Provision an Azure Vision resource

To use Azure Vision image analysis services, you need to provision an Azure Vision resource in your Azure subscription. You can choose from multiple provisioning options:

1. Create a Microsoft Foundry project and an associated hub. By default, A Microsoft Foundry hub includes a Foundry Tools resource, which includes Azure Vision. Microsoft Foundry projects are recommended for development of AI solutions on Azure that combine generative AI, agents, and pre-built Foundry Tools, or which involve collaborative development by a team of software engineers and service operators.
2. If you don't need all of the functionality in a Microsoft Foundry hub, you can create a Foundry Tools resource in your Azure subscription. You can then use this resource to access Azure Vision services and other AI services through a single endpoint and key.
3. If you only need to use Azure Vision functionality, or you're just experimenting with the service, you can create a standalone Azure Vision resource in your Azure subscription. One benefit of this approach is that the standalone service provides a free tier that you can use to explore the service at no cost.

Connecting to your resource

After you've deployed your resource, you can use the Azure Vision REST API or a language-specific SDK (such as the Python SDK or Microsoft .NET SDK) to connect to it from a client application.

Every Azure Vision resource provides an endpoint to which client applications must connect. You can find the endpoint for your resource in the Azure portal, or if you're working in a Microsoft Foundry project, in the Microsoft Foundry portal. The endpoint is in the form of a URL, and typically looks something like this:

https://<resource_name>.cognitiveservices.azure.com/

To connect to the endpoint, client applications must be authenticated. Options for authentication include:

• Key-based authentication: Client applications are authenticated by passing an authorization key (which you can find and manage in the portal).
• Microsoft Entra ID authentication: Client applications are authenticated by using a Microsoft Entra ID token for credentials that have permission to access the Azure Vision resource in Azure.

When developing and testing an application, it's common to use key-based authentication or Microsoft Entra ID authentication based on your own Azure credentials. In production, consider using Microsoft Entra ID authentication based on a managed identity for your Azure application or use Azure Key Vault to store authorization keys securely.