Azure Identity SDK for Python

Authentication library for Azure SDK clients using Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).

Installation

pip install azure-identity

Environment Variables

# Service Principal (for production/CI)
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<your-tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret>

# User-assigned Managed Identity (optional)
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<managed-identity-client-id>

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()

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

Credential Chain Order

| Order | Credential | Environment |

|-------|-----------|-------------|

| 1 | EnvironmentCredential | CI/CD, containers |

| 2 | WorkloadIdentityCredential | Kubernetes |

| 3 | ManagedIdentityCredential | Azure VMs, App Service, Functions |

| 4 | SharedTokenCacheCredential | Windows only |

| 5 | VisualStudioCodeCredential | VS Code with Azure extension |

| 6 | AzureCliCredential | az login |

| 7 | AzurePowerShellCredential | Connect-AzAccount |

| 8 | AzureDeveloperCliCredential | azd auth login |

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
)

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

Specific Credential Types

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
credential = ManagedIdentityCredential(
    client_id="<user-assigned-mi-client-id>"
)

ClientSecretCredential

For service principal with secret:

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"]
)

AzureCliCredential

Uses the account from az login:

from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential

credential = AzureCliCredential()

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()
)

Credential Types Table

| Credential | Use Case | Auth Method |

|------------|----------|-------------|

| DefaultAzureCredential | Most scenarios | Auto-detect |

| ManagedIdentityCredential | Azure-hosted apps | Managed Identity |

| ClientSecretCredential | Service principal | Client secret |

| ClientCertificateCredential | Service principal | Certificate |

| AzureCliCredential | Local development | Azure CLI |

| AzureDeveloperCliCredential | Local development | Azure Developer CLI |

| InteractiveBrowserCredential | User sign-in | Browser OAuth |

| DeviceCodeCredential | Headless/SSH | Device code flow |

Getting Tokens Directly

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()

# Get token for a specific scope
token = credential.get_token("https://management.azure.com/.default")
print(f"Token expires: {token.expires_on}")

# For Azure Database for PostgreSQL
token = credential.get_token("https://ossrdbms-aad.database.windows.net/.default")

Async Client

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

async def main():
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    
    async with BlobServiceClient(
        account_url="https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net",
        credential=credential
    ) as client:
        # ... async operations
        pass
    
    await credential.close()

Best Practices

1.Use DefaultAzureCredential for code that runs locally and in Azure

2.Never hardcode credentials — use environment variables or managed identity

3.Prefer managed identity in production Azure deployments

4.Use ChainedTokenCredential when you need a custom credential order

5.Close async credentials explicitly or use context managers

6.Set AZURE_CLIENT_ID for user-assigned managed identities

7.Exclude unused credentials to speed up authentication

azure-identity-py

Documentation