What is Microsoft Foundry?
Microsoft Foundry is a unified Azure platform-as-a-service offering for enterprise AI operations, model builders, and application development. This foundation combines production-grade infrastructure with friendly interfaces, enabling developers to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.Unified Platform for AI Development
Microsoft Foundry unifies agents, models, and tools under a single management grouping with built-in enterprise-readiness capabilities including:- Tracing and Monitoring: Full observability into agent behavior and performance
- Evaluations: Built-in tools to assess model and agent quality
- Enterprise Setup: Customizable configurations for security and compliance
- Unified Management: Single RBAC, networking, and policy control under one Azure resource provider namespace
Key Capabilities
Microsoft Foundry provides developers with powerful capabilities to build production-ready AI applications:Agents
Build intelligent agents that can:- Make decisions and invoke tools
- Participate in multi-agent workflows
- Access enterprise knowledge through integrated tools
- Operate with enterprise-grade security and governance
Models
Access a comprehensive catalog of AI models:- Azure OpenAI models: GPT-4o, GPT-4, GPT-3.5 with fungible provisioned throughput
- Foundry Direct models: DeepSeek, xAI, and other cutting-edge models
- Partner models: Meta Llama, Cohere, Anthropic Claude, and more
- Community models: 1900+ models from Hugging Face and other sources
Tools and Integrations
Extend agent capabilities with built-in tools:- Code Interpreter: Execute Python code in sandboxed environments
- File Search: Retrieve knowledge from uploaded documents
- Function Calling: Define custom tools for your agents
- Azure AI Search: Ground responses in your indexed data
- Azure Functions: Integrate with enterprise systems and APIs
Microsoft Foundry API and SDKs
The Microsoft Foundry API provides a consistent contract for working across different model providers. SDKs are available for:- Python: Full-featured SDK with agent and model support
- C#: Enterprise-grade SDK for .NET applications
- JavaScript/TypeScript (preview): Modern web development support
- Java (preview): Support for Java-based applications
Projects and Resource Isolation
Foundry projects provide secure units of isolation and collaboration where:- Agents share file storage, thread storage, and search indexes
- Data is isolated between projects
- You can bring your own Azure resources for compliance and control
- Each project acts as an independent workspace
Enterprise Features
Microsoft Foundry is designed for enterprise workloads with:Security and Compliance
- Microsoft Entra ID authentication
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Network isolation with private endpoints
- Customer-managed encryption keys
- Content safety filters
Observability
- Full conversation tracing
- Application Insights integration
- Performance metrics and monitoring
- Evaluation and testing tools
Data Residency
- Bring your own Azure Storage
- Bring your own Azure Cosmos DB
- Bring your own Azure AI Search
- Data stays in your tenant and region
Pricing and Availability
Microsoft Foundry is free to explore and use. You pay only for:- Model deployments and API calls
- Azure resources you provision (Storage, Cosmos DB, etc.)
- Specific features like Code Interpreter sessions
Getting Started
To start building with Microsoft Foundry:Next Steps
Quickstart
Get started with Microsoft Foundry in minutes
Agents
Build intelligent agents with Foundry Agent Service
Models
Explore the model catalog and deployments
SDK Overview
Learn about SDKs and endpoints