Use your own resources

Use this article if you want to set up your Foundry project with your own resources.

Limitations

There are some limitations you should be aware of when you plan to use existing resources with the Azure AI Foundry Agent Service.

If you are using a hub-based project or Azure OpenAI Assistants

At this time, there is no direct upgrade path to migrate existing agents or their associated data assets such as files, threads, or vector stores from a hub-based project to an Azure AI Foundry project. There is also no upgrade path to convert existing Azure OpenAI Assistants into Foundry Agents, nor a way to automatically migrate Assistants' files, threads, or vector stores.

You can reuse your existing model deployments and quota from Azure AI Services or Azure OpenAI resources within a Foundry project.

SDK usage with hub-based projects

Starting in May 2025, the Azure AI Agent Service uses an endpoint for Foundry projects instead of the connection string that was used for hub-based projects before this time. Connection strings are no longer supported in current versions of the SDKs and REST API. We recommend creating a new foundry project.

If you want to continue using your hub-based project and connection string, you will need to:

• Use the connection string for your project located under Connection string in the overview of your project.

  

• Use one of the previous versions of the SDK and the associated sample code:

  • C#: 1.0.0-beta.2 or earlier
  • Python: 1.0.0b10 or earlier

Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL to store threads

• Your existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account used in a standard setup must have a total throughput limit of at least 3000 RU/s. Both provisioned throughput and serverless are supported.
• Three containers will be provisioned in your existing Cosmos DB account, each requiring 1000 RU/s

Prerequisites

• An Azure subscription - Create one for free.

• Ensure that the individual creating the account and project has the Azure AI Account Owner role at the subscription scope

• If configuring a standard setup, the same individual must also have permissions to assign roles to required resources (Cosmos DB, Search, Storage). For more information about RBAC in Azure AI Foundry, see RBAC in Azure AI Foundry.

  • The built-in role needed is Role Based Access Administrator.
  • Alternatively, having the Owner role at the subscription level also satisfies this requirement.
  • The key permission needed is: Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments/write

• Register providers. The following providers must be registered:

  • Microsoft.KeyVault
  • Microsoft.CognitiveServices
  • Microsoft.Storage
  • Microsoft.MachineLearningServices
  • Microsoft.Search
  • Microsoft.App
  • Microsoft.ContainerService
  • To use the Grounding with Bing Search tool: Microsoft.Bing

     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.KeyVault'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.CognitiveServices'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.Storage'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.MachineLearningServices'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.Search'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.App'
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.ContainerService'
     # only to use Grounding with Bing Search tool
     az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.Bing'
  

Choose basic or standard agent setup

To use your own resources, you can edit the parameters in the provided deployment templates. To start, determine if you want to edit the basic agent setup template, or the standard agent setup template.

Basic Setup

This setup is compatible with OpenAI Assistants and manages agent states using the platform's built-in storage. It includes the same tools and capabilities as the Assistants API, with added support for non-OpenAI models and tools such as Azure AI Search, and Bing.

Standard Setup

Includes everything in the basic setup and fine-grained control over your data by allowing you to use your own Azure resources. All customer data—including files, threads, and vector stores are stored in your own Azure resources, giving you full ownership and control.

Basic agent setup: Use an existing Azure OpenAI resource

Replace the parameter value for existingAoaiResourceIdin the template with the full arm resource ID of the Azure OpenAI resource you want to use.

1. To get the Azure OpenAI account resource ID, sign in to the Azure CLI and select the subscription with your AI Services account:

   az login
   

2. Replace <your-resource-group> with the resource group containing your resource and your-azure-openai-resource-name with the name of your AI Service resource, and run:

   az cognitiveservices account show --resource-group <your-resource-group> --name <your-ai-service-resource-name> --query "id" --output tsv
   

   The value returned is the existingAoaiResourceId you need to use in the template.

3. In the basic agent template file, replace the following placeholder:

   existingAoaiResourceId:/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts/{serviceName}
   

Standard agent setup: Use existing service resources and storage accounts

Use an existing Azure OpenAI, Azure Storage account, Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account and/or Azure AI Search resource by providing the full ARM resource ID in the standard agent template file.

Use an existing Azure OpenAI resource

1. Follow the steps in basic agent setup to get the AI Services account resource ID.

2. In the standard agent template file, replace the following placeholders:

   existingAoaiResourceId:/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts/{serviceName}
   
   

Use an existing Azure Storage account for file storage

1. To get your storage account resource ID, sign in to the Azure CLI and select the subscription with your storage account:

   az login

2. Then run the command:

   az storage account show --resource-group <your-resource-group> --name <your-storage-account> --query "id" --output tsv

   The output is the aiStorageAccountResourceID you need to use in the template.

3. In the standard agent template file, replace the following placeholders:

   aiStorageAccountResourceId:/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storageAccountName}
   

Use an existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account for thread storage

Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL

• Your existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL Account used in standard setup must have at least a total throughput limit of at least 3000 RU/s. Both Provisioned Throughput and Serverless are supported.
  • 3 containers will be provisioned in your existing Cosmos DB account and each need 1000 RU/s

1. To get your Azure Cosmos DB account resource ID, sign in to the Azure CLI and select the subscription with your account:

   az login
   

2. Then run the command:

   az cosmosdb show --resource-group  <your-resource-group> --name <your-comosdb-account>  --query "id" --output tsv
   

   The output is the cosmosDBResourceId you need to use in the template.

3. In the standard agent template file, replace the following placeholders:

   cosmosDBResourceId:/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.DocumentDB/databaseAccounts/{cosmosDbAccountName}

Use an existing Azure AI Search resource

1. To get your Azure AI Search resource ID, sign into Azure CLI and select the subscription with your search resource:

   az login

2. Then run the command:

   az search service show --resource-group <your-resource-group> --name <your-search-service> --query "id" --output tsv

3. In the standard agent template file, replace the following placeholders:

   aiSearchServiceResourceId:/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.Search/searchServices/{searchServiceName}
   

See also

• Learn about the different tools agents can use.