinct installation process. For more information, see Install Azure CLI and Install Azure PowerShell.

This article shows how to run the commands in Azure CLI. When running through Azure CLI, you start the commands with az. If you're not using Azure CLI, run the commands without az at the start of the command. For example, az bicep build becomes bicep build, and az bicep version becomes bicep --version.

build

The build command converts a Bicep file to an Azure Resource Manager template (ARM template). Typically, you don't need to run this command because it runs automatically when you deploy a Bicep file. Run it manually when you want to see the ARM template JSON that is created from your Bicep file.

Using any of following Bicep features automatically enables language version 2.0 code generation:

• user-defined types
• user-defined functions
• compile-time imports
• experimental features

The following example converts a Bicep file named main.bicep to an ARM template named main.json. The new file is created in the same directory as the Bicep file.

az bicep build --file main.bicep

The next example saves main.json to a different directory.

az bicep build --file main.bicep --outdir c:\jsontemplates

The next example specifies the name and location of the file to create.

az bicep build --file main.bicep --outfile c:\jsontemplates\azuredeploy.json

To print the file to stdout, use:

az bicep build --file main.bicep --stdout

If your Bicep file includes a module that references an external registry, the build command automatically calls restore. The restore command gets the file from the registry and stores it in the local cache.

Note

The restore command doesn't refresh the cache. For more information, see restore.

To not call restore automatically, use the --no-restore switch:

az bicep build --no-restore <bicep-file>

The build process with the --no-restore switch fails if one of the external modules isn't already cached:

The module with reference "br:exampleregistry.azurecr.io/bicep/modules/storage:v1" has not been restored.

When you get this error, either run the build command without the --no-restore switch or run bicep restore first.

To use the --no-restore switch, you must have Bicep CLI version 0.4.X or higher.

build-params

The build-params command builds a .bicepparam file into a JSON parameters file.

az bicep build-params --file params.bicepparam

This command converts a params.bicepparam parameters file into a params.json JSON parameters file.

decompile

The decompile command converts ARM template JSON to a Bicep file.

az bicep decompile --file main.json

The command creates a file named main.bicep in the same directory as main.json. If main.bicep exists in the same directory, use the --force switch to overwrite the existing Bicep file.

For more information about using this command, see Decompiling ARM template JSON to Bicep.

decompile-params

The decompile-params command decompile a JSON parameters file to a .bicepparam parameters file.

az bicep decompile-params --file azuredeploy.parameters.json --bicep-file ./dir/main.bicep

This command decompiles a azuredeploy.parameters.json parameters file into a azuredeploy.parameters.bicepparam file. --bicep-file specifies the path to the Bicep file (relative to the .bicepparam file) that is referenced in the using declaration.

format

The format command format a Bicep file. It has the same function as the SHIFT+ALT+F shortcut in Visual Studio Code.

az bicep format --file main.bicep

generate-params

The generate-params command builds a parameters file from the given Bicep file, updates if there's an existing parameters file.

az bicep generate-params --file main.bicep --output-format bicepparam --include-params all

The command creates a Bicep parameters file named main.bicepparam. The parameter file contains all parameters in the Bicep file, whether configured with default values or not.

az bicep generate-params --file main.bicep --outfile main.parameters.json

The command creates a parameter file named main.parameters.json. The parameter file only contains the parameters without default values configured in the Bicep file.

install

The install command adds the Bicep CLI to your local environment. For more information, see Install Bicep tools. This command is only available through Azure CLI.

To install the latest version, use:

az bicep install

To install a specific version:

az bicep install --version v0.3.255

jsonrpc

The jsonrpc command enables running the Bicep CLI with a JSON-RPC interface, allowing for programmatic interaction with structured output and avoiding cold-start delays when compiling multiple files. This setup also supports building libraries to interact with Bicep files programmatically in non-.NET languages.

The wire format for sending and receiving input/output is header-delimited, using the following structure, where \r and \n represent carriage return and line feed characters:

Content-Length: <length>\r\n\r\n<message>\r\n\r\n

• <length> is the length of the <message> string, including the trailing \r\n\r\n.
• <message> is the raw JSON message.

For example:

Content-Length: 72\r\n\r\n{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 0, "method": "bicep/version", "params": {}}\r\n\r\n

The following message shows an example for Bicep version.

• The input:

  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 0,
    "method": "bicep/version",
    "params": {}
  }
  

• The output:

  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 0,
    "result": {
      "version": "0.24.211"
    }
  }
  

For the available methods & request/response bodies, see ICliJsonRpcProtocol.cs. For an example establishing a JSONRPC connection and interacting with Bicep files programmatically using Node, see jsonrpc.test.ts.

Usage for named pipe

Use the following syntax to connect to an existing named pipe as a JSONRPC client.

bicep jsonrpc --pipe <named_pipe>`

<named_pipe> is an existing named pipe to connect the JSONRPC client to.

To connect to a named pipe on OSX/Linux :

bicep jsonrpc --pipe /tmp/bicep-81375a8084b474fa2eaedda1702a7aa40e2eaa24b3.sock

To connect to a named pipe on Windows :

bicep jsonrpc --pipe \\.\pipe\\bicep-81375a8084b474fa2eaedda1702a7aa40e2eaa24b3.sock`

For more examples, see C# and node.js.

Usage for TCP socket

Use the following syntax to connect to an existing TCP socket as a JSONRPC client.

bicep jsonrpc --socket <tcp_socket>

<tcp_socket> is a socket number to connect the JSONRPC client to.

To connect to a TCP socket

bicep jsonrpc --socket 12345

Usage for stdin and stdout

Use the following syntax to run the JSONRPC interface using stdin & stdout for messages.

bicep jsonrpc --stdio

lint

The lint command returns the errors and the linter rule violations of a Bicep file.

az bicep lint --file main.bicep

If your Bicep file includes a module that references an external registry, the lint command automatically calls restore. The restore command gets the file from the registry and stores it in the local cache.

Note

The restore command doesn't refresh the cache. For more information, see restore.

To not call restore automatically, use the --no-restore switch:

az bicep lint --no-restore <bicep-file>

The lint process with the --no-restore switch fails if one of the external modules isn't already cached:

The module with reference "br:exampleregistry.azurecr.io/bicep/modules/storage:v1" has not been restored.

When you get this error, either run the lint command without the --no-restore switch or run bicep restore first.

list-versions

The list-versions command returns all available versions of the Bicep CLI. Use this command to see if you want to upgrade or install a new version. This command is only available through Azure CLI.

az bicep list-versions

The command returns an array of available versions.

[
  "v0.28.1",
  "v0.27.1",
  "v0.26.170",
  "v0.26.54",
  "v0.25.53",
  "v0.25.3",
  "v0.24.24",
  "v0.23.1",
  "v0.22.6",
  "v0.21.1",
  "v0.20.4",
  "v0.19.5",
  "v0.18.4",
  "v0.17.1",
  "v0.16.2",
  "v0.16.1",
  "v0.15.31",
  "v0.14.85",
  "v0.14.46",
  "v0.14.6",
  "v0.13.1",
  "v0.12.40",
  "v0.12.1",
  "v0.11.1",
  "v0.10.61",
  "v0.10.13",
  "v0.9.1",
  "v0.8.9",
  "v0.8.2",
  "v0.7.4"
]

publish

The publish command adds a module to a registry. The Azure container registry must exist and the account publishing to the registry must have the correct permissions. For more information about setting up a module registry, see Use private registry for Bicep modules. To publish a module, the account must have the correct profile and permissions to access the registry. You can configure the profile and credential precedence for authenticating to the registry in the Bicep config file.

After publishing the file to the registry, you can reference it in a module.

To use the publish command, you must have Bicep CLI version 0.14.X or higher. To use the --documentationUri/-d parameter, you must have Bicep CLI version 0.14.X or higher.

To publish a module to a registry, use:

az bicep publish --file <bicep-file> --target br:<registry-name>.azurecr.io/<module-path>:<tag> --documentationUri <documentation-uri>

For example:

az bicep publish --file storage.bicep --target br:exampleregistry.azurecr.io/bicep/modules/storage:v1 --documentationUri https://www.contoso.com/exampleregistry.html

The publish command doesn't recognize aliases specified in a bicepconfig.json file. Provide the full module path.

Warning

Publishing to the same target overwrites the old module. We recommend that you increment the version when updating.

restore

When your Bicep file uses modules that are published to a registry, the restore command gets copies of all the required modules from the registry. It stores those copies in a local cache. A Bicep file can only be built when the external files are available in the local cache. Normally, running restore isn't necessary as it's automatically triggered by the build process.

To restore external modules to the local cache, the account must have the correct profile and permissions to access the registry. You can configure the profile and credential precedence for authenticating to the registry in the Bicep config file.

To use the restore command, you must have Bicep CLI version 0.4.X or higher. This command is currently only available when calling the Bicep CLI directly. It's not currently available through the Azure CLI command.

To manually restore the external modules for a file, use:

az bicep restore --file <bicep-file> [--force]

The Bicep file you provide is the file you wish to deploy. It must contain a module that links to a registry. For example, you can restore the following file:

module stgModule 'br:exampleregistry.azurecr.io/bicep/modules/storage:v1' = {
  name: 'storageDeploy'
  params: {
    storagePrefix: 'examplestg1'
  }
}

The local cache is found in:

• On Windows

  %USERPROFILE%\.bicep\br\<registry-name>.azurecr.io\<module-path\<tag>
  

• On Linux

  /home/<username>/.bicep
  

• On Mac

  ~/.bicep
  

The restore command doesn't refresh the cache if a module is already cached. To fresh the cache, you can either delete the module path from the cache or use the --force switch with the restore command.

upgrade

The upgrade command updates your installed version with the latest version. This command is only available through Azure CLI.

az bicep upgrade

version

The version command returns your installed version.

az bicep version

The command shows the version number.

Bicep CLI version 0.22.6 (d62b94db31)

To call this command directly through the Bicep CLI, use:

bicep --version

If the Bicep CLI hasn't been installed, you'll encounter an error message stating that Bicep CLI wasn't found.

Next steps

To learn about deploying a Bicep file, see:

• Azure CLI
• Cloud Shell
• PowerShell