Quickstart: Deploy to Azure Container Apps using Visual Studio Code

Azure Container Apps enables you to run microservices and containerized applications on a serverless platform. With Container Apps, you enjoy the benefits of running containers while leaving behind the concerns of manually configuring cloud infrastructure and complex container orchestrators.

In this tutorial, you'll deploy a containerized application to Azure Container Apps using Visual Studio Code.

Prerequisites

• An Azure account with an active subscription is required. If you don't already have one, you can create an account for free.
• Visual Studio Code, available as a free download.
• The following Visual Studio Code extensions installed:
  • The Azure Account extension
  • The Azure Container Apps extension
  • The Docker extension

Clone the project

1. Begin by cloning the sample repository to your machine using the following command.

   git clone https://github.com/Azure-Samples/containerapps-albumapi-javascript.git
   

   Note

   This tutorial uses a JavaScript project, but the steps are language agnostic.

2. Open Visual Studio Code.

3. Select F1 to open the command palette.

4. Select File > Open Folder... and select the folder where you cloned the sample project.

Sign in to Azure

1. Select F1 to open the command palette.

2. Select Azure: Sign In and follow the prompts to authenticate.

3. Once signed in, return to Visual Studio Code.

Create the container registry and Docker image

Docker images contain the source code and dependencies necessary to run an application. This sample project includes a Dockerfile used to build the application's container. Since you can build and publish the image for your app directly in Azure, a local Docker installation isn't required.

Container images are stored inside container registries. You can create a container registry and upload an image of your app in a single workflow using Visual Studio Code.

1. In the Explorer window, expand the src folder to reveal the Dockerfile.

2. Right select on the Dockerfile, and select Build Image in Azure.

   This action opens the command palette and prompts you to define a container tag.

3. Enter a tag for the container. Accept the default, which is the project name with a run ID suffix.

4. Select the Azure subscription that you want to use.

5. Select + Create new registry, or if you already have a registry you'd like to use, select that item and skip to creating and deploying to the container app.

6. Enter a unique name for the new registry such as msdocscapps123, where 123 are unique numbers of your own choosing, and then select enter.

   Container registry names must be globally unique across all over Azure.

7. Select Basic as the SKU.

8. Choose + Create new resource group, or select an existing resource group you'd like to use.

   For a new resource group, enter a name such as msdocscontainerapps, and press enter.

9. Select the location that is nearest to you. Select Enter to finalize the workflow, and Azure begins creating the container registry and building the image.

   This process may take a few moments to complete.

10. Select Linux as the image base operating system (OS).

Once the registry is created and the image is built successfully, you're ready to create the container app to host the published image.

Create and deploy to the container app

The Azure Container Apps extension for Visual Studio Code enables you to choose existing Container Apps resources, or create new ones to deploy your applications to. In this scenario, you create a new Container App environment and container app to host your application. After installing the Container Apps extension, you can access its features under the Azure control panel in Visual Studio Code.

Create the Container Apps environment

Every container app must be part of a Container Apps environment. An environment provides an isolated network for one or more container apps, making it possible for them to easily invoke each other. You'll need to create an environment before you can create the container app itself.

1. Select F1 to open the command palette.

2. Enter Azure Container Apps: Create Container Apps Environment... and enter the following values as prompted by the extension.

   Prompt	Value
   Name	Enter my-aca-environment
   Region	Select the region closest to you

Once you issue this command, Azure begins to create the environment for you. This process may take a few moments to complete. Creating a container app environment also creates a log analytics workspace for you in Azure.

Create the container app and deploy the Docker image

Now that you have a container app environment in Azure you can create a container app inside of it. You can also publish the Docker image you created earlier as part of this workflow.

1. Select F1 to open the command palette.

2. Enter Azure Container Apps: Create Container App... and enter the following values as prompted by the extension.

   Prompt	Value	Remarks
   Environment	Select my-aca-environment
   Name	Enter my-container-app
   Container registry	Select Azure Container Registries, then select the registry you created as you published the container image.
   Repository	Select the container registry repository where you published the container image.
   Tag	Select latest
   Environment variables	Select Skip for now
   Ingress	Select Enable
   HTTP traffic type	Select External
   Port	Enter 3500	You set this value to the port number that your container uses.

During this process, Visual Studio Code and Azure create the container app for you. The published Docker image you created earlier is also be deployed to the app. Once this process finishes, Visual Studio Code displays a notification with a link to browse to the site. Select this link, and to view your app in the browser.

You can also append the /albums path at the end of the app URL to view data from a sample API request.

Congratulations! You successfully created and deployed your first container app using Visual Studio code.

Clean up resources

If you're not going to continue to use this application, you can delete the Azure Container Apps instance and all the associated services at once by removing the resource group.

Follow these steps in the Azure portal to remove the resources you created:

1. Select the msdocscontainerapps resource group from the Overview section.
2. Select the Delete resource group button at the top of the resource group Overview.
3. Enter the resource group name msdocscontainerapps in the Are you sure you want to delete "my-container-apps" confirmation dialog.
4. Select Delete.
   The process to delete the resource group may take a few minutes to complete.

Tip

Having issues? Let us know on GitHub by opening an issue in the Azure Container Apps repo.

Next steps

Environments in Azure Container Apps