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What is Microsoft Foundry?

Microsoft Foundry is a unified Azure platform-as-a-service offering for enterprise AI operations, model builders, and application development. This foundation combines production-grade infrastructure with friendly interfaces, enabling developers to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.

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Unified Platform for AI Development

Microsoft Foundry unifies agents, models, and tools under a single management grouping with built-in enterprise-readiness capabilities including:
  • Tracing and Monitoring: Full observability into agent behavior and performance
  • Evaluations: Built-in tools to assess model and agent quality
  • Enterprise Setup: Customizable configurations for security and compliance
  • Unified Management: Single RBAC, networking, and policy control under one Azure resource provider namespace

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Key Capabilities

Microsoft Foundry provides developers with powerful capabilities to build production-ready AI applications:

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Agents

Build intelligent agents that can:
  • Make decisions and invoke tools
  • Participate in multi-agent workflows
  • Access enterprise knowledge through integrated tools
  • Operate with enterprise-grade security and governance

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Models

Access a comprehensive catalog of AI models:
  • Azure OpenAI models: GPT-4o, GPT-4, GPT-3.5 with fungible provisioned throughput
  • Foundry Direct models: DeepSeek, xAI, and other cutting-edge models
  • Partner models: Meta Llama, Cohere, Anthropic Claude, and more
  • Community models: 1900+ models from Hugging Face and other sources

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Tools and Integrations

Extend agent capabilities with built-in tools:
  • Code Interpreter: Execute Python code in sandboxed environments
  • File Search: Retrieve knowledge from uploaded documents
  • Function Calling: Define custom tools for your agents
  • Azure AI Search: Ground responses in your indexed data
  • Azure Functions: Integrate with enterprise systems and APIs

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Microsoft Foundry API and SDKs

The Microsoft Foundry API provides a consistent contract for working across different model providers. SDKs are available for:
  • Python: Full-featured SDK with agent and model support
  • C#: Enterprise-grade SDK for .NET applications
  • JavaScript/TypeScript (preview): Modern web development support
  • Java (preview): Support for Java-based applications
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

project = AIProjectClient(
    endpoint="https://<resource-name>.services.ai.azure.com/api/projects/<project-name>",
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential(),
)

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Projects and Resource Isolation

Foundry projects provide secure units of isolation and collaboration where:
  • Agents share file storage, thread storage, and search indexes
  • Data is isolated between projects
  • You can bring your own Azure resources for compliance and control
  • Each project acts as an independent workspace

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Enterprise Features

Microsoft Foundry is designed for enterprise workloads with:

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Security and Compliance

  • Microsoft Entra ID authentication
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Network isolation with private endpoints
  • Customer-managed encryption keys
  • Content safety filters

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Observability

  • Full conversation tracing
  • Application Insights integration
  • Performance metrics and monitoring
  • Evaluation and testing tools

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Data Residency

  • Bring your own Azure Storage
  • Bring your own Azure Cosmos DB
  • Bring your own Azure AI Search
  • Data stays in your tenant and region

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Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Foundry is free to explore and use. You pay only for:
  • Model deployments and API calls
  • Azure resources you provision (Storage, Cosmos DB, etc.)
  • Specific features like Code Interpreter sessions
Foundry is available in most regions where Azure AI services are available.

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Getting Started

To start building with Microsoft Foundry:
  1. Create a Foundry project
  2. Deploy a model
  3. Create your first agent
  4. Explore the SDK

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Next Steps

Quickstart

Get started with Microsoft Foundry in minutes

Agents

Build intelligent agents with Foundry Agent Service

Models

Explore the model catalog and deployments

SDK Overview

Learn about SDKs and endpoints