Install azd cli when Azure Tools is installed

[charris-msft]

Type: Bug

"We should consider making sure azd is there when people install the Azure Tools extension. We want to be able to have more of VS Code depend on azd." - P

We were discussing this need because we are looking at enhancing azd to configure the connection from github to Azure and enable Copilot coding agent to auth to azure to use the Azure MCP.

Extension version: 1.7.0
VS Code version: Code - Insiders 1.104.0-insider (ee25c1fab76e99da2f8215debfeba3220dacdb00, 2025-08-25T05:03:29.355Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900 (32 x 1997)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	63.71GB (20.04GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id b10a8e15-aa71-434e-9fa5-253538d75e78
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

A/B Experiments

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dwcopilot:31158714
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copilot_t_ci:31333650
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pythoneinst12:31251391
6gi0g917:31259950
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usemplatestapi:31297334
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pythonpcpt1:31345880
6518g693:31302842
9d2cg352:31346308
j97ad248:31349650
0g1h6703:31329154
agentisdefault:31372185
6abeh943:31336334
envsactivate1:31349248
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0ej4-default:31345954
editstats-enabled:31346256
justeven_python_cf:31371805
gendocstringt:31371829
gemagent1cf:31368470
cloudbuttont:31366566
aihoversummaries_f:31371859
todos-0:31366869
search_len1:31370369
nb255704_tf:31372666
3efgi100_wstrepl:31374188

[charris-msft]

cc: @fiveisprime & @spboyer

[charris-msft]

BTW - I heard that Azure Tools was already supposed to install azd, but it didn't work on my machine:

1. uninstall azd
2. uninstall azure tools extension pack
3. exit vs code
4. start vs code
5. install azure tools extension pack
6. in VS Code terminal run azd - failed
7. restart vs code
8. in VS Code terminal run azd - failed
9. start new Terminal
10. in new Terminal run azd - failed

[charris-msft]

cc: @bwateratmsft

[bwateratmsft]

@charris-msft the Azure Tools extension pack installs the AZD extension, but does not install AZD itself. If you try to run any of the commands used by the AZD extension, it will prompt you to install first, and it does offer a VSCode command for doing so.

[fiveisprime]

Installing the CLI should be the responsibility of the AZD extension and even then, it shouldn't install without user consent. I'd say the current model is how it should stay.