.NET Aspire Azure Functions integration (Preview)
Includes: Hosting integration not Client integration
Important
The .NET Aspire Azure Functions integration is currently in preview and is subject to change.
Azure Functions is a serverless solution that allows you to write less code, maintain less infrastructure, and save on costs. The .NET Aspire Azure Functions integration enables you to develop, debug, and orchestrate an Azure Functions .NET project as part of the app host.
It's expected that you've installed the required Azure tooling:
Supported scenarios
The .NET Aspire Azure Functions integration has several key supported scenarios. This section outlines the scenarios and provides details related to the implementation of each approach.
Supported triggers
The following table lists the supported triggers for Azure Functions in the .NET Aspire integration:
Trigger | Attribute | Details |
---|---|---|
Azure Event Hubs trigger | EventHubTrigger |
📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.EventHubs |
Azure Service Bus trigger | ServiceBusTrigger |
📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.ServiceBus |
Azure Storage Blobs trigger | BlobTrigger |
📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Storage |
Azure Storage Queues trigger | QueueTrigger |
📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Storage |
HTTP trigger | HttpTrigger |
Supported without any additional resource dependencies. |
Timer trigger | TimerTrigger |
Supported without any additional resource dependencies—relies on implicit host storage. |
Important
Other Azure Functions triggers and bindings aren't currently supported in the .NET Aspire Azure Functions integration.
Deployment
Currently, deployment is supported only to containers on Azure Container Apps (ACA) using the SDK container publish function in Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker.Sdk
. This deployment methodology doesn't currently support KEDA-based autoscaling.
Configure external HTTP endpoints
To make HTTP triggers publicly accessible, call the WithExternalHttpEndpoints API on the AzureFunctionsProjectResource. For more information, see Add Azure Functions resource.
Azure Function project constraints
The .NET Aspire Azure Functions integration has the following project constraints:
- You must target .NET 8.0 or later.
- You must use a .NET 9 SDK.
- It currently only supports .NET workers with the isolated worker model.
- Requires the following NuGet packages:
- 📦 Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker: Use the
FunctionsApplicationBuilder
. - 📦 Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker.Sdk: Adds support for
dotnet run
andazd publish
. - 📦 Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Http.AspNetCore: Adds HTTP trigger-supporting APIs.
- 📦 Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker: Use the
If you encounter issues with the Azure Functions project, such as:
There is no Functions runtime available that matches the version specified in the project
In Visual Studio, try checking for an update on the Azure Functions tooling. Open the Options dialog, navigate to Projects and Solutions, and then select Azure Functions. Select the Check for updates button to ensure you have the latest version of the Azure Functions tooling:
Hosting integration
The Azure Functions hosting integration models an Azure Functions resource as the AzureFunctionsProjectResource (subtype of ProjectResource) type. To access this type and APIs that allow you to add it to your app host project install the 📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Functions NuGet package.
dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Functions --prerelease
For more information, see dotnet add package or Manage package dependencies in .NET applications.
Add Azure Functions resource
In your app host project, call AddAzureFunctionsProject on the builder
instance to add an Azure Functions resource:
var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var functions = builder.AddAzureFunctionsProject<Projects.ExampleFunctions>("functions")
.WithExternalHttpEndpoints();
builder.AddProject<Projects.ExampleProject>()
.WithReference(functions)
.WaitFor(functions);
// After adding all resources, run the app...
When .NET Aspire adds an Azure Functions project resource the app host, as shown in the preceding example, the functions
resource can be referenced by other project resources. The WithReference method configures a connection in the ExampleProject
named "functions"
. If the Azure Resource was deployed and it exposed an HTTP trigger, its endpoint would be external due to the call to WithExternalHttpEndpoints. For more information, see Reference resources.
Add Azure Functions resource with host storage
If you want to modify the default host storage account that the Azure Functions host uses, call the WithHostStorage method on the Azure Functions project resource:
var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var storage = builder.AddAzureStorage("storage")
.RunAsEmulator();
var functions = builder.AddAzureFunctionsProject<Projects.ExampleFunctions>("functions")
.WithHostStorage(storage);
builder.AddProject<Projects.ExampleProject>()
.WithReference(functions)
.WaitFor(functions);
// After adding all resources, run the app...
The preceding code relies on the 📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Storage NuGet package to add an Azure Storage resource that runs as an emulator. The storage
resource is then passed to the WithHostStorage
API, explicitly setting the host storage to the emulated resource.
Note
If you're not using the implicit host storage, you must manually assign the StorageAccountContributor
role to your resource for deployed instances. This role is automatically assigned for the implicitly generated host storage.
Reference resources in Azure Functions
To reference other Azure resources in an Azure Functions project, chain a call to WithReference
on the Azure Functions project resource and provide the resource to reference:
var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var storage = builder.AddAzureStorage("storage").RunAsEmulator();
var blobs = storage.AddBlobs("blobs");
builder.AddAzureFunctionsProject<Projects.ExampleFunctions>("functions")
.WithHostStorage(storage)
.WithReference(blobs);
builder.Build().Run();
The preceding code adds an Azure Storage resource to the app host and references it in the Azure Functions project. The blobs
resource is added to the storage
resource and then referenced by the functions
resource. The connection information required to connect to the blobs
resource is automatically injected into the Azure Functions project and enables the project to define a BlobTrigger
that relies on blobs
resource.