Compatibility and maintenance

Primary editorial path for this compatibility group. The instruction-only procedure remains local; no executable support files are bundled so existing installations continue to work offline. This is one shared procedure, not an additional capability. Preserve the callable ID when an existing manifest or client configuration uses it. Modified in AAS on 2026-09-05; original metadata and license notices are retained.

Azure AI Hosted Agents (Python)

Build container-based hosted agents using HostedAgentDefinition from the Azure AI Projects SDK.

Installation

pip install 'azure-ai-projects==2.3.0' azure-identity

These are SDK 2.3.0 instruction fragments aligned with the current Microsoft hosted-agent guide. Validate the installed schema and service support before provisioning; documentation inspection is not a cloud integration test.

Environment Variables

export AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT="https://<resource>.services.ai.azure.com/api/projects/<project>"

Prerequisites

Before creating hosted agents:

1. Container Image - Build and push to Azure Container Registry (ACR)
2. ACR Pull Permissions - Grant the project identity the registry role supported by its permission mode; current hosted-agent guidance uses Container Registry Repository Reader
3. Capability Host - Confirm current project/region hosted-agent availability and the application's network policy; do not enable public hosting automatically
4. SDK Version - Ensure azure-ai-projects==2.3.0

Authentication

Use the approved Azure credential flow for the intended tenant/subscription; this sketch uses DefaultAzureCredential:

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient

import os

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
client = AIProjectClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=credential
)

Core Workflow

1. Imports

import os
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient
from azure.ai.projects.models import (
    HostedAgentDefinition,
    ContainerConfiguration,
    ProtocolVersionRecord,
    AgentEndpointProtocol,
)

2. Create Hosted Agent

client = AIProjectClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
)

agent = client.agents.create_version(
    agent_name="my-hosted-agent",
    definition=HostedAgentDefinition(
        protocol_versions=[
            ProtocolVersionRecord(protocol=AgentEndpointProtocol.RESPONSES, version="2.0.0")
        ],
        cpu="1",
        memory="2Gi",
        container_configuration=ContainerConfiguration(image=os.environ["REVIEWED_CONTAINER_IMAGE"]),
        environment_variables={
            "AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT": os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
            "MODEL_NAME": os.environ["MODEL_DEPLOYMENT_NAME"]
        }
    )
)

print(f"Created agent: {agent.name} (version: {agent.version})")

3. List Agent Versions

versions = client.agents.list_versions(agent_name="my-hosted-agent")
for version in versions:
    print(f"Version: {version.version}")  # Inspect supported status fields via get_version

Inspect the exact returned model for supported fields; a created version is not proof a running container is healthy. Close synchronous client/credential resources through their supported context managers or close() methods.

4. Delete Agent Version

client.agents.delete_version(
    agent_name="my-hosted-agent",
    agent_version=agent.version
)

HostedAgentDefinition Parameters

Protocol Versions

The protocol_versions parameter specifies which protocols your agent supports:

from azure.ai.projects.models import ProtocolVersionRecord, AgentEndpointProtocol

# RESPONSES protocol - standard agent responses

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