Azure Identity SDK for TypeScript

Authenticate to Azure services with various credential types.

Installation

npm install @azure/identity

Environment Variables

Service Principal (Secret)

AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<client-secret>

Service Principal (Certificate)

AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PATH=/path/to/cert.pem
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD=<optional-password>

Workload Identity (Kubernetes)

AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE=/var/run/secrets/tokens/azure-identity

DefaultAzureCredential (Recommended)

import { DefaultAzureCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();

// Use with any Azure SDK client
import { BlobServiceClient } from "@azure/storage-blob";
const blobClient = new BlobServiceClient(
  "https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net",
  credential
);

Credential Chain Order:

1. EnvironmentCredential
2. WorkloadIdentityCredential
3. ManagedIdentityCredential
4. VisualStudioCodeCredential
5. AzureCliCredential
6. AzurePowerShellCredential
7. AzureDeveloperCliCredential

Managed Identity

System-Assigned

import { ManagedIdentityCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new ManagedIdentityCredential();

User-Assigned (by Client ID)

const credential = new ManagedIdentityCredential({
  clientId: "<user-assigned-client-id>"
});

User-Assigned (by Resource ID)

const credential = new ManagedIdentityCredential({
  resourceId: "/subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/<rg>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<name>"
});

Service Principal

Client Secret

import { ClientSecretCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new ClientSecretCredential(
  "<tenant-id>",
  "<client-id>",
  "<client-secret>"
);

Client Certificate

import { ClientCertificateCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new ClientCertificateCredential(
  "<tenant-id>",
  "<client-id>",
  { certificatePath: "/path/to/cert.pem" }
);

// With password
const credentialWithPwd = new ClientCertificateCredential(
  "<tenant-id>",
  "<client-id>",
  { 
    certificatePath: "/path/to/cert.pem",
    certificatePassword: "<password>"
  }
);

Interactive Authentication

Browser-Based Login

import { InteractiveBrowserCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new InteractiveBrowserCredential({
  clientId: "<client-id>",
  tenantId: "<tenant-id>",
  loginHint: "user@example.com"
});

Device Code Flow

import { DeviceCodeCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new DeviceCodeCredential({
  clientId: "<client-id>",
  tenantId: "<tenant-id>",
  userPromptCallback: (info) => {
    console.log(info.message);
    // "To sign in, use a web browser to open..."
  }
});

Custom Credential Chain

import { 
  ChainedTokenCredential,
  ManagedIdentityCredential,
  AzureCliCredential
} from "@azure/identity";

// Try managed identity first, fall back to CLI
const credential = new ChainedTokenCredential(
  new ManagedIdentityCredential(),
  new AzureCliCredential()
);

Developer Credentials

Azure CLI

import { AzureCliCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new AzureCliCredential();
// Uses: az login

Azure Developer CLI

import { AzureDeveloperCliCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new AzureDeveloperCliCredential();
// Uses: azd auth login

Azure PowerShell

import { AzurePowerShellCredential } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new AzurePowerShellCredential();
// Uses: Connect-AzAccount

Sovereign Clouds

import { ClientSecretCredential, AzureAuthorityHosts } from "@azure/identity";

// Azure Government
const credential = new ClientSecretCredential(
  "<tenant>", "<client>", "<secret>",
  { authorityHost: AzureAuthorityHosts.AzureGovernment }
);

// Azure China
const credentialChina = new ClientSecretCredential(
  "<tenant>", "<client>", "<secret>",
  { authorityHost: AzureAuthorityHosts.AzureChina }
);

Bearer Token Provider

import { DefaultAzureCredential, getBearerTokenProvider } from "@azure/identity";

const credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();

// Create a function that returns tokens
const getAccessToken = getBearerTokenProvider(
  credential,
  "https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default"
);

// Use with APIs that need bearer tokens
const token = await getAccessToken();

Key Types

import type { 
  TokenCredential, 
  AccessToken, 
  GetTokenOptions 
} from "@azure/core-auth";

import {
  DefaultAzureCredential,
  DefaultAzureCredentialOptions,
  ManagedIdentityCredential,
  ClientSecretCredential,
  ClientCertificateCredential,
  InteractiveBrowserCredential,
  ChainedTokenCredential,
  AzureCliCredential,
  AzurePowerShellCredential,
  AzureDeveloperCliCredential,
  DeviceCodeCredential,
  AzureAuthorityHosts
} from "@azure/identity";

Custom Credential Implementation

import type { TokenCredential, AccessToken, GetTokenOptions } from "@azure/core-auth";

class CustomCredential implements TokenCredential {
  async getToken(
    scopes: string | string[],
    options?: GetTokenOptions
  ): Promise<AccessToken | null> {
    // Custom token acquisition logic
    return {
      token: "<access-token>",
      expiresOnTimestamp: Date.now() + 3600000
    };
  }
}

Debugging

import { setLogLevel, AzureLogger } from "@azure/logger";

setLogLevel("verbose");

// Custom log handler
AzureLogger.log = (...args) => {
  console.log("[Azure]", ...args);
};

Best Practices

1. Use DefaultAzureCredential - Works in development (CLI) and production (managed identity)
2. Never hardcode credentials - Use environment variables or managed identity
3. Prefer managed identity - No secrets to manage in production
4. Scope credentials appropriately - Use user-assigned identity for multi-tenant scenarios
5. Handle token refresh - Azure SDK handles this automatically
6. Use ChainedTokenCredential - For custom fallback scenarios