Azure CLI configuration

The Azure CLI allows for user configuration for settings such as logging, data collection, and default argument values. The CLI offers a convenience command for managing some defaults, az config, and an interactive option through az init. Other values can be set in a configuration file or with environment variables. This article provides further information on these user configuration settings and how to configure the Azure CLI.

Configuration values used by the CLI are evaluated in the following precedence, with items higher on the list taking priority.

1. Command-line parameters
2. Environment variables
3. Values in the configuration file set with az config or az init

Configure settings using az init

The easiest way to set Azure CLI configurations is to use the interactive az init command. Choose a common configuration like "interaction" or "automation," or opt to walk through individual configurations. What is especially helpful with this approach is az init provides reasons why you might want to choose one configuration option over another.

az init

Configure settings using az config

You can set defaults for the CLI with the az config set command. This command takes a space-separated list of key=value pairs as an argument. The provided values are used by the Azure CLI in place of required arguments.

The following table contains a list of available configuration keys.

Name	Description
defaults.group	The default resource group to use for all commands.
defaults.location	The default location to use for all commands.
defaults.web	The default app name to use for az webapp commands.
defaults.vm	The default VM name to use for az vm commands.
defaults.vmss	The default virtual machine scale set (VMSS) name to use for az vmss commands.
defaults.acr	The default container registry name to use for az acr commands.

As an example, here's how you would set the default resource group and location for all commands.

az config set defaults.location=westus2 defaults.group=MyResourceGroup

The following command turns off the survey links while executing the Azure CLI commands:

az config set output.show_survey_link=no

CLI configuration file

The CLI configuration file contains other settings that are used for managing CLI behavior. The configuration file itself is located at $AZURE_CONFIG_DIR/config. The default value of AZURE_CONFIG_DIR is $HOME/.azure on Linux and macOS, and %USERPROFILE%\.azure on Windows.

Configuration files are written in the INI file format. Section headers define the file format, followed by a list of key-value entries.

• Section headers are written as [section-name]. Section names are case-sensitive.
• Entries are written as key=value. Key names aren't case-sensitive.
• Comments are any line that begins with a # or ;. Inline comments aren't allowed.

Booleans are case-insensitive. The following values represent booleans:

• True: 1, yes, true, on
• False: 0, no, false, off

Here's an example of a CLI configuration file that disables any confirmation prompts and sets up logging to the /var/log/azure directory.

[core]
disable_confirm_prompt=Yes

[logging]
enable_log_file=yes
log_dir=/var/log/azure

See the next section for details on all of the available configuration values and what they mean. For the full details on the INI file format, see the Python documentation on INI.

CLI configuration values and environment variables

The following table contains all of the sections and option names that can be placed in a configuration file. Their corresponding environment variables are set as AZURE_{section}_{name}, in all caps. For example, output default for core is set in the AZURE_CORE_OUTPUT variable, the storage_account default for batchai is set in the AZURE_BATCHAI_STORAGE_ACCOUNT variable, and the default location is set in the AZURE_DEFAULTS_LOCATION variable.

When you provide a default value, that argument is no longer required by any command. Instead, the default value is used.

Section	Name	Type	Description
core	output	string	The default output format. Allowed values: json (default), jsonc, yaml, yamlc, table, tsv, none. For more information, see Output formats for Azure CLI commands.
	disable_confirm_prompt	boolean	Turn confirmation prompts on/off.
	display_region_identified	boolean	Azure customers can choose to deploy resources in many different regions. In some cases, customers may be able to reduce costs by selecting nearby regions offering the same services. If a nearby region is identified, a message will display the region to select for future deployments. This setting controls if the message is displayed.
	collect_telemetry	boolean	Allow Microsoft to collect anonymous data on the usage of the CLI. For privacy information, see the Azure CLI MIT license.
	only_show_errors	boolean	Only show errors during command invocation. In other words, only errors are written to stderr. It suppresses warnings from preview, deprecated and experimental commands. It's also available for individual commands with the --only-show-errors parameter.
	enable_broker_on_windows	boolean	Use Web Account Manager (WAM) to authenticate to Azure through the az login command.
	login_experience_v2	boolean	Turn the az login subscription selector on/off.
	no_color	boolean	Disable color. Originally colored messages are prefixed with DEBUG, INFO, WARNING and ERROR. This boolean bypasses the issue of a third-party library where the terminal's color can't revert back after a stdout redirection.
clients	show_secrets_warning	boolean	Turn the warning for sensitive information output on/off.
logging	enable_log_file	boolean	Turn logging on/off.
	log_dir	string	The directory to write logs to. By default this value is ${AZURE_CONFIG_DIR}/logs*.
defaults	group	string	The default resource group to use for all commands.
	location	string	The default location to use for all commands.
	web	string	The default app name to use for az webapp commands.
	vm	string	The default VM name to use for az vm commands.
	vmss	string	The default virtual machine scale set (VMSS) name to use for az vmss commands.
	acr	string	The default container registry name to use for az acr commands.
storage	account	string	The default storage account name (for example, mystorageaccount in https://mystorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net) to use for az storage data-plane commands (for example, az storage container list).
	key	string	The default access key to use for az storage data-plane commands.
	sas_token	string	The default SAS token to use for az storage data-plane commands.
	connection_string	string	The default connection string to use for az storage data-plane commands.
batchai	storage_account	string	The default storage account to use for az batchai commands.
	storage_key	string	The default storage key to use for az batchai commands.
batch	account	string	The default Azure Batch account name to use for az batch commands.
	access_key	string	The default access key to use for az batch commands. Only used with aad authorization.
	endpoint	string	The default endpoint to connect to for az batch commands.
	auth_mode	string	The authorization mode to use for az batch commands. Allowed values: shared_key, aad.
cloud	name	string	The default cloud for all az commands. Allowed values: AzureCloud (default), AzureChinaCloud, AzureUSGovernment. To change clouds, you can use the az cloud set –name command. For an example, see Manage Clouds with the Azure CLI.
extension	use_dynamic_install	string	Install an extension if it's not added yet when running a command from it. Allowed values: no (default), yes_prompt, yes_without_prompt.
	run_after_dynamic_install	boolean	Continue to run the command when an extension is dynamically installed for it. Default is False.
	index_url	string	URL of private extension index file following the format in index.json. Once specified, executing az extension add --name <extension-name> uses that file to find the extension to add.

Note

You may see other values in your configuration file, but these are managed directly through CLI commands, including az config. The ones listed in the table previously are the only values you should change yourself.