Architecture as strategy, an extensible developer CLI

apidays Toronto
The Execution Layer: Building APIs for the Agentic Era
9-10 September 2026 | The Quay, Toronto

https://www.apidays.global/events/toronto?_bhlid=f31ece61821147fa84e973f0518ec61e2e45dfa2

Transcript

1. Architecture as strategy, an extensible developer CLI apidays Toronto | Sept 9-10 Kristen Womack
2. Kristen Womack Principal Product Manager Azure Developer CLI @kristenwomack
3. 2022: sample running on Azure in less than 10 minutes @kristenwomack
4. @kristenwomack
5. Application configured to use azd Prescriptive guidance: app code, IaC, AI, CI/CD .github/ CI/CD workflow infra/ provision + deploy Azure resources + set up app monitoring using IaC assets (Bicep or Terraform) src/ app code azure.yaml specify azd project with metadata that describes the app @kristenwomack
6. Use azd from the CLI, CI/CD, or as a VS Code extension Terminal VS Code CI/CD Start from code and deploy to Azure with a simple code-first workflow. (agent consumable) Use azd without leaving your development environment. Run the same azd workflows automatically in your deployment pipelines. @kristenwomack
7. Onboard to Azure with sample apps Foundry Portal Founders Hub GitHub Copilot Azure Portal AI Templates Marketing Site Microsoft for Startups
8. @kristenwomack
9. @kristenwomack
10. Azure Dev CLI is a platform for building code-first, CLI-based dev workflows Azure Dev CLI ships a full-lifecycle path out of the box: init, provision, deploy, configure CI/CD, manage environments. The azd CLI serves Azure host products for getting started and platform engineering workflows established for teams. Serves polyglot apps and the developers that build them. Can even write custom workflow scripts in programming languages. Microsoft teams to ship their CLI story on top of the core dev CLI (faster time to market; less fragmentation for customers).
11. Partnership demand creating bottleneck @kristenwomack
12. @kristenwomack
13. Evolve to extension model to increase speed @kristenwomack
14. Pivot architecture strategy to increase speed Every partner — Aspire, ADE, Azure AI Studio then Foundry, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft for Startups— routed its integration through the azd core team. Great outcomes and market demand proof point were there, but the asks compounded faster than one team could absorb. This is the pressure that forced the pivot to the extension framework, so partner teams were not bound to our speed. @kristenwomack
15. As a result, we increased speed shipping core features, too @kristenwomack
16. @kristenwomack
17. The compounding workflow • • • • Every team makes every other team's devs faster; no copy-paste between CLIs Lifecycle events are cross-extension, workflows compose without custom glue One MCP catalog means AI agents can chain tools from many extensions in a single turn Not a zero-sum CLI consolidation. It's a flywheel where joining is leverage @kristenwomack
18. @kristenwomack
19. @kristenwomack
20. Thank you! @kristenwomack | www.kristenwomack.io Azure Dev CLI: https://aka.ms/azd