Foundry Hosted Agents: Deploy Python Agents Using Azure Developer CLI & Build with Microsoft Agent Framework

Microsoft has announced a free livestream series focused on hosting AI agents in Microsoft Foundry, aimed at helping developers deploy production-ready agents using the Azure Developer CLI and Microsoft Agent Framework.

The series, titled “Host your agents on Foundry,” will guide developers through the complete journey of building, composing, and deploying AI agents from local development to production environments.

Each session will cover key steps including building agents locally with Microsoft Agent Framework and the Foundry Toolkit for Visual Studio Code, deploying containerized agents to Foundry Agent Service, and managing the deployment lifecycle through build and push, agent version creation, status polling, and invocation.

Microsoft Agent Framework, now in its v1.0 release, provides a stable, open-source SDK and runtime for both Python and .NET developers, unifying the foundations of Semantic Kernel with the multi-agent orchestration capabilities of AutoGen.

The framework is designed to simplify enterprise-grade AI agent development by offering migration guides for existing Semantic Kernel and AutoGen users, enabling a straightforward transition to the unified platform.

Foundry Agent Service supports the deployment of hosted agents by provisioning infrastructure, creating dedicated Entra agent identities, and requiring Azure AI Project Manager permissions for deployment and role assignment.

Developers can use the Azure Developer CLI or Python SDK to deploy containerized agent code, with the quickstart path automating building, pushing, versioning, and RBAC configuration through the Azure Developer CLI or VS Code extension.

The livestream series will also highlight new capabilities in Foundry Agent Service, including preview features for memory, Toolbox for integrating tools like web search and MCP, and enhanced observability with end-to-end tracing now reaching general availability in the Foundry Control Plane.

Real-world implementations such as Sitecore’s SitecoreAI platform demonstrate the stack in action, powering Agentic Studio—a collaborative workspace where marketing teams and AI agents execute campaigns together using Microsoft Agent Framework and Foundry IQ for brand-aligned knowledge governance.

Microsoft emphasizes that the goal of the Agent Framework and Foundry Toolkit is to make building production-grade AI agents feel as natural and structured as developing any other software, reducing complexity in enterprise AI adoption.

The livestream series is part of Microsoft’s broader effort to deliver on its promise of providing a coherent, integrated agent development experience following the general availability of Foundry Toolkit for Visual Studio Code and the v1.0 release of Microsoft Agent Framework.