Azure Identity Java

MicrosoftOfficialCreated by Microsoft

Skill
Tool integration
Software development
MIT
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From the author

Azure Identity library for Java authentication with Azure services. Use when implementing DefaultAzureCredential, managed identity, service principal, or any Azure authentication pattern in Java applications.

— the description by Microsoft

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The Azure Identity library for Java provides a unified set of authentication classes for connecting to Azure services. It supports various authentication patterns, including managed identities, service principals with secrets or certificates, environment variables, and interactive login flows. The library is designed to work with Azure SDK clients, allowing developers to manage credentials consistently across different environments.

What it does

Provides DefaultAzureCredential for simplified authentication across development and deployment environments.
Supports Managed Identity for secure, secret-free authentication in Azure-hosted applications.
Enables service principal authentication using client secrets or certificates.
Facilitates local development authentication via Azure CLI or interactive browser flows.
Allows creation of custom authentication chains using ChainedTokenCredential.
Supports configuration for sovereign clouds and environment-specific credential requirements.

When to use it

When building Java applications that need to authenticate with Azure services.
When you need to switch between local development and cloud-hosted authentication methods.
When implementing secure service-to-service communication using service principals.
When deploying applications to Azure environments like App Service, Functions, or AKS.

Advantages

Unified API for multiple authentication methods.
Reduces the need for hardcoded credentials through support for environment variables and managed identities.
Provides flexible credential chaining to handle different runtime environments.
Includes built-in support for common Azure development workflows like Azure CLI integration.

Usage examples

“How do I authenticate an Azure SDK client using DefaultAzureCredential in Java?”: You instantiate a DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder, build the credential, and pass it to the constructor of an Azure SDK client like BlobServiceClientBuilder.
“How can I use a service principal with a client secret for Azure authentication?”: Use the ClientSecretCredentialBuilder to provide your tenant ID, client ID, and client secret to generate a credential object.
“How do I configure a managed identity for an Azure-hosted Java app?”: Use the ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder to create a credential, optionally specifying a client ID or resource ID for user-assigned identities.
“How do I create a custom authentication chain in Java?”: Use the ChainedTokenCredentialBuilder to add multiple credential types in a specific order to be attempted during authentication.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/microsoft/azure-identity-java/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip azure-identity-java.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Microsoft

Azure Identity library for Java

Authentication library for Azure SDK clients using Microsoft Entra ID.

Installation

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.azure</groupId>
    <artifactId>azure-identity</artifactId>
    <version>1.15.0</version>
</dependency>

Key Concepts

Credential	Use Case
`DefaultAzureCredential`	Recommended - Works in dev and production
`ManagedIdentityCredential`	Azure-hosted apps (App Service, Functions, VMs)
`EnvironmentCredential`	CI/CD pipelines with env vars
`ClientSecretCredential`	Service principals with secret
`ClientCertificateCredential`	Service principals with certificate
`AzureCliCredential`	Local dev using `az login`
`InteractiveBrowserCredential`	Interactive login flow
`DeviceCodeCredential`	Headless device authentication

DefaultAzureCredential (Recommended)

The DefaultAzureCredential tries multiple authentication methods in order. See DefaultAzureCredential overview for the current credential chain order and defaults.

import com.azure.identity.DefaultAzureCredential;
import com.azure.identity.DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder;

// Simple usage
DefaultAzureCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder().build();

// Use with any Azure client
BlobServiceClient blobClient = new BlobServiceClientBuilder()
    .endpoint("https://<storage-account>.blob.core.windows.net")
    .credential(credential)
    .buildClient();

KeyClient keyClient = new KeyClientBuilder()
    .vaultUrl("https://<vault-name>.vault.azure.net")
    .credential(credential)
    .buildClient();

Configure DefaultAzureCredential

DefaultAzureCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder()
    .managedIdentityClientId("<user-assigned-identity-client-id>")  // For user-assigned MI
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")                                        // Limit to specific tenant
    .excludeEnvironmentCredential()                                 // Skip env vars
    .excludeAzureCliCredential()                                    // Skip Azure CLI
    .build();

Managed Identity

For Azure-hosted applications (App Service, Functions, AKS, VMs).

import com.azure.identity.ManagedIdentityCredential;
import com.azure.identity.ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder;

// System-assigned managed identity
ManagedIdentityCredential credential = new ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder()
    .build();

// User-assigned managed identity (by client ID)
ManagedIdentityCredential credential = new ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder()
    .clientId("<user-assigned-client-id>")
    .build();

// User-assigned managed identity (by resource ID)
ManagedIdentityCredential credential = new ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder()
    .resourceId("/subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/<rg>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<name>")
    .build();

Service Principal with Secret

import com.azure.identity.ClientSecretCredential;
import com.azure.identity.ClientSecretCredentialBuilder;

ClientSecretCredential credential = new ClientSecretCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .clientSecret("<client-secret>")
    .build();

Service Principal with Certificate

import com.azure.identity.ClientCertificateCredential;
import com.azure.identity.ClientCertificateCredentialBuilder;

// From PEM file
ClientCertificateCredential credential = new ClientCertificateCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .pemCertificate("<path-to-cert.pem>")
    .build();

// From PFX file with password
ClientCertificateCredential credential = new ClientCertificateCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .pfxCertificate("<path-to-cert.pfx>", "<pfx-password>")
    .build();

// Send certificate chain for SNI
ClientCertificateCredential credential = new ClientCertificateCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .pemCertificate("<path-to-cert.pem>")
    .sendCertificateChain(true)
    .build();

Environment Credential

Reads credentials from environment variables.

import com.azure.identity.EnvironmentCredential;
import com.azure.identity.EnvironmentCredentialBuilder;

EnvironmentCredential credential = new EnvironmentCredentialBuilder().build();

Required Environment Variables

For service principal with secret:

AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<client-secret>

For service principal with certificate:

AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PATH=/path/to/cert.pem
AZURE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD=<optional-password>

Azure CLI Credential

For local development using az login.

import com.azure.identity.AzureCliCredential;
import com.azure.identity.AzureCliCredentialBuilder;

AzureCliCredential credential = new AzureCliCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")  // Optional: specific tenant
    .build();

Interactive Browser

For desktop applications requiring user login.

import com.azure.identity.InteractiveBrowserCredential;
import com.azure.identity.InteractiveBrowserCredentialBuilder;

InteractiveBrowserCredential credential = new InteractiveBrowserCredentialBuilder()
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .redirectUrl("http://localhost:8080")  // Must match app registration
    .build();

Device Code

For headless devices (IoT, CLI tools).

import com.azure.identity.DeviceCodeCredential;
import com.azure.identity.DeviceCodeCredentialBuilder;

DeviceCodeCredential credential = new DeviceCodeCredentialBuilder()
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .challengeConsumer(challenge -> {
        // Display to user
        System.out.println(challenge.getMessage());
    })
    .build();

Chained Credential

Create custom authentication chains.

import com.azure.identity.ChainedTokenCredential;
import com.azure.identity.ChainedTokenCredentialBuilder;

ChainedTokenCredential credential = new ChainedTokenCredentialBuilder()
    .addFirst(new ManagedIdentityCredentialBuilder().build())
    .addLast(new AzureCliCredentialBuilder().build())
    .build();

Workload Identity (AKS)

For Azure Kubernetes Service with workload identity.

import com.azure.identity.WorkloadIdentityCredential;
import com.azure.identity.WorkloadIdentityCredentialBuilder;

// Reads from AZURE_TENANT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE
WorkloadIdentityCredential credential = new WorkloadIdentityCredentialBuilder().build();

// Or explicit configuration
WorkloadIdentityCredential credential = new WorkloadIdentityCredentialBuilder()
    .tenantId("<tenant-id>")
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .tokenFilePath("/var/run/secrets/azure/tokens/azure-identity-token")
    .build();

Token Caching

Enable persistent token caching for better performance.

// Enable token caching (in-memory by default)
DefaultAzureCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder()
    .enableAccountIdentifierLogging()
    .build();

// With shared token cache (for multi-credential scenarios)
SharedTokenCacheCredential credential = new SharedTokenCacheCredentialBuilder()
    .clientId("<client-id>")
    .build();

Sovereign Clouds

import com.azure.identity.AzureAuthorityHosts;

// Azure Government
DefaultAzureCredential govCredential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder()
    .authorityHost(AzureAuthorityHosts.AZURE_GOVERNMENT)
    .build();

// Azure China
DefaultAzureCredential chinaCredential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder()
    .authorityHost(AzureAuthorityHosts.AZURE_CHINA)
    .build();

Error Handling

import com.azure.identity.CredentialUnavailableException;
import com.azure.core.exception.ClientAuthenticationException;

try {
    DefaultAzureCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder().build();
    AccessToken token = credential.getToken(new TokenRequestContext()
        .addScopes("https://management.azure.com/.default"));
} catch (CredentialUnavailableException e) {
    // No credential could authenticate
    System.out.println("Authentication failed: " + e.getMessage());
} catch (ClientAuthenticationException e) {
    // Authentication error (wrong credentials, expired, etc.)
    System.out.println("Auth error: " + e.getMessage());
}

Logging

Enable authentication logging for debugging.

// Via environment variable
// AZURE_LOG_LEVEL=verbose

// Or programmatically
DefaultAzureCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredentialBuilder()
    .enableAccountIdentifierLogging()  // Log account info
    .build();

Environment Variables

# DefaultAzureCredential configuration
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<client-secret>

# Managed Identity
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<user-assigned-mi-client-id>

# Workload Identity (AKS)
AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE=/var/run/secrets/azure/tokens/azure-identity-token

# Logging
AZURE_LOG_LEVEL=verbose

# Authority host
AZURE_AUTHORITY_HOST=https://login.microsoftonline.com/

Best Practices

Use DefaultAzureCredential - Works seamlessly from dev to production
Managed Identity in Production - No secrets to manage, automatic rotation
Azure CLI for Local Dev - Run az login before running your app
Least Privilege - Grant only required permissions to service principals
Token Caching - Enabled by default, reduces auth round-trips
Environment Variables - Use for CI/CD, not hardcoded secrets

Credential Selection Matrix

Environment	Recommended Credential
Local Development	`DefaultAzureCredential` (uses Azure CLI)
Azure App Service	`DefaultAzureCredential` (uses Managed Identity)
Azure Functions	`DefaultAzureCredential` (uses Managed Identity)
Azure Kubernetes Service	`WorkloadIdentityCredential`
Azure VMs	`DefaultAzureCredential` (uses Managed Identity)
CI/CD Pipeline	`EnvironmentCredential`
Desktop App	`InteractiveBrowserCredential`
CLI Tool	`DeviceCodeCredential`

Trigger Phrases

"Azure authentication Java", "DefaultAzureCredential Java"
"managed identity Java", "service principal Java"
"Azure login Java", "Azure credentials Java"
"AZURE_CLIENT_ID", "AZURE_TENANT_ID"

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer964 B
LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.1 KiB
SKILL.md10.7 KiB
references/examples.md14.1 KiB

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

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Attribution and licence

Created by

Microsoft

Publisher

Microsoft (Official)

Source

microsoft/skills · .github/plugins/azure-sdk-java/skills/azure-identity-java · commit 0696600

Licence

MIT License (redistribution allowed)

LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)

Synced

2026-11-09

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Microsoft.

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The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download azure-identity-java.zip