azure-identity-py

Azure Identity library for Python

Authentication library for Azure SDK clients using Microsoft Entra ID.

Use this skill when:

• An app needs to authenticate to Azure services from Python
• You need DefaultAzureCredential for local dev + Azure deployment
• You need ManagedIdentityCredential for Azure-hosted workloads
• You need service principal auth with secret or certificate
• You need direct token acquisition with get_token()
• You need to troubleshoot credential chain failures

Installation

pip install azure-identity

For VS Code or broker-based desktop auth:

pip install azure-identity-broker

Python Version

azure-identity supports Python 3.9+.

Environment Variables

# Service principal with client secret
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<your-tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret>

# Service principal with certificate
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<your-tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PATH=/path/to/cert.pem
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD=<optional-password>

# Authority (sovereign clouds)
AZURE_AUTHORITY_HOST=login.microsoftonline.com  # Default; or login.chinacloudapi.cn, login.microsoftonline.us

# User-assigned managed identity
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<managed-identity-client-id>

# Credential selection (new)
AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=dev|prod|<credential-name>  # Optional, restricts DAC chain

Authentication & Lifecycle

🔑 Two rules apply to every code sample below:

1. Prefer DefaultAzureCredential. It works locally (Azure CLI / VS Code / Developer CLI) and in Azure (managed identity, workload identity) with no code change. Avoid connection strings, account/API keys — they bypass Entra audit and rotation.
   • Local dev: DefaultAzureCredential works as-is.
   • Production: set AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod (or AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=<specific_credential>) to constrain the credential chain to production-safe credentials.
2. Wrap credentials and clients in context managers when they own token caches / transports:
   • Sync: with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential:
   • Async: async with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential: (from azure.identity.aio)

Snippets may abbreviate this setup, but production code should always follow both rules.

DefaultAzureCredential

The recommended credential for most scenarios. Tries multiple authentication methods in order:

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient

# Works in local dev AND production without code changes
credential = DefaultAzureCredential()

with BlobServiceClient(
    account_url="https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net",
    credential=credential
) as client:
    containers = list(client.list_containers())

Credential Chain Order

See DefaultAzureCredential overview for the current credential chain order and defaults.

Customizing DefaultAzureCredential

# Exclude credentials you don't need
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(
    exclude_environment_credential=True,
    exclude_shared_token_cache_credential=True,
    managed_identity_client_id="<user-assigned-mi-client-id>"  # For user-assigned MI (also accepts object ID or resource ID)
)

# Enable interactive browser (disabled by default)
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(
    exclude_interactive_browser_credential=False
)

# Set subprocess timeout for CLI-based credentials (default: 10s)
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(process_timeout=30)

# Require AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS env var to be set
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(require_envvar=True)

Exclude Parameters

Parameter	Default	Effect
exclude_environment_credential	False	Skip env-var-based auth
exclude_workload_identity_credential	False	Skip Kubernetes workload identity
exclude_managed_identity_credential	False	Skip managed identity
exclude_shared_token_cache_credential	False	Skip shared token cache
exclude_visual_studio_code_credential	False	Skip VS Code credential
exclude_cli_credential	False	Skip Azure CLI
exclude_powershell_credential	False	Skip Azure PowerShell
exclude_developer_cli_credential	False	Skip Azure Developer CLI
exclude_interactive_browser_credential	True	Skip interactive browser
exclude_broker_credential	False	Skip WAM broker

get_bearer_token_provider

Helper that wraps a credential into a callable returning a bearer token string. Essential for OpenAI SDK and other non-Azure-SDK clients:

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential, get_bearer_token_provider

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
token_provider = get_bearer_token_provider(
    credential, "https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default"
)

# Use with OpenAI SDK
from openai import AzureOpenAI

with AzureOpenAI(
    azure_endpoint="https://<resource>.openai.azure.com/",
    azure_ad_token_provider=token_provider,
    api_version="2024-10-21",
) as client:
    # response = client.chat.completions.create(...)
    ...

Credential Types

Credential Chains

Credential	Use Case
DefaultAzureCredential	Most scenarios — auto-detects environment
ChainedTokenCredential	Custom credential chain with explicit ordering

Azure-Hosted Applications

Credential	Use Case
EnvironmentCredential	Auth via AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET / AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PATH env vars
ManagedIdentityCredential	Azure VMs, App Service, Functions, AKS, Arc, Service Fabric
WorkloadIdentityCredential	Kubernetes with Microsoft Entra Workload ID

Service Principals

Credential	Use Case
ClientSecretCredential	Service principal with client secret
CertificateCredential	Service principal with PEM/PKCS12 certificate
ClientAssertionCredential	Service principal with signed JWT assertion
AzurePipelinesCredential	Azure Pipelines with workload identity federation
OnBehalfOfCredential	Middle-tier on-behalf-of flow (delegated user identity)

User Authentication

Credential	Use Case
InteractiveBrowserCredential	Interactive browser OAuth sign-in
DeviceCodeCredential	Headless/SSH device code flow
AuthorizationCodeCredential	Previously obtained authorization code

Developer Tools

Credential	Use Case
AzureCliCredential	az login
AzureDeveloperCliCredential	azd auth login
AzurePowerShellCredential	Connect-AzAccount
VisualStudioCodeCredential	VS Code Azure Resources extension

Specific Credential Examples

ManagedIdentityCredential

For Azure-hosted resources (VMs, App Service, Functions, AKS):

from azure.identity import ManagedIdentityCredential

# System-assigned managed identity
credential = ManagedIdentityCredential()

# User-assigned managed identity (client_id, object_id, or resource_id)
credential = ManagedIdentityCredential(
    client_id="<user-assigned-mi-client-id>"
)
# Also valid:
# credential = ManagedIdentityCredential(object_id="<object-id>")
# credential = ManagedIdentityCredential(resource_id="<resource-id>")

ClientSecretCredential

import os
from azure.identity import ClientSecretCredential

credential = ClientSecretCredential(
    tenant_id=os.environ["AZURE_TENANT_ID"],
    client_id=os.environ["AZURE_CLIENT_ID"],
    client_secret=os.environ["AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET"],
)

CertificateCredential

Note: The class is CertificateCredential, NOT ClientCertificateCredential.

from azure.identity import CertificateCredential

# From file path
credential = CertificateCredential(
    tenant_id="<tenant-id>",
    client_id="<client-id>",
    certificate_path="/path/to/cert.pem",
)

# From bytes with password
credential = CertificateCredential(
    tenant_id="<tenant-id>",
    client_id="<client-id>",
    certificate_data=cert_bytes,
    password="<cert-password>",
    send_certificate_chain=True,  # Required for SNI auth
)

AzureCliCredential

from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential

credential = AzureCliCredential()
# With tenant restriction
credential = AzureCliCredential(tenant_id="<tenant-id>")

ChainedTokenCredential

Custom credential chain:

from azure.identity import (
    ChainedTokenCredential,
    ManagedIdentityCredential,
    AzureCliCredential,
)

# Try managed identity first, fall back to CLI
credential = ChainedTokenCredential(
    ManagedIdentityCredential(client_id="<user-assigned-mi-client-id>"),
    AzureCliCredential(),
)

WorkloadIdentityCredential

For Azure Kubernetes Service with workload identity:

from azure.identity import WorkloadIdentityCredential

# Reads from AZURE_TENANT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE
credential = WorkloadIdentityCredential()

# Or explicit configuration
credential = WorkloadIdentityCredential(
    tenant_id="<tenant-id>",
    client_id="<client-id>",
    token_file_path="/var/run/secrets/azure/tokens/azure-identity-token",
)

DeviceCodeCredential

For headless devices (IoT, SSH, CLI tools):

from azure.identity import DeviceCodeCredential

credential = DeviceCodeCredential()
# Prints device code prompt to stdout by default

# With custom prompt callback
def prompt_callback(verification_uri, user_code, expires_on):
    print(f"Go to {verification_uri} and enter code {user_code}")

credential = DeviceCodeCredential(
    client_id="<client-id>",
    prompt_callback=prompt_callback,
)

InteractiveBrowserCredential

For interactive OAuth browser sign-in:

from azure.i

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