How to beginner · 3 min read

How to use DefaultAzureCredential with OpenAI

Q: How to use DefaultAzureCredential with OpenAI

Use the DefaultAzureCredential from azure.identity to authenticate your AzureOpenAI client without an API key. Pass the credential via the azure_ad_token_provider parameter when creating the AzureOpenAI client to enable managed identity or environment-based authentication.

Quick answer

Use the DefaultAzureCredential from azure.identity to authenticate your AzureOpenAI client without an API key. Pass the credential via the azure_ad_token_provider parameter when creating the AzureOpenAI client to enable managed identity or environment-based authentication.

PREREQUISITES

Python 3.8+
Azure OpenAI resource with managed identity or service principal
pip install openai>=1.0 azure-identity
Azure CLI or environment configured for authentication

Setup

Install the required Python packages and configure your Azure environment for authentication.

Install openai SDK version 1.0 or higher.
Install azure-identity for DefaultAzureCredential.
Ensure your Azure OpenAI resource has a managed identity or you have a service principal configured.
Authenticate locally using az login or set environment variables for service principal credentials.

bash

pip install openai azure-identity

Step by step

This example shows how to create an AzureOpenAI client using DefaultAzureCredential for authentication and send a chat completion request.

python

import os
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from openai import AzureOpenAI

# Initialize DefaultAzureCredential
credential = DefaultAzureCredential()

# Create AzureOpenAI client with managed identity authentication
client = AzureOpenAI(
    azure_ad_token_provider=credential,
    azure_endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT"]
)

# Use your Azure OpenAI deployment name
deployment_name = os.environ["AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT"]

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model=deployment_name,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello from DefaultAzureCredential!"}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

output

Hello from DefaultAzureCredential!

Common variations

You can use DefaultAzureCredential in async contexts or with different Azure OpenAI models and deployments.

For async usage, use asyncio and await with the AzureOpenAI client methods.
Change the model parameter to your specific deployment name.
Use environment variables to manage endpoint and deployment names securely.

python

import asyncio
from azure.identity.aio import DefaultAzureCredential
from openai import AzureOpenAI

async def main():
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = AzureOpenAI(
        azure_ad_token_provider=credential,
        azure_endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT"]
    )
    deployment_name = os.environ["AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT"]

    response = await client.chat.completions.acreate(
        model=deployment_name,
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Async hello with DefaultAzureCredential"}]
    )
    print(response.choices[0].message.content)

asyncio.run(main())

output

Async hello with DefaultAzureCredential

Troubleshooting

If authentication fails, verify the following:

Your Azure environment is properly authenticated (run az login or set service principal environment variables).
The AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT and AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT environment variables are correctly set.
Your Azure OpenAI resource has the necessary permissions for the managed identity or service principal.
Check for network or firewall restrictions blocking Azure SDK authentication.

✅

Key Takeaways

Use DefaultAzureCredential to authenticate Azure OpenAI without explicit API keys.
Pass the credential via azure_ad_token_provider when creating the AzureOpenAI client.
Ensure environment variables AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT and AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT are set correctly.
For async calls, use acreate methods with DefaultAzureCredential from azure.identity.aio.
Verify Azure permissions and local authentication if you encounter credential errors.

Verified 2026-04 · gpt-4o, AzureOpenAI

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