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In this article, you use Visual Studio Code to create a TypeScript function that responds to HTTP requests. After testing the code locally, you deploy it to the serverless environment of Azure Functions.
Important
The content of this article changes based on your choice of the Node.js programming model in the selector at the top of the page. The v4 model is currently in preview and is designed to have a more flexible and intuitive experience for JavaScript and TypeScript developers. Learn more about the differences between v3 and v4 in the
upgrade guide
.
Completion of this quickstart incurs a small cost of a few USD cents or less in your Azure account.
There's also a
CLI-based version
of this article.
Before you get started, make sure you have the following requirements in place:
An Azure account with an active subscription.
Create an account for free
.
Node.js 18.x
or
Node.js 16.x
. Use the
node --version
command to check your version.
Create your local project
In this section, you use Visual Studio Code to create a local Azure Functions project in TypeScript. Later in this article, you publish your function code to Azure.
Choose the Azure icon in the Activity bar. Then in the
Workspace (local)
area, select the
+
button, choose
Create Function
in the dropdown. When prompted, choose
Create new project
.
Authorization level
Choose
Anonymous
, which enables anyone to call your function endpoint. To learn about authorization level, see
Authorization keys
.
Select how you would like to open your project
Choose
Open in current window
.
Using this information, Visual Studio Code generates an Azure Functions project with an HTTP trigger. 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.
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
.
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...
.
In
Enter request body
you see the request message body value of
{ "name": "Azure" }
. Press Enter to send this request message to your function.
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.
With the
Terminal
panel focused, press
Ctrl + C
to stop Core Tools and disconnect the debugger.
After you've verified that the function runs correctly on your local computer, it's time to use Visual Studio Code to publish the project directly to Azure.
Sign in to Azure
Before you can publish your app, you must sign in to Azure.
If you aren't already signed in, choose the Azure icon in the Activity bar. Then in the
Resources
area, choose
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, choose
Create and Azure Account...
. Students can choose
Create and Azure for Students Account...
.
When prompted in the browser, choose your Azure account and sign in using your Azure account credentials. If you create a new account, you can sign in after your account is created.
After you've successfully signed in, you can close the new browser window. The subscriptions that belong to your Azure account are displayed in the sidebar.
Create the function app in Azure
In this section, you create a function app and related resources in your Azure subscription.
Choose the Azure icon in the Activity bar. Then in the
Resources
area, select the
+
icon and choose the
Create Function App in Azure
option.
Provide the following information at the prompts:
Prompt
Selection
Select subscription
Choose the subscription to use. You won't see this prompt when you have only one subscription visible under
Resources
.
Enter a globally unique name for the function app
Type a name that is valid in a URL path. The name you type is validated to make sure that it's unique in Azure Functions.
Select a runtime stack
Choose the language version on which you've been running locally.
Select a location for new resources
For better performance, choose a
region
near you.
The extension shows the status of individual resources as they're being created in Azure in the
Azure: Activity Log
panel.
When the creation is complete, the following Azure resources are created in your subscription. The resources are named based on your function app name:
A
resource group
, which is a logical container for related resources.
A standard
Azure Storage account
, which maintains state and other information about your projects.
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 App Service plan, which defines the underlying host for your function app.
An Application Insights instance connected to the function app, which tracks usage of your functions in the app.
A notification is displayed after your function app is created and the deployment package is applied.
By default, the Azure resources required by your function app are created based on the function app name you provide. By default, they're also created in the same new resource group with the function app. If you want to either customize the names of these resources or reuse existing resources, you need to
publish the project with advanced create options
instead.
Update app settings
To enable your V4 programming model app to run in Azure, you need to add a new application setting named
AzureWebJobsFeatureFlags
with a value of
EnableWorkerIndexing
. This setting is already in your local.settings.json file.
In Visual Studio Code, press
F1
to open the command palette. In the command palette, search for and select
Azure Functions: Add New Setting...
.
Choose your new function app, type
AzureWebJobsFeatureFlags
for the new app setting name, and press
Enter
.
For the value, type
EnableWorkerIndexing
and press
Enter
.
Deploy the project to Azure
Important
Deploying to an existing function app always overwrites the contents of that app in Azure.
Choose the Azure icon in the Activity bar, then in the
Workspace
area, select your project folder and select the
Deploy...
button.
Select
Deploy to Function App...
, choose the function app you just created, and select
Deploy
.
After deployment completes, 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.
In
Enter request body
you see the request message body value of
{ "name": "Azure" }
. Press Enter to send this request message to your function.
When the function executes in Azure and returns a response, a notification is raised in Visual Studio Code.
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.
In Visual Studio Code, press
F1
to open the command palette. In the command palette, search for and select
Azure: Open in portal
.
Choose your function app and press
Enter
. The function app page opens in the Azure portal.
In the
Overview
tab, select the named link next to
Resource group
.
On the
Resource group
page, review the list of included resources, and verify that they're the ones you want to delete.
Select
Delete resource group
, and follow the instructions.
Deletion may take a couple of minutes. When it's done, a notification appears for a few seconds. You can also select the bell icon at the top of the page to view the notification.
For more information 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 article, you expand that function by connecting to Azure Storage. To learn more about connecting to other Azure services, see
Add bindings to an existing function in Azure Functions
.
Connect to an Azure Storage queue