Quickstart: Run your first Resource Graph query using Azure PowerShell

The first step to using Azure Resource Graph is to check that the module for Azure PowerShell is installed. This quickstart walks you through the process of adding the module to your Azure PowerShell installation.

At the end of this process, you'll have added the module to your Azure PowerShell installation of choice and run your first Resource Graph query.

Prerequisites

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Azure Cloud Shell

Azure hosts Azure Cloud Shell, an interactive shell environment that you can use through your browser. You can use either Bash or PowerShell with Cloud Shell to work with Azure services. You can use the Cloud Shell preinstalled commands to run the code in this article, without having to install anything on your local environment.

To start Azure Cloud Shell:

Option	Example/Link
Select Try It in the upper-right corner of a code or command block. Selecting Try It doesn't automatically copy the code or command to Cloud Shell.
Go to https://shell.azure.com, or select the Launch Cloud Shell button to open Cloud Shell in your browser.
Select the Cloud Shell button on the menu bar at the upper right in the Azure portal.

To use Azure Cloud Shell:

1. Start Cloud Shell.

2. Select the Copy button on a code block (or command block) to copy the code or command.

3. Paste the code or command into the Cloud Shell session by selecting Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows and Linux, or by selecting Cmd+Shift+V on macOS.

4. Select Enter to run the code or command.

Add the Resource Graph module

To enable Azure PowerShell to query Azure Resource Graph, the module must be added. This module can be used with locally installed PowerShell, with Azure Cloud Shell, or with the PowerShell Docker image.

Base requirements

The Azure Resource Graph module requires the following software:

• Azure PowerShell 1.0.0 or higher. If it isn't yet installed, follow these instructions.

• PowerShellGet 2.0.1 or higher. If it isn't installed or updated, follow these instructions.

Install the module

The Resource Graph module for PowerShell is Az.ResourceGraph.

1. From an administrative PowerShell prompt, run the following command:

   # Install the Resource Graph module from PowerShell Gallery
   Install-Module -Name Az.ResourceGraph
   

2. Validate that the module has been imported and is at least version 0.11.0:

   # Get a list of commands for the imported Az.ResourceGraph module
   Get-Command -Module 'Az.ResourceGraph' -CommandType 'Cmdlet'
   

Run your first Resource Graph query

With the Azure PowerShell module added to your environment of choice, it's time to try out a simple tenant-based Resource Graph query. The query returns the first five Azure resources with the Name and Resource Type of each resource. To query by management group or subscription, use the -ManagementGroup or -Subscription parameters.

1. Run your first Azure Resource Graph query using the Search-AzGraph cmdlet:

   # Login first with Connect-AzAccount if not using Cloud Shell
   
   # Run Azure Resource Graph query
   Search-AzGraph -Query 'Resources | project name, type | limit 5'
   

   Note

   As this query example doesn't provide a sort modifier such as order by, running this query multiple times is likely to yield a different set of resources per request.

2. Update the query to order by the Name property:

   # Run Azure Resource Graph query with 'order by'
   Search-AzGraph -Query 'Resources | project name, type | limit 5 | order by name asc'
   

   Note

   Just as with the first query, running this query multiple times is likely to yield a different set of resources per request. The order of the query commands is important. In this example, the order by comes after the limit. This command order first limits the query results and then orders them.

3. Update the query to first order by the Name property and then limit to the top five results:

   # Store the query in a variable
   $query = 'Resources | project name, type | order by name asc | limit 5'
   
   # Run Azure Resource Graph query with `order by` first, then with `limit`
   Search-AzGraph -Query $query
   

When the final query is run several times, assuming that nothing in your environment changes, the results returned are consistent and ordered by the Name property, but still limited to the top five results.

Note

If the query does not return results from a subscription you already have access to, then note that Search-AzGraph cmdlet defaults to subscriptions in the default context. To see the list of subscription IDs which are part of the default context run this (Get-AzContext).Account.ExtendedProperties.Subscriptions If you wish to search across all the subscriptions you have access to, one can set the PSDefaultParameterValues for Search-AzGraph cmdlet by running $PSDefaultParameterValues=@{"Search-AzGraph:Subscription"= $(Get-AzSubscription).ID}

Clean up resources

If you wish to remove the Resource Graph module from your Azure PowerShell environment, you can do so by using the following command:

# Remove the Resource Graph module from the current session
Remove-Module -Name 'Az.ResourceGraph'

# Uninstall the Resource Graph module from the environment
Uninstall-Module -Name 'Az.ResourceGraph'

Note

This doesn't delete the module file downloaded earlier. It only removes it from the running PowerShell session.

Next steps

In this quickstart, you've added the Resource Graph module to your Azure PowerShell environment and run your first query. To learn more about the Resource Graph language, continue to the query language details page.

Get more information about the query language