Azure AI Hosted Agents (Python)

Build container-based hosted agents using

ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition

from the Azure AI Projects SDK.

Installation

bash

pip install azure-ai-projects>=2.0.0b3 azure-identity

Minimum SDK Version:

2.0.0b3

or later required for hosted agent support.

Environment Variables

bash

AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT=https://<resource>.services.ai.azure.com/api/projects/<project>

Prerequisites

Before creating hosted agents:

Container Image - Build and push to Azure Container Registry (ACR)
ACR Pull Permissions - Grant your project's managed identity
```
AcrPull
```
role on the ACR
Capability Host - Account-level capability host with
```
enablePublicHostingEnvironment=true
```
SDK Version - Ensure
```
azure-ai-projects>=2.0.0b3
```

Authentication

Always use

DefaultAzureCredential

python

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
client = AIProjectClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=credential
)

Core Workflow

1. Imports

python

import os
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient
from azure.ai.projects.models import (
    ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition,
    ProtocolVersionRecord,
    AgentProtocol,
)

2. Create Hosted Agent

python

client = AIProjectClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
)

agent = client.agents.create_version(
    agent_name="my-hosted-agent",
    definition=ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition(
        container_protocol_versions=[
            ProtocolVersionRecord(protocol=AgentProtocol.RESPONSES, version="v1")
        ],
        cpu="1",
        memory="2Gi",
        image="myregistry.azurecr.io/my-agent:latest",
        tools=[{"type": "code_interpreter"}],
        environment_variables={
            "AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT": os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
            "MODEL_NAME": "gpt-4o-mini"
        }
    )
)

print(f"Created agent: {agent.name} (version: {agent.version})")

3. List Agent Versions

python

versions = client.agents.list_versions(agent_name="my-hosted-agent")
for version in versions:
    print(f"Version: {version.version}, State: {version.state}")

4. Delete Agent Version

python

client.agents.delete_version(
    agent_name="my-hosted-agent",
    version=agent.version
)

ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`container_protocol_versions`	`list[ProtocolVersionRecord]`	Yes	Protocol versions the agent supports
`image`	`str`	Yes	Full container image path (registry/image:tag)
`cpu`	`str`	No	CPU allocation (e.g., "1", "2")
`memory`	`str`	No	Memory allocation (e.g., "2Gi", "4Gi")
`tools`	`list[dict]`	No	Tools available to the agent
`environment_variables`	`dict[str, str]`	No	Environment variables for the container

Protocol Versions

The

container_protocol_versions

parameter specifies which protocols your agent supports:

python

from azure.ai.projects.models import ProtocolVersionRecord, AgentProtocol

# RESPONSES protocol - standard agent responses
container_protocol_versions=[
    ProtocolVersionRecord(protocol=AgentProtocol.RESPONSES, version="v1")
]

Available Protocols:

Protocol	Description
`AgentProtocol.RESPONSES`	Standard response protocol for agent interactions

Resource Allocation

Specify CPU and memory for your container:

python

definition=ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition(
    container_protocol_versions=[...],
    image="myregistry.azurecr.io/my-agent:latest",
    cpu="2",      # 2 CPU cores
    memory="4Gi"  # 4 GiB memory
)

Resource Limits:

Resource	Min	Max	Default
CPU	0.5	4	1
Memory	1Gi	8Gi	2Gi

Tools Configuration

Add tools to your hosted agent:

Code Interpreter

python

tools=[{"type": "code_interpreter"}]

MCP Tools

python

tools=[
    {"type": "code_interpreter"},
    {
        "type": "mcp",
        "server_label": "my-mcp-server",
        "server_url": "https://my-mcp-server.example.com"
    }
]

Multiple Tools

python

tools=[
    {"type": "code_interpreter"},
    {"type": "file_search"},
    {
        "type": "mcp",
        "server_label": "custom-tool",
        "server_url": "https://custom-tool.example.com"
    }
]

Environment Variables

Pass configuration to your container:

python

environment_variables={
    "AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT": os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
    "MODEL_NAME": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "LOG_LEVEL": "INFO",
    "CUSTOM_CONFIG": "value"
}

Best Practice: Never hardcode secrets. Use environment variables or Azure Key Vault.

Complete Example

python

import os
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient
from azure.ai.projects.models import (
    ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition,
    ProtocolVersionRecord,
    AgentProtocol,
)

def create_hosted_agent():
    """Create a hosted agent with custom container image."""
    
    client = AIProjectClient(
        endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
        credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
    )
    
    agent = client.agents.create_version(
        agent_name="data-processor-agent",
        definition=ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition(
            container_protocol_versions=[
                ProtocolVersionRecord(
                    protocol=AgentProtocol.RESPONSES,
                    version="v1"
                )
            ],
            image="myregistry.azurecr.io/data-processor:v1.0",
            cpu="2",
            memory="4Gi",
            tools=[
                {"type": "code_interpreter"},
                {"type": "file_search"}
            ],
            environment_variables={
                "AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT": os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
                "MODEL_NAME": "gpt-4o-mini",
                "MAX_RETRIES": "3"
            }
        )
    )
    
    print(f"Created hosted agent: {agent.name}")
    print(f"Version: {agent.version}")
    print(f"State: {agent.state}")
    
    return agent

if __name__ == "__main__":
    create_hosted_agent()

Async Pattern

python

import os
from azure.identity.aio import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.projects.aio import AIProjectClient
from azure.ai.projects.models import (
    ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition,
    ProtocolVersionRecord,
    AgentProtocol,
)

async def create_hosted_agent_async():
    """Create a hosted agent asynchronously."""
    
    async with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential:
        async with AIProjectClient(
            endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT"],
            credential=credential
        ) as client:
            agent = await client.agents.create_version(
                agent_name="async-agent",
                definition=ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition(
                    container_protocol_versions=[
                        ProtocolVersionRecord(
                            protocol=AgentProtocol.RESPONSES,
                            version="v1"
                        )
                    ],
                    image="myregistry.azurecr.io/async-agent:latest",
                    cpu="1",
                    memory="2Gi"
                )
            )
            return agent

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
`ImagePullBackOff`	ACR pull permission denied	Grant `AcrPull` role to project's managed identity
`InvalidContainerImage`	Image not found	Verify image path and tag exist in ACR
`CapabilityHostNotFound`	No capability host configured	Create account-level capability host
`ProtocolVersionNotSupported`	Invalid protocol version	Use `AgentProtocol.RESPONSES` with version `"v1"`

Best Practices

Version Your Images - Use specific tags, not
```
latest
```
in production
Minimal Resources - Start with minimum CPU/memory, scale up as needed
Environment Variables - Use for all configuration, never hardcode
Error Handling - Wrap agent creation in try/except blocks
Cleanup - Delete unused agent versions to free resources

agents-v2-py

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Azure AI Hosted Agents (Python)

Installation

Environment Variables

Prerequisites

Authentication

Core Workflow

1. Imports

2. Create Hosted Agent

3. List Agent Versions

4. Delete Agent Version

ImageBasedHostedAgentDefinition Parameters

Protocol Versions

Resource Allocation

Tools Configuration

Code Interpreter

MCP Tools

Multiple Tools

Environment Variables

Complete Example

Async Pattern

Common Errors

Best Practices

Reference Links