Get started with Azure CLI

Azure CLI is a cross-platform tool that simplifies managing Azure resources from the command line. Optimized for automation and ease of use, it supports interactive sessions and scripting with straightforward commands that integrate seamlessly with the Azure Resource Manager model. You can start using it in your browser with Azure Cloud Shell or install it locally to use from your preferred terminal.

Install or run in Azure Cloud Shell

The easiest way to try Azure CLI is through Azure Cloud Shell, a browser-based shell with no installation required. Cloud Shell supports Bash and PowerShell and comes with the latest version of Azure CLI preinstalled.

To install Azure CLI locally, see How to install Azure CLI.

To check your version, run:

az version

Sign in to Azure

To start using Azure CLI with a local install, sign in:

1. Run the az login command.

   az login
   

   If Azure CLI can open your default browser, it initiates authorization code flow and opens the default browser to load an Azure sign-in page.

   Otherwise, it initiates the device code flow and instructs you to open a browser page at https://aka.ms/devicelogin. Then, enter the code displayed in your terminal.

   If no web browser is available or the web browser fails to open, you can force device code flow with az login --use-device-code.

2. Sign in with your account credentials in the browser.

Important

Starting in September 2025, Microsoft will require multifactor authentication (MFA) for Azure CLI and other command-line tools. This change applies only to Microsoft Entra ID user identities and doesn't affect workload identities such as service principals or managed identities.

If you're using az login with a username and password to authenticate scripts or automated workflows, now is the time to migrate to a workload identity.

After you sign in, a list of your subscriptions appears. The one marked isDefault: true is currently active. To change to a different subscription, run:

az account set --subscription "<subscription-id>"

Find commands

Azure CLI commands are organized as command groups. Each group represents an area of an Azure service. There are two options to find command groups:

• Use the az find command. For example, to search for command names containing vm, use the following example:

  az find vm
  

• Use the --help argument to get a complete list of subgroups within a reference group. The following example returns all subgroups for virtual machines:

  az vm --help
  

  The following example shows the relevant portion of the output.

  Subgroups:
    application            : Manage applications for VM.
    availability-set       : Group resources into availability sets.
    boot-diagnostics       : Troubleshoot the startup of an Azure Virtual Machine.
    ...
  

  The help output includes subgroups, parameters, authentication options, and examples.

  Here's another example that finds the Azure CLI commands for grouping virtual machines into availability sets, a subgroup of az vm:

  az vm availability-set --help
  

  You can also use --help to get parameter lists and command examples for a reference command.

  az vm create --help
  

  Here is the relevant section of the example output:

  Arguments
      --name  [Required] : Name of the virtual machine.
      ...
  Authentication Arguments
      --admin-password   : Password for the VM if authentication type is 'Password'.
      --admin-username   : Username for the VM...
      ...
  Managed Service Identity Arguments
      ...
  Examples
      Create a VM from a custom managed image.
        az vm create -g MyResourceGroup -n MyVm --image MyImage
      ...
  

• Use the reference index that lists all command groups alphabetically.

Use tab completion

Azure CLI supports tab completion in Bash. To enable it in PowerShell, see Enable tab completion in PowerShell.

Understand global arguments

Common arguments available to most commands include:

Argument	Description
--help	View command help
--output	Change output format: json, jsonc, tsv, table, yaml
--query	Filter output using JMESPath
--verbose	Print more execution details
--debug	Show low-level REST calls for debugging
--subscription	Specify subscription name or ID
--only-show-errors	Suppress noncritical output

Use interactive mode

Run interactive mode with:

az interactive

Interactive mode launches an enhanced Azure CLI experience with inline help and command suggestions. For more, see Interactive Mode.

An optional VS Code extension provides similar features with autocomplete and hover tips.

Provide feedback

We welcome your feedback. Submit issues on GitHub or run:

az feedback