Introduction to Bicep

Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) for deploying Azure resources. It provides a cleaner, more concise syntax compared to raw ARM template JSON, while compiling down to ARM templates behind the scenes. Microsoft considers Bicep the recommended authoring experience for Azure IaC.

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Why Bicep?

ARM templates work, but JSON is verbose. Consider a simple storage account:

ARM Template (JSON)

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "location": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().location]"
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2023-01-01",
      "name": "mystorageaccount",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "sku": { "name": "Standard_LRS" },
      "kind": "StorageV2",
      "properties": {
        "minimumTlsVersion": "TLS1_2"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Bicep Equivalent

param location string = resourceGroup().location

resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-01-01' = {
  name: 'mystorageaccount'
  location: location
  sku: {
    name: 'Standard_LRS'
  }
  kind: 'StorageV2'
  properties: {
    minimumTlsVersion: 'TLS1_2'
  }
}

The Bicep version is shorter, easier to read, and eliminates JSON boilerplate.

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Key Benefits of Bicep

Benefit	Description
Concise syntax	No curly-brace nesting hell or repeated schema references
Type safety	IntelliSense and compile-time validation in VS Code
No state management	Bicep compiles to ARM; Azure manages the state
Modules	First-class support for modular, reusable templates
Automatic dependency detection	No dependsOn needed in most cases
Day-one resource support	Any ARM resource is available in Bicep immediately
Transparent compilation	You can always inspect the generated ARM JSON

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Installing Bicep

Bicep is included with the Azure CLI (version 2.20+):

az bicep install
az bicep upgrade
az bicep version

Or install the standalone CLI:

# macOS
brew install bicep

# Windows
winget install Microsoft.Bicep

Install the Bicep VS Code extension for IntelliSense, syntax highlighting, and error detection.

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Bicep Syntax Fundamentals

Parameters

@description('The deployment environment')
@allowed(['dev', 'staging', 'prod'])
param environment string = 'dev'

@description('Azure region')
param location string = resourceGroup().location

@secure()
@description('Administrator password')
param adminPassword string

param instanceCount int = 2
param enableDiagnostics bool = true
param tags object = {
  project: 'webapp'
  costCentre: '12345'
}

Variables

var storageAccountName = 'st${environment}${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'
var vnetName = 'vnet-${environment}'
var commonTags = {
  environment: environment
  managedBy: 'bicep'
}

Resources