Quickstart: Create and deploy function code to Azure using Visual Studio Code

Use Visual Studio Code to create a function that responds to HTTP requests from a template. Use GitHub Copilot to improve the generated function code, verify code updates locally, and then deploy it to the serverless Flex Consumption hosting plan in Azure Functions.

Completing this quickstart incurs a small cost of a few USD cents or less in your Azure account.

Make sure to select your preferred development language at the top of the article.

Prerequisites

• An Azure account with an active subscription. Create an account for free.

• Visual Studio Code on one of the supported platforms.

• The Azure Functions extension for Visual Studio Code.

Install or update Core Tools

The Azure Functions extension for Visual Studio Code integrates with Azure Functions Core Tools so that you can run and debug your functions locally in Visual Studio Code using the Azure Functions runtime. Before getting started, it's a good idea to install Core Tools locally or update an existing installation to use the latest version.

In Visual Studio Code, select F1 to open the command palette, and then search for and run the command Azure Functions: Install or Update Core Tools.

This command tries to either start a package-based installation of the latest version of Core Tools or update an existing package-based installation. If you don't have npm or Homebrew installed on your local computer, you must instead manually install or update Core Tools.

Create your local project

In this section, you use Visual Studio Code to create a local Azure Functions project in your preferred language. Later in the article, you update, run, and then publish your function code to Azure.

1. In Visual Studio Code, press F1 to open the command palette and search for and run the command Azure Functions: Create New Project....

2. Choose the directory location for your project workspace and choose Select. You should either create a new folder or choose an empty folder for the project workspace. Don't choose a project folder that is already part of a workspace.

3. Provide the following information at the prompts:

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language	Choose C#.
   Select a .NET runtime	Choose .NET 8.0 LTS.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Provide a function name	Type HttpExample.
   Provide a namespace	Type My.Functions.
   Authorization level	Choose Anonymous, which enables anyone to call your function endpoint. For more information, see Authorization level.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language	Choose Java.
   Select a version of Java	Choose Java 8, Java 11, Java 17 or Java 21, the Java version on which your functions run in Azure. Choose a Java version that you've verified locally.
   Provide a group ID	Choose com.function.
   Provide an artifact ID	Choose myFunction.
   Provide a version	Choose 1.0-SNAPSHOT.
   Provide a package name	Choose com.function.
   Provide an app name	Choose myFunction-12345.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Select the build tool for Java project	Choose Maven.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language	Choose JavaScript.
   Select a JavaScript programming model	Choose Model V4.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Provide a function name	Type HttpExample.
   Authorization level	Choose Anonymous, which enables anyone to call your function endpoint. For more information, see Authorization level.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language	Choose TypeScript.
   Select a JavaScript programming model	Choose Model V4.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Provide a function name	Type HttpExample.
   Authorization level	Choose Anonymous, which enables anyone to call your function endpoint. For more information, see Authorization level.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language	Choose Python.
   Select a Python interpreter to create a virtual environment	Choose your preferred Python interpreter. If an option isn't shown, type in the full path to your Python binary.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Name of the function you want to create	Enter HttpExample.
   Authorization level	Choose ANONYMOUS, which lets anyone call your function endpoint. For more information, see Authorization level.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Prompt	Selection
   Select a language for your function project	Choose PowerShell.
   Select a template for your project's first function	Choose HTTP trigger.
   Provide a function name	Type HttpExample.
   Authorization level	Choose Anonymous, which enables anyone to call your function endpoint. For more information, see Authorization level.
   Select how you would like to open your project	Choose Open in current window.

   Using this information, Visual Studio Code generates a code project for Azure Functions with an HTTP trigger function endpoint. You can view the local project files in the Explorer. To learn more about files that are created, see Generated project files.

Run the function locally

Visual Studio Code integrates with Azure Functions Core tools to let you run this project on your local development computer before you publish to Azure.

1. To start the function locally, press F5 or the Run and Debug icon in the left-hand side Activity bar. The Terminal panel displays the Output from Core Tools. Your app starts in the Terminal panel. You can see the URL endpoint of your HTTP-triggered function running locally.

   

   If you have trouble running on Windows, make sure that the default terminal for Visual Studio Code isn't set to WSL Bash.

2. With Core Tools still running in Terminal, choose the Azure icon in the activity bar. In the Workspace area, expand Local Project > Functions. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl - click (macOS) the new function and choose Execute Function Now....

   

3. In Enter request body you see the request message body value of { "name": "Azure" }. Press Enter to send this request message to your function.

4. When the function executes locally and returns a response, a notification is raised in Visual Studio Code. Information about the function execution is shown in Terminal panel.

5. With the Terminal panel focused, press Ctrl + C to stop Core Tools and disconnect the debugger.

After you verify that the function runs correctly on your local computer, you can optionally use AI tools, such as GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, to update template-generated function code.

Use AI to normalize and validate input

This is an example prompt for Copilot Chat that updates the existing function code to retrieve parameters from either the query string or JSON body, apply formatting or type conversions, and return them as JSON in the response:

Modify the function to accept name, email, and age from the JSON body of the
request. If any of these parameters are missing from the query string, read
them from the JSON body. Return all three parameters in the JSON response, 
applying these rules:
Title-case the name
Lowercase the email
Convert age to an integer if possible, otherwise return "not provided"
Use sensible defaults if any parameter is missing

Modify the function to accept name, email, and age from the JSON body of the
request. If any of these parameters are missing from the query string, read
them from the JSON body. Return all three parameters in the JSON response, 
applying these rules:
Title-case the name
Lowercase the email
Convert age to an integer if possible, otherwise return "not provided"
Use sensible defaults if any parameter is missing
Update the FunctionTest.java file to test the new logic. 

You can customize your prompt to add specifics as needed, then run the app again locally and verify that it works as expected after the code changes. This time, use a message body like:

{ "name": "devon torres", "email": "torres.devon@contoso.com", "age": "34" }

When you are satistfied with your app, you can use Visual Studio Code to publish the project directly to Azure.

Sign in to Azure

Before you can create Azure resources or publish your app, you must sign in to Azure.

1. If you aren't already signed in, in the Activity bar, select the Azure icon. Then under Resources, select Sign in to Azure.

   

   If you're already signed in and can see your existing subscriptions, go to the next section. If you don't yet have an Azure account, select Create an Azure Account. Students can select Create an Azure for Students Account.

2. When you are prompted in the browser, select your Azure account and sign in by using your Azure account credentials. If you create a new account, you can sign in after your account is created.

3. After you successfully sign in, you can close the new browser window. The subscriptions that belong to your Azure account are displayed in the side bar.

Create the function app in Azure

In this section, you create a function app in the Flex Consumption plan along with related resources in your Azure subscription. Many of the resource creation decisions are made for you based on default behaviors. For more control over the created resources, you must instead create your function app with advanced options.

1. In Visual Studio Code, select F1 to open the command palette. At the prompt (>), enter and then select Azure Functions: Create Function App in Azure.

2. At the prompts, provide the following information:

   Prompt	Action
   Select subscription	Select the Azure subscription to use. The prompt doesn't appear when you have only one subscription visible under Resources.
   Enter a new function app name	Enter a globally unique name that's valid in a URL path. The name you enter is validated to make sure that it's unique in Azure Functions.
   Select a location for new resources	Select an Azure region. For better performance, select a region near you. Only regions supported by Flex Consumption plans are displayed.
   Select a runtime stack	Select the language version you currently run locally.
   Select resource authentication type	Select Managed identity, which is the most secure option for connecting to the default host storage account.

   In the Azure: Activity Log panel, the Azure extension shows the status of individual resources as they're created in Azure.

   

3. When the function app is created, the following related resources are created in your Azure subscription. The resources are named based on the name you entered for your function app.

   • A resource group, which is a logical container for related resources.
   • A function app, which provides the environment for executing your function code. A function app lets you group functions as a logical unit for easier management, deployment, and sharing of resources within the same hosting plan.
   • An Azure App Service plan, which defines the underlying host for your function app.
   • A standard Azure Storage account, which is used by the Functions host to maintain state and other information about your function app.
   • An Application Insights instance that's connected to the function app, and which tracks the use of your functions in the app.
   • A user-assigned managed identity that's added to the Storage Blob Data Contributor role in the new default host storage account.

   A notification is displayed after your function app is created and the deployment package is applied.

   Tip

   By default, the Azure resources required by your function app are created based on the name you enter for your function app. By default, the resources are created with the function app in the same, new resource group. If you want to customize the names of the associated resources or reuse existing resources, publish the project with advanced create options.

Deploy the project to Azure

1. In the command palette, enter and then select Azure Functions: Deploy to Function App.

2. Select the function app you just created. When prompted about overwriting previous deployments, select Deploy to deploy your function code to the new function app resource.

3. When deployment is completed, select View Output to view the creation and deployment results, including the Azure resources that you created. If you miss the notification, select the bell icon in the lower-right corner to see it again.

   

Run the function in Azure

1. Press F1 to display the command palette, then search for and run the command Azure Functions:Execute Function Now.... If prompted, select your subscription.

2. Select your new function app resource and HttpExample as your function.

3. In Enter request body type { "name": "Contoso", "email": "me@contoso.com", "age": "34" }, then press Enter to send this request message to your function.

4. When the function executes in Azure, the response is displayed in the notification area. Expand the notification to review the full response.

Troubleshooting

Use the following table to resolve the most common issues encountered when using this article.

Clean up resources

When you continue to the next step and add an Azure Storage queue binding to your function, you'll need to keep all your resources in place to build on what you've already done.

Otherwise, you can use the following steps to delete the function app and its related resources to avoid incurring any further costs.

1. In Visual Studio Code, select the Azure icon to open the Azure explorer.
2. In the Resource Groups section, find your resource group.
3. Right-click the resource group and select Delete.

To learn more about Functions costs, see Estimating Consumption plan costs.

Next steps

You have used Visual Studio Code to create a function app with a simple HTTP-triggered function. In the next articles, you expand that function by connecting to either Azure Cosmos DB or Azure Storage. To learn more about connecting to other Azure services, see Add bindings to an existing function in Azure Functions. If you want to learn more about security, see Securing Azure Functions.