Microsoft has released a public preview of the Logic Apps Standard extension for the Azure CLI (az logicapp), bringing local workflow development, connector discovery, connection configuration, and runtime diagnostics into the terminal.

The extension is version 1.0.0b1 and requires Azure CLI 2.67.0 or later with Python 3.10+. Install it through the standard Azure CLI extension mechanism:

az extension add --name logicapp --allow-preview true

What it does

The preview registers 59 extension-owned commands under az logicapp, organized into functional groups:

  • Project scaffolding – project create generates a local Standard project structure with a workspace directory for app code and a sibling folder for exports and deployment packages.
  • Context management – context create, use, list, show, and delete save target coordinates (app, port, environment) without storing Azure subscriptions or credentials.
  • Workflow authoring – workflow create, validate, list, show, export, set, enable, disable, and delete cover the full authoring lifecycle.
  • Runtime management – runtime start, show, stop, and doctor diagnose and operate local hosts for offline testing.
  • Connector and operation discovery – connector list, operation list, and operation show query both local service-provider catalogs and regional managed API catalogs (e.g., Office 365).
  • Connection wiring – connection managed create, connection create, connection acl, and connection show handle Azure-side managed connections and local access policies.
  • Execution – run start, list, show, wait, cancel, and resubmit invoke and observe local workflow executions.
  • Testing – test create, test plan, and test run scaffold and execute workflow tests.

Key design decisions

The extension does not replace the Visual Studio Code designer or reinterpret existing Azure resource-management commands. Instead, it provides a deterministic CLI interface for the development work that happens around the workflow definition: validating dependencies, discovering connector operations, checking definitions, starting the local host, and inspecting execution results.

The local runtime communicates with deployed Azure resources but does not require the workflow to be online. This means developers can author, validate, and even run workflows locally against real Azure connectors (provided they have valid connections configured) without deploying the workflow to Azure first.

A practical example

The announcement includes a walkthrough for building a workflow that saves email attachments from Outlook to Azure Blob Storage. The pattern involves:

  1. Creating a stateful Standard project (az logicapp project create).
  2. Starting the local runtime and discovering the Blob and Office 365 connectors.
  3. Configuring an Office 365 managed connection with OAuth authentication and the developer’s managed identity.
  4. Configuring a local Blob connection using managed identity (no account key).
  5. Authoring a workflow with an Outlook polling trigger, an attachment loop, and a Blob upload action.
  6. Validating against the local runtime and running a test email.

Caveats

  • This is a public preview. Features may change before general availability.
  • The local runtime still requires valid Azure connections for managed connectors; “local” refers to where the workflow executes during development, not to being offline.
  • Connection creation writes real Azure resources. Failed creation attempts may leave behind managed connection resources that need manual cleanup.
  • The extension does not install the .NET SDK; developers must ensure all runtime dependencies are present.
  • Static reference warnings can persist after runtime validation and may block --fail-on-warning mode.

Installation

az extension add --name logicapp --allow-preview true
az extension show --name logicapp --query version --output tsv
az logicapp --help

For updates: az extension update --name logicapp --allow-preview true.

Sources