azure-compute/workflows/vm-creator/references/output-adapters/az-cli.md

az CLI adapter

Fast, portable, scriptable. Works anywhere az is installed and logged in.

VM template

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# {plan-card-summary}

az group create --name "{resourceGroup}" --location "{location}"

az vm create \
  --resource-group "{resourceGroup}" \
  --name "{vmName}" \
  --location "{location}" \
  --image "{image}" \
  --size "{vmSize}" \
  --admin-username "{adminUsername}" \
  --ssh-key-values @{sshKeyPath} \
  --vnet-name "{vnetName}" \
  --subnet "{subnetName}" \
  --nsg "{nsgName}" \
  --public-ip-address "{publicIpName}" \
  --zone {zone} \
  --os-disk-size-gb {osDiskSizeGb} \
  --storage-sku {osDiskType} \
  --tags {tagsKv}

VMSS template

Replace az vm create with az vmss create, swap --size for --vm-sku, add --instance-count {n}, --orchestration-mode Flexible, --upgrade-policy-mode Manual|Automatic|Rolling.

Filled example — dev Linux VM in eastus

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# dev-vm | eastus | Ubuntu2404 | Standard_D2s_v5 | new VNet | est. $70/mo

az group create --name dev-vm-rg --location eastus

az vm create \
  --resource-group dev-vm-rg \
  --name dev-vm \
  --location eastus \
  --image Ubuntu2404 \
  --size Standard_D2s_v5 \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values @~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
  --vnet-name dev-vm-vnet \
  --subnet default \
  --nsg dev-vm-nsg \
  --public-ip-address dev-vm-ip \
  --os-disk-size-gb 30 \
  --storage-sku Premium_LRS \
  --tags env=dev owner=team-name

Notes

• Windows VMs: swap --ssh-key-values @... for --admin-password '{password}'.
• Linux: prefer SSH keys (~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub or ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub). Never paste private keys.
• --zone is optional; omit the flag entirely (don't pass empty) for regional VMs.
• --tags uses space-separated k=v pairs.
• Pre-check quota: compute_vm_check-quota (or az vm list-usage --location {location} -o table).