/azure-ai-openai-dotnet

name: azure-ai-openai-dotnet
description: Azure OpenAI SDK for .NET. Client library for Azure OpenAI and OpenAI services. Use for chat completions, embeddings, image generation, audio transcription, and assistants.
risk: critical
source: community
date_added: '2026-02-27'

Azure.AI.OpenAI (.NET)

Client library for Azure OpenAI Service providing access to OpenAI models including GPT-4, GPT-4o, embeddings, DALL-E, and Whisper.

Installation

dotnet add package Azure.AI.OpenAI

# For OpenAI (non-Azure) compatibility
dotnet add package OpenAI

**Current Version**: 2.1.0 (stable)

Environment Variables

AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://<resource-name>.openai.azure.com
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=<api-key>                    # For key-based auth
AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT_NAME=gpt-4o-mini          # Your deployment name

Client Hierarchy

AzureOpenAIClient (top-level)
├── GetChatClient(deploymentName)      → ChatClient
├── GetEmbeddingClient(deploymentName) → EmbeddingClient
├── GetImageClient(deploymentName)     → ImageClient
├── GetAudioClient(deploymentName)     → AudioClient
└── GetAssistantClient()               → AssistantClient

Authentication

API Key Authentication

using Azure;
using Azure.AI.OpenAI;

AzureOpenAIClient client = new(
    new Uri(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT")!),
    new AzureKeyCredential(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY")!));

Microsoft Entra ID (Recommended for Production)

using Azure.Identity;
using Azure.AI.OpenAI;

AzureOpenAIClient client = new(
    new Uri(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT")!),
    new DefaultAzureCredential());

Using OpenAI SDK Directly with Azure

using Azure.Identity;
using OpenAI;
using OpenAI.Chat;
using System.ClientModel.Primitives;

#pragma warning disable OPENAI001

BearerTokenPolicy tokenPolicy = new(
    new DefaultAzureCredential(),
    "https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default");

ChatClient client = new(
    model: "gpt-4o-mini",
    authenticationPolicy: tokenPolicy,
    options: new OpenAIClientOptions()
    {
        Endpoint = new Uri("https://YOUR-RESOURCE.openai.azure.com/openai/v1")
    });

Chat Completions

Basic Chat

using Azure.AI.OpenAI;
using OpenAI.Chat;

AzureOpenAIClient azureClient = new(
    new Uri(endpoint),
    new DefaultAzureCredential());

ChatClient chatClient = azureClient.GetChatClient("gpt-4o-mini");

ChatCompletion completion = chatClient.CompleteChat(
[
    new SystemChatMessage("You are a helpful assistant."),
    new UserChatMessage("What is Azure OpenAI?")
]);

Console.WriteLine(completion.Content[0].Text);

Async Chat

ChatCompletion completion = await chatClient.CompleteChatAsync(
[
    new SystemChatMessage("You are a helpful assistant."),
    new UserChatMessage("Explain cloud computing in simple terms.")
]);

Console.WriteLine($"Response: {completion.Content[0].Text}");
Console.WriteLine($"Tokens used: {completion.Usage.TotalTokenCount}");

Streaming Chat

await foreach (StreamingChatCompletionUpdate update 
    in chatClient.CompleteChatStreamingAsync(messages))
{
    if (update.ContentUpdate.Count > 0)
    {
        Console.Write(update.ContentUpdate[0].Text);
    }
}

Chat with Options

ChatCompletionOptions options = new()
{
    MaxOutputTokenCount = 1000,
    Temperature = 0.7f,
    TopP = 0.95f,
    FrequencyPenalty = 0,
    PresencePenalty = 0
};

ChatCompletion completion = await chatClient.CompleteChatAsync(messages, options);

Multi-turn Conversation

List<ChatMessage> messages = new()
{
    new SystemChatMessage("You are a helpful assistant."),
    new UserChatMessage("Hi, can you help me?"),
    new AssistantChatMessage("Of course! What do you need help with?"),
    new UserChatMessage("What's the capital of France?")
};

ChatCompletion completion = await chatClient.CompleteChatAsync(messages);
messages.Add(new AssistantChatMessage(completion.Content[0].Text));

Structured Outputs (JSON Schema)

using System.Text.Json;

ChatCompletionOptions options = new()
{
    ResponseFormat = ChatResponseFormat.CreateJsonSchemaFormat(
        jsonSchemaFormatName: "math_reasoning",
        jsonSchema: BinaryData.FromBytes("""
            {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "steps": {
                        "type": "array",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "object",
                            "properties": {
                                "explanation": { "type": "string" },
                                "output": { "type": "string" }
                            },
                            "required": ["explanation", "output"],
                            "additionalProperties": false
                        }
                    },
                    "final_answer": { "type": "string" }
                },
                "required": ["steps", "final_answer"],
                "additionalProperties": false
            }
            """u8.ToArray()),
        jsonSchemaIsStrict: true)
};

ChatCompletion completion = await chatClient.CompleteChatAsync(
    [new UserChatMessage("How can I solve 8x + 7 = -23?")],
    options);

using JsonDocument json = JsonDocument.Parse(completion.Content[0].Text);
Console.WriteLine($"Answer: {json.RootElement.GetProperty("final_answer")}");

Reasoning Models (o1, o4-mini)

ChatCompletionOptions options = new()
{
    ReasoningEffortLevel = ChatReasoningEffortLevel.Low,
    MaxOutputTokenCount = 100000
};

ChatCompletion completion = await chatClient.CompleteChatAsync(
[
    new DeveloperChatMessage("You are a helpful assistant"),
    new UserChatMessage("Explain the theory of relativity")
], options);

Azure AI Search Integration (RAG)

using Azure.AI.Ope