Deploy to Azure App Service

🧪 Preview

Use aspire deploy to deploy Aspire applications to Azure App Service. Aspire provisions the App Service plan, Azure Container Registry, managed identity, and the App Service websites for supported web-facing app resources in the App Service environment.

Start with Deploy to Azure for the shared Azure deployment model and target selection.

Prerequisites

• Aspire prerequisites
• Aspire CLI installed
• For local deployment with the default credential source, Azure CLI installed and available on your PATH
• An active Azure account and subscription

By default, local deployment uses Azure CLI credentials. Authenticate with Azure CLI before deploying:

Authenticate with Azure CLI

az login

Configure your AppHost for Azure App Service

Add Azure App Service support to your AppHost:

Aspire CLI — Add Azure App Service

aspire add azure-appservice

The Aspire CLI adds the 📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure.AppService integration to your AppHost. If prompted, select the matching package result.

Then add the App Service environment in your AppHost and a supported web app or API resource. App Service environments automatically target supported project resources and Dockerfile-backed web containers:

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");

builder.AddDockerfile("web", "./web")
    .WithHttpEndpoint(port: 8080, targetPort: 8080, name: "http")
    .WithExternalHttpEndpoints();

builder.Build().Run();

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");

await builder
    .addDockerfile("web", "./web")
    .withHttpEndpoint({ port: 8080, targetPort: 8080, name: "http" })
    .withExternalHttpEndpoints();

await builder.build().run();

For a standard App Service deployment, you only need the environment and a supported app resource. Use PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite only when you want to customize the generated website or deployment slot.

How Aspire maps your app to Azure App Service

Supported app workloads

App Service environments automatically target:

• project resources for web apps and APIs
• Dockerfile-backed web containers with a supported public HTTP or HTTPS endpoint

Use managed services for backing infrastructure such as databases, caches, and brokers. App Service websites aren’t deployment targets for those workloads.

If one AppHost uses multiple Azure environments, assign each supported resource to the environment you want it to use.

Default mapping

Start with the common case:

AppHost endpoint shape	Azure App Service result
One external HTTP or HTTPS endpoint	One public website endpoint

App Service routes public traffic to the app’s target port, even if the app listens on a development port such as 8080.

Constraints

Azure App Service uses a public website model:

• only external http and https endpoints are supported
• only one distinct external target port is supported for each deployed app
• internal-only endpoints, multi-port public apps, and arbitrary infrastructure containers such as Redis or databases don’t fit this deployment model

Image publishing and identity

During aspire deploy, Aspire:

• provisions or attaches an Azure Container Registry
• builds container images for supported resources
• pushes those images to the registry
• creates a user-assigned managed identity
• grants the deployed websites permission to pull images

This lets App Service pull deployed images without manual registry credentials.

Health checks

App Service exposes one health check path per website. If you configure multiple probes, Aspire prefers the liveness probe and uses that path for the App Service health check.

Customize generated App Service websites

Use PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite when you want to customize the generated website or deployment slot. It isn’t required for a standard App Service deployment.

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");

builder.AddProject<Projects.Api>("api")
    .PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite((infrastructure, website) =>
    {
        website.AppSettings.Add("ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT", new AppServiceConfigurationSetting
        {
            Name = "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT",
            Value = "Production"
        });

        website.Tags.Add("Environment", "Production");
    });

builder.Build().Run();

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");

await builder
    .addProject("api", "../Api/Api.csproj", "https")
    .publishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite({
        configure: async (_infrastructure, _website) => {
            // Customize the generated production website here.
        }
    });

await builder.build().run();

Customize deployment slots separately

When you use deployment slots, production website customizations and slot customizations are configured separately.

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env")
    .WithDeploymentSlot("staging");

builder.AddProject<Projects.Api>("api")
    .PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite(
        configure: (infrastructure, website) =>
        {
            website.Tags.Add("Environment", "Production");
        },
        configureSlot: (infrastructure, slot) =>
        {
            slot.Tags.Add("Environment", "Staging");
        });

builder.Build().Run();

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env")
    .withDeploymentSlot("staging");

await builder
    .addProject("api", "../Api/Api.csproj", "https")
    .publishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite({
        configureSlot: async (_infrastructure, _slot) => {
            // Customize the generated deployment slot here.
        }
    });

await builder.build().run();

Environment-variable name validation

Azure App Service application settings accept only letters, numbers, and underscores. If a connection name contains dashes and you intentionally want to bypass App Service name validation for that website, call SkipEnvironmentVariableNameChecks() after PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite.

C#

AppHost.cs

builder.AddProject<Projects.Api>("api")
    .PublishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite()
    .SkipEnvironmentVariableNameChecks();

TypeScript

apphost.ts

await builder
    .addProject("api", "../Api/Api.csproj", "https")
    .publishAsAzureAppServiceWebsite()
    .skipEnvironmentVariableNameChecks();

For general Azure resource customization such as naming, existing resources, role assignments, and outputs, see Customize Azure resources. For App Service-specific hosting details, see Azure App Service Hosting integration.

Deploy with aspire deploy

Once your AppHost is configured, deploy it with:

Deploy to Azure App Service

aspire deploy

Aspire can prompt for missing Azure settings and AppHost parameters during an interactive deploy, then provisions and deploys the App Service resources behind the scenes.

For Azure authentication, shared Azure settings, and Parameters__* inputs, see Deploy to Azure and Environments.

Monitoring and diagnostics

Aspire Dashboard

The Azure App Service environment includes the Aspire Dashboard by default, so you can inspect logs, traces, metrics, and topology for the deployed compute resources after deployment. Managed Azure backing services aren’t shown as dashboard resources there. If you don’t want to deploy it, disable it on the environment:

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env")
    .WithDashboard(false);

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

const appServiceEnv = await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");
await appServiceEnv.withDashboard(false);

Application Insights

Enable Azure Application Insights on the App Service environment when you want Aspire to provision monitoring resources and flow the connection string into your deployed websites:

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env")
    .WithAzureApplicationInsights();

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

const appServiceEnv = await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");
await appServiceEnv.withAzureApplicationInsights();

For existing Application Insights resources and advanced configuration, see Azure App Service Hosting integration.

Deployment slots

Use deployment slots when you want to deploy the websites in your environment into a staging slot before swapping into production:

C#

AppHost.cs

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env")
    .WithDeploymentSlot("staging");

TypeScript

apphost.ts

import { createBuilder } from './.modules/aspire.js';

const builder = await createBuilder();

const appServiceEnv = await builder.addAzureAppServiceEnvironment("app-service-env");
await appServiceEnv.withDeploymentSlot("staging");

For existing plans, advanced customization, and deployment slot behavior, see Azure App Service Hosting integration.

Deployment considerations

Caution

Azure App Service application settings accept only letters, numbers, and underscores. If a connection name contains dashes, review the App Service hosting integration guidance for the environment-variable validation workaround before deployment.

For environment-variable validation details and advanced App Service customization, see Azure App Service Hosting integration.

See also

• Deploy to Azure
• Azure App Service Hosting integration
• Azure security best practices
• App Service overview
• Configure a custom container for Azure App Service