Parameters and data types in environment.yaml

ADE environment definitions are infrastructure as code (IaC), written in Bicep or Terraform, stored in repositories. Environment definitions can be modified and adapted for your specific requirements and then used to create a deployment environment on Azure. The environment.yaml schema defines and describes the types of Azure resources included in environment definitions.

What is environment.yaml?

The environment.yaml file acts as a manifest, describing the resources used and the template location for the environment definition.

Sample environment.yaml

The following script is a generic example of an environment.yaml required for your environment definition.

name: WebApp
version: 1.0.0
summary: Azure Web App Environment
description: Deploys a web app in Azure without a datastore
runner: ARM
templatePath: azuredeploy.json

Definitions

The following table describes the properties that you can use in environment.yaml.

Property	Type	Description	Required	Examples
name	string	The display name of the catalog item.	Yes
version	string	The version of the catalog item.		1.0.0
summary	string	A short summary string about the catalog item.
description	string	A description of the catalog item.
runner	string	The container image to use when executing actions.		ARM template Terraform
templatePath	string	The relative path of the entry template file.	Yes	main.tf main.bicep azuredeploy.json
parameters	array	Input parameters to use when creating the environment and executing actions.		#/definitions/Parameter

Parameters in environment.yaml

Parameters enable you to reuse an environment definition in different scenarios. For example, you might want developers in different regions to deploy the same environment. You can define a location parameter to prompt the developer to enter the desired location as they create their environment.

Sample environment.yaml with parameters

The following script is an example of a environment.yaml file that includes two parameters; location and name:

name: WebApp
summary: Azure Web App Environment
description: Deploys a web app in Azure without a datastore
runner: ARM
templatePath: azuredeploy.json
parameters:
- id: "location"
  name: "location"
  description: "Location to deploy the environment resources"
  default: "[resourceGroup().location]"
  type: "string"
  required: false
- id: "name"
  name: "name"
  description: "Name of the Web App "
  default: ""
  type: "string"
  required: false

Parameter definitions

The following table describes the data types that you can use in environment.yaml. The data type names used in the environment.yaml manifest file differ from the ones used in ARM templates.

Each parameter can use any of the following properties:

Properties	Type	Description	Further Settings
ID	string	Unique ID of the parameter.
name	string	Display name of the parameter.
description	string	Description of the parameter.
default	array boolean integer number object string	The default value of the parameter.
type	array boolean integer number object string	The data type of the parameter. This data type must match the parameter data type in the ARM template, BICEP file, or Terraform file with the corresponding parameter name.	Default type: string
readOnly	boolean	Whether or not this parameter is read-only.
required	boolean	Whether or not this parameter is required.
allowed	array	An array of allowed values.	"items": { "type": "string" }, "minItems": 1, "uniqueItems": true,

YAML schema

There's a defined schema for Azure Deployment Environments environment.yaml files, which can make editing these files a little easier. You can add the schema definition to the beginning of your environment.yaml file:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://github.com/Azure/deployment-environments/releases/download/2022-11-11-preview/manifest.schema.json

Here's an example environment definition that uses the schema:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://github.com/Azure/deployment-environments/releases/download/2022-11-11-preview/manifest.schema.json
name: FunctionApp
version: 1.0.0
summary: Azure Function App Environment
description: Deploys an Azure Function App, Storage Account, and Application Insights
runner: ARM
templatePath: azuredeploy.json

parameters:
  - id: name
    name: Name
    description: 'Name of the Function App.'
    type: string
    required: true

  - id: supportsHttpsTrafficOnly
    name: 'Supports Https Traffic Only'
    description: 'Allows https traffic only to Storage Account and Functions App if set to true.'
    type: boolean

  - id: runtime
    name: Runtime
    description: 'The language worker runtime to load in the function app.'
    type: string
    allowed:
      - 'dotnet'
      - 'dotnet-isolated'
      - 'java'
      - 'node'
      - 'powershell'
      - 'python'
    default: 'dotnet-isolated'

Related content

• Add and configure an environment definition in Azure Deployment Environments
• Parameters in ARM templates
• Data types in ARM templates