Bicep Contribution Flow

High-level contribution flow

flowchart TD
A("1 - Setup your Azure test environment")
  click A "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#1-setup-your-azure-test-environment"
B(2 - Fork the module source repository)
  click B "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#2-fork-the-module-source-repository"
C(3 - Configure CI environment 
 For module tests)
  click C "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#3-configure-your-ci-environment"
D(4 - Implementing your contribution
 Refer to Gitflow Diagram below)
  click D "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#4-implement-your-contribution"
E(5 - Workflow test 
 completed 
 successfully?)
  click E "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#5-createupdate-and-run-tests"
F(6 - Create a pull request to the upstream repository)
  click F "/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#6-create-a-pull-request-to-the-public-bicep-registry"
A --> B
B --> C
C --> D
D --> E
E -->|yes|F
E -->|no|D

GitFlow for contributors

The GitFlow process outlined here introduces a central anchor branch. This branch should be treated as if it were a protected branch. It serves to synchronize the forked repository with the original upstream repository. The use of the anchor branch is designed to give contributors the flexibility to work on several modules simultaneous.

%%{init: { 'logLevel': 'debug', 'gitGraph': {'rotateCommitLabel': false}} }%%
gitGraph LR:
commit id:"Fork Repo"
branch anchor
checkout anchor
commit id:"Sync Upstream/main" type: HIGHLIGHT
branch avm-type-provider-resource-workflow
checkout avm-type-provider-resource-workflow
commit id:"Add Workflow File for Resource/Pattern"
branch avm-type-provider-resource
checkout main
merge avm-type-provider-resource-workflow id: "merge workflow for GitHub Actions Testing" type: HIGHLIGHT
checkout avm-type-provider-resource
commit id:"Init"
commit id:"Patch 1"
commit id:"Patch 2"
checkout main
merge avm-type-provider-resource

When implementing the GitFlow process as described, it is advisable to configure the local clone with a remote for the upstream repository. This will enable the Git CLI and local IDE to merge changes directly from the upstream repository. Using GitHub Desktop, this is configured automatically when cloning the forked repository via the application.

PowerShell Helper Script To Setup Fork & CI Test Environment

To simplify the setup of the fork, clone and configuration of the required secrets, SPN and RBAC assignments in your Azure environment for the CI framework to function correctly in your fork, we have created a PowerShell script that you can use to do steps 1 , 2 & 3 below.

You will still need to complete step 3.3 manually at this time.

The script performs the following steps:

Forks the Azure/bicep-registry-modules to your GitHub Account.
Clones the repo locally to your machine, based on the location you specify in the parameter: -GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository.
Prompts you and takes you directly to the place where you can enable GitHub Actions Workflows on your forked repo.
Disables all AVM module workflows, as per Enable or Disable Workflows .
Creates an Azure Service Principal (SPN) and grants it the RBAC roles of User Access Administrator & Contributor at Management Group level, if specified in the -GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID parameter, and at Azure Subscription level if you provide it via the -GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID parameter.
Creates the required GitHub Actions Secrets in your forked repo as per step 3 , based on the input provided in parameters and the values from resources the script creates, such as the SPN.

Pre-requisites

You must have the Azure PowerShell Modules installed and you need to be logged with the context set to the desired Tenant. You must have permissions to create an SPN and grant RBAC over the specified Subscription and Management Group, if provided.
You must have the GitHub CLI installed and need to be authenticated with the GitHub user account you wish to use to fork, clone and work with on AVM.

New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 - PowerShell Helper Script expand/collapse

The New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 can be downloaded from here.

Once downloaded, you can run the script by running the below - Please change all the parameter values in the below script usage example to your own values (see the parameter documentation in the script itself)!:

.\<PATH-TO-SCRIPT-DOWNLOAD-LOCATION>\New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 -GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository "<pathToCreateForkedRepoIn>" -GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID "<managementGroupId>" -GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID "<subscriptionId>" -GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID "<tenantId>" -GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX "<unique3to5AlphanumericStringForAVMDeploymentNames>"

For more examples, see the below script’s parameters section.

[Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessageAttribute("PSAvoidUsingWriteHost", "", Justification = "Coloured output required in this script")]

#Requires -PSEdition Core
#Requires -Modules @{ ModuleName="Az.Accounts"; ModuleVersion="2.19.0" }
#Requires -Modules @{ ModuleName="Az.Resources"; ModuleVersion="6.16.2" }

<#
.SYNOPSIS
This function creates and sets up everything a contributor to the AVM Bicep project should need to get started with their contribution to a AVM Bicep Module.

.DESCRIPTION
This function creates and sets up everything a contributor to the AVM Bicep project should need to get started with their contribution to a AVM Bicep Module. This includes:

- Forking and cloning the `Azure/bicep-registry-modules` repository
- Creating a new SPN and granting it the necessary permissions for the CI tests and configuring the forked repositories secrets, as per: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#1-setup-your-azure-test-environment
- Enabling GitHub Actions on the forked repository
- Disabling all the module workflows by default, as per: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/enable-or-disable-workflows/

Effectively simplifying this process to a signle command, https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/

.PARAMETER GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository
Mandatory. The path to the GitHub repository to fork and clone. Directory will be created if does not already exist. Can use either relative paths or full literal paths.

.PARAMETER GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID
Optional. The group ID of the management group to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the management group scope. If not provided CI tests on Management Group scoped modules will not work and you will need to manually confiugre the RBAC role assignments for the SPN and associated repository secret later.

.PARAMETER GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID
Mandatory. The ID of the subscription to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the subscription scope.

.PARAMETER GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID
Mandatory. The tenant ID of the Azure Active Directory tenant to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the tenant scope.

.PARAMETER GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX
Mandatory. Required. A short (3-5 character length), unique string that should be included in any deployment to Azure. Usually, AVM Bicep test cases require this value to ensure no two contributors deploy resources with the same name - which is especially important for resources that require a globally unique name (e.g., Key Vault). These characters will be used as part of each resource’s name during deployment.

.PARAMETER SPNName
Optional. The name of the SPN (Service Principal) to create. If not provided, a default name of `spn-avm-bicep-brm-fork-ci-<GitHub Organization>` will be used.

.EXAMPLE
.\<PATH-TO-SCRIPT-DOWNLOAD-LOCATION>\New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 -GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository "D:\GitRepos\" -GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID "alz" -GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID "1b60f82b-d28e-4640-8cfa-e02d2ddb421a" -GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID "c3df6353-a410-40a1-b962-e91e45e14e4b" -GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX "ex123"

Example Subscription & Management Group scoped deployments enabled with default generated SPN name of `spn-avm-bicep-brm-fork-ci-<GitHub Organization>`.

.EXAMPLE
.\<PATH-TO-SCRIPT-DOWNLOAD-LOCATION>\New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 -GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository "D:\GitRepos\" -GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID "1b60f82b-d28e-4640-8cfa-e02d2ddb421a" -GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID "c3df6353-a410-40a1-b962-e91e45e14e4b" -GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX "ex123"

Example Subscription scoped deployments enabled only with default generated SPN name of `spn-avm-bicep-brm-fork-ci-<GitHub Organization>`.

.EXAMPLE
.\<PATH-TO-SCRIPT-DOWNLOAD-LOCATION>\New-AVMBicepBRMForkSetup.ps1 -GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository "D:\GitRepos\" -GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID "alz" -GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID "1b60f82b-d28e-4640-8cfa-e02d2ddb421a" -GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID "c3df6353-a410-40a1-b962-e91e45e14e4b" -GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX "ex123" -SPNName "my-spn-name"

Example with provided SPN name.

#>

[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess = $false)]
param (
  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
  [string] $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository,

  [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
  [string] $GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID,

  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
  [string] $GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID,

  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
  [string] $GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID,

  [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
  [string] $GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX,

  [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
  [string] $SPNName

)

# Check if the GitHub CLI is installed
$GitHubCliInstalled = Get-Command gh -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($null -eq $GitHubCliInstalled) {
  throw 'The GitHub CLI is not installed. Please install the GitHub CLI and try again. Install link for GitHub CLI: https://github.com/cli/cli#installation'
}
Write-Host 'The GitHub CLI is installed...' -ForegroundColor Green

# Check if GitHub CLI is authenticated
$GitHubCliAuthenticated = gh auth status
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
  Write-Host $GitHubCliAuthenticated -ForegroundColor Red
  throw "Not authenticated to GitHub. Please authenticate to GitHub using the GitHub CLI command of 'gh auth login', and try again."
}
Write-Host 'Authenticated to GitHub with following details...' -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host ''
gh auth status
Write-Host ''

# Ask the user to confirm if it's the correct GitHub account
do {
  Write-Host "Is the above GitHub account correct to coninue with the fork setup of the 'Azure/bicep-registry-modules' repository? Please enter 'y' or 'n'." -ForegroundColor Yellow
  $userInput = Read-Host
  $userInput = $userInput.ToLower()

  switch ($userInput) {
    'y' {
      Write-Host ''
      Write-Host 'User Confirmed. Proceeding with the GitHub account listed above...' -ForegroundColor Green
      Write-Host ''
      break
    }
    'n' {
      Write-Host ''
      throw "User stated incorrect GitHub account. Please switch to the correct GitHub account. You can do this in the GitHub CLI (gh) by logging out by running 'gh auth logout' and then logging back in with 'gh auth login'"
    }
    default {
      Write-Host ''
      Write-Host "Invalid input. Please enter 'y' or 'n'." -ForegroundColor Red
      Write-Host ''
    }
  }
} while ($userInput -ne 'y' -and $userInput -ne 'n')

# Fork and clone repository locally
Write-Host "Changing to directory $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta

if (-not (Test-Path -Path $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository)) {
  Write-Host "Directory does not exist. Creating directory $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository ..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
  New-Item -Path $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository -ItemType Directory -ErrorAction Stop
  Write-Host ''
}
Set-Location -Path $GitHubRepositoryPathForCloneOfForkedRepository -ErrorAction stop
$CreatedDirectoryLocation = Get-Location
Write-Host "Forking and cloning 'Azure/bicep-registry-modules' repository..." -ForegroundColor Magenta

gh repo fork 'Azure/bicep-registry-modules' --default-branch-only --clone=true
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
  throw "Failed to fork and clone the 'Azure/bicep-registry-modules' repository. Please check the error message above, resolve any issues, and try again."
}

$ClonedRepoDirectoryLocation = Join-Path $CreatedDirectoryLocation 'bicep-registry-modules'
Write-Host ''
Write-Host "Fork of 'Azure/bicep-registry-modules' created successfully directory in $CreatedDirectoryLocation ..." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''
Write-Host "Changing into cloned repository directory $ClonedRepoDirectoryLocation ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
Set-Location $ClonedRepoDirectoryLocation -ErrorAction stop

# Check is user is logged in to Azure
$UserLoggedIntoAzure = Get-AzContext -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($null -eq $UserLoggedIntoAzure) {
  throw 'You are not logged into Azure. Please log into Azure using the Azure PowerShell module using the command of `Connect-AzAccount` to the correct tenant and try again.'
}
$UserLoggedIntoAzureJson = $UserLoggedIntoAzure | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | ConvertFrom-Json
Write-Host "You are logged into Azure as '$($UserLoggedIntoAzureJson.Account.Id)' ..." -ForegroundColor Green

# Check user has access to desired subscription
$UserCanAccessSubscription = Get-AzSubscription -SubscriptionId $GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($null -eq $UserCanAccessSubscription) {
  throw "You do not have access to the subscription with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)'. Please ensure you have access to the subscription and try again."
}
Write-Host "You have access to the subscription with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)' ..." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''

# Get GitHub Login/Org Name
$GitHubUserRaw = gh api user
$GitHubUserConvertedToJson = $GitHubUserRaw | ConvertFrom-Json -Depth 10
$GitHubOrgName = $GitHubUserConvertedToJson.login
$GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined = "$($GitHubOrgName)/bicep-registry-modules"

# Create SPN
if ($SPNName -eq '') {
  Write-Host "No value provided for the SPN Name. Defaulting to 'spn-avm-bicep-brm-fork-ci-<GitHub Organization>' ..." -ForegroundColor Yellow

  $SPNName = "spn-avm-bicep-brm-fork-ci-$($GitHubOrgName)"
}
$newSpn = New-AzADServicePrincipal -DisplayName $SPNName -Description "Service Principal Name (SPN) for the AVM Bicep CI Tests in the $($GitHubOrgName) fork. See: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/#1-setup-your-azure-test-environment" -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host "New SPN created with a Display Name of '$($newSpn.DisplayName)' and an Object ID of '$($newSpn.Id)'." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''

# Create RBAC Role Assignments for SPN
Write-Host 'Starting 120 second sleep to allow the SPN to be created and available for RBAC Role Assignments (eventual consistency) ...' -ForegroundColor Yellow
Start-Sleep -Seconds 120

Write-Host "Creating RBAC Role Assignments of 'Contributor' and 'User Access Administrator' for the Service Principal Name (SPN) '$($newSpn.DisplayName)' on the Subscription with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)' ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
New-AzRoleAssignment -ApplicationId $newSpn.AppId -RoleDefinitionName 'User Access Administrator' -Scope "/subscriptions/$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)" -ErrorAction Stop
New-AzRoleAssignment -ApplicationId $newSpn.AppId -RoleDefinitionName 'Contributor' -Scope "/subscriptions/$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)" -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host "RBAC Role Assignments of 'Contributor' and 'User Access Administrator' for the Service Principal Name (SPN) '$($newSpn.DisplayName)' created successfully on the Subscription with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)'." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''

if ($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID -eq '') {
  Write-Host "No Management Group ID provided as input parameter to '-GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID', skipping RBAC Role Assignments upon Management Groups" -ForegroundColor Yellow
  Write-Host ''
}

if ($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID -ne '') {
  Write-Host "Creating RBAC Role Assignments of 'Contributor' and 'User Access Administrator' for the Service Principal Name (SPN) '$($newSpn.DisplayName)' on the Management Group with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID)' ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
  New-AzRoleAssignment -ApplicationId $newSpn.AppId -RoleDefinitionName 'User Access Administrator' -Scope "/providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/$($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID)" -ErrorAction Stop
  New-AzRoleAssignment -ApplicationId $newSpn.AppId -RoleDefinitionName 'Contributor' -Scope "/providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)" -ErrorAction Stop
  Write-Host "RBAC Role Assignments of 'Contributor' and 'User Access Administrator' for the Service Principal Name (SPN) '$($newSpn.DisplayName)' created successfully on the Management Group with the ID of '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID)'." -ForegroundColor Green
  Write-Host ''
}

# Set GitHub Repo Secrets
Write-Host "Setting GitHub Secrets on forked repostiory '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
Write-Host 'Creating and formatting secret `AZURE_CREDENTIALS` with details from SPN creation process and other parameter inputs ...' -ForegroundColor Cyan

$FormattedAzureCredentialsSecret = "{ 'clientId': '$($newSpn.AppId)', 'clientSecret': '$($newSpn.PasswordCredentials.SecretText)', 'subscriptionId': '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID)', 'tenantId': '$($GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID)' }"
$FormattedAzureCredentialsSecretJsonCompressed = $FormattedAzureCredentialsSecret | ConvertFrom-Json | ConvertTo-Json -Compress

if ($GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID -ne '') {
  gh secret set ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID --body $GitHubSecret_ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined
}
gh secret set ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID --body $GitHubSecret_ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined
gh secret set ARM_TENANT_ID --body $GitHubSecret_ARM_TENANT_ID -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined
gh secret set AZURE_CREDENTIALS --body $FormattedAzureCredentialsSecretJsonCompressed -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined
gh secret set TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX --body $GitHubSecret_TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined

Write-Host ''
Write-Host "Successfully created and set GitHub Secrets on forked repostiory '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' ..." -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''

Write-Host "Openning browser so you can enable GitHub Actions on newly forked repository '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
Write-Host "Please select click on the green button stating 'I understand my workflows, go ahead and enable them' to enable actions/workflows on your forked repository via the website that has appeared in your browser window and then return to this terminal session to continue ..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
Start-Process "https://github.com/$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)/actions" -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host ''

$GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflows = '.Platform - Toggle AVM workflows'
$GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflowsFileName = 'platform.toggle-avm-workflows.yml'

do {
  Write-Host "Did you successfully enabled the GitHub Actions/Workflows on your forked repository '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)'? Please enter 'y' or 'n'." -ForegroundColor Yellow
  $userInput = Read-Host
  $userInput = $userInput.ToLower()

  switch ($userInput) {
    'y' {
      Write-Host ''
      Write-Host "User Confirmed. Proceeding to trigger workflow of '$($GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflows)' to disable all workflows as per: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/enable-or-disable-workflows/..." -ForegroundColor Green
      Write-Host ''
      break
    }
    'n' {
      Write-Host ''
      Write-Host 'User stated no. Ending script here. Please review and complete any of the steps you have not completed, likely just enabling GitHub Actions/Workflows on your forked repository and then disabling all workflows as per: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/enable-or-disable-workflows/' -ForegroundColor Yellow
      exit
    }
    default {
      Write-Host ''
      Write-Host "Invalid input. Please enter 'y' or 'n'." -ForegroundColor Red
      Write-Host ''
    }
  }
} while ($userInput -ne 'y' -and $userInput -ne 'n')

Write-Host "Triggering '$($GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflows) on '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
Write-Host ''
gh workflow run $GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflows -R $GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined
Write-Host ''

Write-Host 'Starting 120 second sleep to allow the workflow run to complete ...' -ForegroundColor Yellow
Start-Sleep -Seconds 120
Write-Host ''

Write-Host "Workflow '$($GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflows) on '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' should have now completed, openning workflow in browser so you can check ..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
Start-Process "https://github.com/$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)/actions/workflows/$($GitHubWorkflowPlatformToggleWorkflowsFileName)" -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host ''

Write-Host "Script execution complete. Fork of '$($GitHubOrgAndRepoNameCombined)' created and configured and cloned to '$($ClonedRepoDirectoryLocation)' as per Bicep contribution guide: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/ you are now ready to proceed from step 4. Openning the Bicep Contrbution Guide for you to review and continue..." -ForegroundColor Green
Start-Process 'https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/contributing/bicep/bicep-contribution-flow/'

1. Setup your Azure test environment

Each time in the following sections we refer to ‘your xyz’, it is an indicator that you have to change something in your own environment.

Checkout the PowerShell Helper Script that can do this step automatically for you! 👍

AVM tests the deployments in an Azure subscription. To do so, it requires a service principal with access to it.

In this first step, make sure you

Have/create an Azure Active Directory Service Principal with at least Contributor & User Access Administrator permissions on the Management-Group/Subscription you want to test the modules in. You might find the following links useful:
Note down the following pieces of information
- Application (Client) ID
- Service Principal Object ID (not the object ID of the application)
- Service Principal Secret (password)
- Tenant ID
- Subscription ID
- Parent Management Group ID

2. Fork the module source repository

Checkout the PowerShell Helper Script that can do this step automatically for you! 👍

Bicep AVM Modules (both Resource and Pattern modules) will be homed in the Azure/bicep-registry-modules repository and live within an avm directory that will be located at the root of the repository, as per SNFR19 .

Module owners are expected to fork the Azure/bicep-registry-modules repository and work on a branch from within their fork, before then creating a Pull Request (PR) back into the Azure/bicep-registry-modules repository’s main branch.

To do so, simply navigate to the Public Bicep Registry repository, select the 'Fork' button to the top right of the UI, select where the fork should be created (i.e., the owning organization) and finally click ‘Create fork’.

3. Configure your CI environment

Checkout the PowerShell Helper Script that can do this step automatically for you! 👍

To configure the forked CI environment you have to perform several steps:

3.1 Set up secrets
3.2 Enable actions
3.3 Set Read/Write Workflow permissions

3.1. Set up secrets

To use the environment’s pipelines you should use the information you gathered during the Azure setup to set up the following repository secrets:

Secret Name	Example	Description
`ARM_MGMTGROUP_ID`	`11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111`	The group ID of the management group to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the management group scope.
`ARM_SUBSCRIPTION_ID`	`22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222`	The ID of the subscription to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the subscription scope.
`ARM_TENANT_ID`	`33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333`	The tenant ID of the Azure Active Directory tenant to test-deploy modules in. Is needed for resources that are deployed to the tenant scope.
`AZURE_CREDENTIALS`	`{"clientId": "44444444-4444-4444-4444-444444444444", "clientSecret": "<placeholder>", "subscriptionId": "22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222", "tenantId": "33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333" }`	The login credentials of the deployment principal used to log into the target Azure environment to test in. The format is described here . For more information, see the `[Special case: AZURE_CREDENTIALS]` note below.
`TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX`	`cntso`	Required. A short (3-5 character length), unique string that should be included in any deployment to Azure. Usually, AVM Bicep test cases require this value to ensure no two contributors deploy resources with the same name - which is especially important for resources that require a globally unique name (e.g., Key Vault). These characters will be used as part of each resource’s name during deployment. For more information, see the `[Special case: TOKEN_NAMEPREFIX]` note below.

➕ How to: Add a repository secret to GitHub expand/collapse

Navigate to the repository’s Settings.

In the list of settings, expand Secrets and select Actions. You can create a new repository secret by selecting New repository secret on the top right.

In the opening view, you can create a secret by providing a secret Name, a secret Value, followed by a click on the Add secret button.

This secret represent the service connection to Azure, and its value is a compressed JSON object that must match the following format:
{"clientId": "<client_id>", "clientSecret": "<client_secret>", "subscriptionId": "<subscriptionId>", "tenantId": "<tenant_id>" }
Make sure you create this object as one continuous string as shown above - using the information you collected during Step 1 . Failing to format the secret as above, causes GitHub to consider each line of the JSON object as a separate secret string. If you’re interested, you can find more information about this object here .

To lower the barrier to entry and allow users to easily define their own naming conventions, we introduced a default ’name prefix’ for all deployed resources.
This prefix is only used by the CI environment you validate your modules in, and doesn’t affect the naming of any resources you deploy as part of any multi-module solutions (applications/workloads) based on the modules.
Each pipeline in AVM deploying resources uses a logic that automatically replaces “tokens” (i.e., placeholders) in any module test file. These tokens are, for example, included in the resources names (e.g. 'name: kvlt-${namePrefix}'). Tokens are stored as repository secrets to facilitate maintenance.

3.2. Enable actions

Finally, ‘GitHub Actions’ are disabled by default and hence, must be enabled first.

To do so, perform the following steps:

Navigate to the Actions tab on the top of the repository page.
Next, select ‘I understand my workflows, go ahead and enable them’.

3.3. Set Read/Write Workflow permissions

To let the workflow engine publish their results into your repository, you have to enable the read / write access for the GitHub actions.

Navigate to the Settings tab on the top of your repository page.
Within the section Code and automation click on Actions and General
Make sure to enable Read and write permissions

Once you enabled the GitHub actions, your workflows will behave as they do in the upstream repository. This includes a scheduled trigger to continuously check that all modules are working and compliant with the latest tests. However, testing all modules can incur substantial costs with the target subscription. Therefore, we recommend disabling all workflows of modules you are not working on. To make this as easy as possible, we created a workflow that disables/enables workflows based on a selected toggle & naming pattern. For more information on how to use this workflow, please refer to the corresponding documentation .

4. Implement your contribution

To implement your contribution, we kindly ask you to first review the Bicep specifications and composition guidelines in particular to make sure your contribution complies with the repository’s design and principles.

If you’re working on a new module, we’d also ask you to create its corresponding workflow file. Each module has its own file, but only differs in very few details, such as its triggers and pipeline variables. As a result, you can either copy & update any other module workflow file (starting with 'avm.[res|ptn|utl].') or leverage the following template:

➕ Module workflow template expand/collapse

# >>> UPDATE to for example "avm.res.key-vault.vault" and remove this comment
name: "avm.[res|ptn|utl].[provider-namespace].[resource-type]"

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      staticValidation:
        type: boolean
        description: "Execute static validation"
        required: false
        default: true
      deploymentValidation:
        type: boolean
        description: "Execute deployment validation"
        required: false
        default: true
      removeDeployment:
        type: boolean
        description: "Remove deployed module"
        required: false
        default: true
      customLocation:
        type: string
        description: "Default location overwrite (e.g., eastus)"
        required: false
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - ".github/actions/templates/avm-**"
      - ".github/workflows/avm.template.module.yml"
        # >>> UPDATE to for example ".github/workflows/avm.res.key-vault.vault.yml" and remove this comment
      - ".github/workflows/avm.[res|ptn|utl].[provider-namespace].[resource-type].yml"
        # >>> UPDATE to for example "avm/res/key-vault/vault/**" and remove this comment
      - "avm/[res|ptn|utl]/[provider-namespace]/[resource-type]/**"
      - "utilities/pipelines/**"
      - "!utilities/pipelines/platform/**"
      - "!*/**/README.md"

env:
  # >>> UPDATE to for example "avm/res/key-vault/vault" and remove this comment
  modulePath: "avm/[res|ptn|utl]/[provider-namespace]/[resource-type]"
  # >>> Update to for example ".github/workflows/avm.res.key-vault.vault.yml" and remove this comment
  workflowPath: ".github/workflows/avm.[res|ptn|utl].[provider-namespace].[resource-type].yml"

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}

jobs:
  ###########################
  #   Initialize pipeline   #
  ###########################
  job_initialize_pipeline:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: "Initialize pipeline"
    steps:
      - name: "Checkout"
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: "Set input parameters to output variables"
        id: get-workflow-param
        uses: ./.github/actions/templates/avm-getWorkflowInput
        with:
          workflowPath: "${{ env.workflowPath}}"
      - name: "Get module test file paths"
        id: get-module-test-file-paths
        uses: ./.github/actions/templates/avm-getModuleTestFiles
        with:
          modulePath: "${{ env.modulePath }}"
    outputs:
      workflowInput: ${{ steps.get-workflow-param.outputs.workflowInput }}
      moduleTestFilePaths: ${{ steps.get-module-test-file-paths.outputs.moduleTestFilePaths }}
      psRuleModuleTestFilePaths: ${{ steps.get-module-test-file-paths.outputs.psRuleModuleTestFilePaths }}
      modulePath: "${{ env.modulePath }}"

  ##############################
  #   Call reusable workflow   #
  ##############################
  call-workflow-passing-data:
    name: "Run"
    permissions:
      id-token: write # For OIDC
      contents: write # For release tags
    needs:
      - job_initialize_pipeline
    uses: ./.github/workflows/avm.template.module.yml
    with:
      workflowInput: "${{ needs.job_initialize_pipeline.outputs.workflowInput }}"
      moduleTestFilePaths: "${{ needs.job_initialize_pipeline.outputs.moduleTestFilePaths }}"
      psRuleModuleTestFilePaths: "${{ needs.job_initialize_pipeline.outputs.psRuleModuleTestFilePaths }}"
      modulePath: "${{ needs.job_initialize_pipeline.outputs.modulePath}}"
    secrets: inherit

After any change to a module and before running tests, we highly recommend running the Set-AVMModule utility to update all module files that are auto-generated (e.g., the main.json & readme.md files).

5. Create/Update and run tests

Before opening a Pull Request to the Bicep Public Registry, ensure your module is ready for publishing, by validating that it meets all the Testing Specifications as per SNFR1 , SNFR2 , SNFR3 , SNFR4 , SNFR5 , SNFR6 , SNFR7 .

For example, to meet SNFR2 , ensure the updated module is deployable against a testing Azure subscription and compliant with the intended configuration.

Depending on the type of contribution you implemented (for example, a new resource module feature) we would kindly ask you to also update the e2e test run by the pipeline. For a new parameter this could mean to either add its usage to an existing test file, or to add an entirely new test as per BCPRMNFR1 .

Once the contribution is implemented and the changes are pushed to your forked repository, we kindly ask you to validate your updates in your own cloud environment before requesting to merge them to the main repo. Test your code leveraging the forked AVM CI environment you configured before

In case your contribution involves changes to a module, you can also optionally leverage the Validate module locally utility to validate the updated module from your local host before validating it through its pipeline.

Creating `e2e` tests

As per BCPRMNFR1 , a resource module must contain a minimum set of deployment test cases, while for pattern modules there is no restriction on the naming each deployment test must have. In either case, you’re free to implement any additional, meaningful test that you see fit. Each test is implemented in its own test folder, containing at least a main.test.bicep and optionally any amount of extra deployment files that you may require (e.g., to deploy dependencies using a dependencies.bicep that you reference in the test template file).

To get started implementing your test in the main.test.bicep file, we recommend the following guidelines:

As per BCPNFR13 , each main.test.bicep file should implement metadata to render the test more meaningful in the documentation
The main.test.bicep file should deploy any immediate dependencies (e.g., a resource group, if required) and invoke the module’s main template while providing all parameters for a given test scenario.
Parameters
- Each file should define a parameter serviceShort. This parameter should be unique to this file (i.e, no two test files should share the same) as it is injected into all resource deployments, making them unique too and account for corresponding requirements.
  - As a reference you can create a identifier by combining a substring of the resource type and test scenario (e.g., in case of a Linux Virtual Machine Deployment: vmlin).
  - For the substring, we recommend to take the first character and subsequent ‘first’ character from the resource type identifier and combine them into one string. Following you can find a few examples for reference:
    - db-for-postgre-sql/flexible-server with a test folder default could be: dfpsfsdef
    - storage/storage-account with a test folder waf-aligned could be: ssawaf
    💡 If the combination of the servicesShort with the rest of a resource name becomes too long, it may be necessary to bend the above recommendations and shorten the name. This can especially happen when deploying resources such as Virtual Machines or Storage Accounts that only allow comparatively short names.
- If the module deploys a resource-group-level resource, the template should further have a resourceGroupName parameter and subsequent resource deployment. As a reference for the default name you can use dep-<namePrefix><providerNamespace>.<resourceType>-${serviceShort}-rg.
- Each file should also provide a location parameter that may default to the deployments default location
It is recommended to define all major resource names in the main.test.bicep file as it makes later maintenance easier. To implement this, make sure to pass all resource names to any referenced module (including any resource deployed in the dependencies.bicep).
Further, for any test file (including the dependencies.bicep file), the usage of variables should be reduced to the absolute minimum. In other words: You should only use variables if you must use them in more than one place. The idea is to keep the test files as simple as possible
References to dependencies should be implemented using resource references in combination with outputs. In other words: You should not hardcode any references into the module template’s deployment. Instead use references such as nestedDependencies.outputs.managedIdentityPrincipalId
As per BCPNFR12 you must use the header module testDeployment '../.*main.bicep' = when invoking the module’s template.
📜 Example of test file

Dependency file (dependencies.bicep) guidelines:

The dependencies.bicep should optionally be used if any additional dependencies must be deployed into a nested scope (e.g. into a deployed Resource Group).
Note that you can reuse many of the assets implemented in other modules. For example, there are many recurring implementations for Managed Identities, Key Vaults, Virtual Network deployments, etc.
A special case to point out is the implementation of Key Vaults that require purge protection (for example, for Customer Managed Keys). As this implies that we cannot fully clean up a test deployment, it is recommended to generate a new name for this resource upon each pipeline run using the output of the utcNow() function at the time.
📜 Example of test using purge protected Key Vault dependency

📜 If your test case requires any value that you cannot / should not specify in the test file itself (e.g., tenant-specific object IDs or secrets), please refer to the Custom CI secrets feature.

Reusable assets

There are a number of additional scripts and utilities available here that may be of use to module owners/contributors. These contain both scripts and Bicep templates that you can re-use in your test files (e.g., to deploy standadized dependencies, or to generate keys using deployment scripts).

Example: Certificate creation script

If you need a Deployment Script to set additional non-template resources up (for example certificates/files, etc.), we recommend to store it as a file in the shared utilities/e2e-template-assets/scripts folder and load it using the template function loadTextContent() (for example: scriptContent: loadTextContent('../../../../../../utilities/e2e-template-assets/scripts/New-SSHKey.ps1')). This approach makes it easier to test & validate the logic and further allows reusing the same logic across multiple test cases.

Example: Diagnostic Settings dependencies

To test the numerous diagnostic settings targets (Log Analytics Workspace, Storage Account, Event Hub, etc.) the AVM core team have provided a dependencies .bicep file to help create all these pre-requisite targets that will be needed during test runs.

➕ Diagnostic Settings Dependencies - Bicep File expand/collapse

// ========== //
// Parameters //
// ========== //

@description('Required. The name of the storage account to create.')
@maxLength(24)
param storageAccountName string

@description('Required. The name of the log analytics workspace to create.')
param logAnalyticsWorkspaceName string

@description('Required. The name of the event hub namespace to create.')
param eventHubNamespaceName string

@description('Required. The name of the event hub to create inside the event hub namespace.')
param eventHubNamespaceEventHubName string

@description('Optional. The location to deploy resources to.')
param location string = resourceGroup().location

// ============ //
// Dependencies //
// ============ //

resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2021-08-01' = {
  name: storageAccountName
  location: location
  kind: 'StorageV2'
  sku: {
    name: 'Standard_LRS'
  }
  properties: {
    allowBlobPublicAccess: false
  }
}

resource logAnalyticsWorkspace 'Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces@2021-12-01-preview' = {
  name: logAnalyticsWorkspaceName
  location: location
}

resource eventHubNamespace 'Microsoft.EventHub/namespaces@2021-11-01' = {
  name: eventHubNamespaceName
  location: location

  resource eventHub 'eventhubs@2021-11-01' = {
    name: eventHubNamespaceEventHubName
  }

  resource authorizationRule 'authorizationRules@2021-06-01-preview' = {
    name: 'RootManageSharedAccessKey'
    properties: {
      rights: [
        'Listen'
        'Manage'
        'Send'
      ]
    }
  }
}

// ======= //
// Outputs //
// ======= //

@description('The resource ID of the created Storage Account.')
output storageAccountResourceId string = storageAccount.id

@description('The resource ID of the created Log Analytics Workspace.')
output logAnalyticsWorkspaceResourceId string = logAnalyticsWorkspace.id

@description('The resource ID of the created Event Hub Namespace.')
output eventHubNamespaceResourceId string = eventHubNamespace.id

@description('The resource ID of the created Event Hub Namespace Authorization Rule.')
output eventHubAuthorizationRuleId string = eventHubNamespace::authorizationRule.id

@description('The name of the created Event Hub Namespace Event Hub.')
output eventHubNamespaceEventHubName string = eventHubNamespace::eventHub.name

6. Create a Pull Request to the Public Bicep Registry

Finally, once you are satisfied with your contribution and validated it, open a PR for the module owners or core team to review. Make sure you:

Provide a meaningful title in the form of feat: <module name> to align with the Semantic PR Check.
Provide a meaningful description.
Follow instructions you find in the PR template.
If applicable (i.e., a module is created/updated), please reference the badge status of your pipeline run. This badge will show the reviewer that the code changes were successfully validated & tested in your environment. To create a badge, first select the three dots (...) at the top right of the pipeline, and then chose the Create status badge option.
In the opening pop-up, you first need to select your branch and then click on the Copy status badge Markdown

If you’re the sole owner of the module, the AVM core team must review and approve the PR. To indicate that your PR needs the core team’s attention, apply the “Needs: Core Team 🧞” label on it!

Bicep Contribution Flow

High-level contribution flow

GitFlow for contributors

PowerShell Helper Script To Setup Fork & CI Test Environment

Pre-requisites

1. Setup your Azure test environment

2. Fork the module source repository

3. Configure your CI environment

3.1. Set up secrets

3.2. Enable actions

3.3. Set Read/Write Workflow permissions

4. Implement your contribution

5. Create/Update and run tests

Creating e2e tests

Reusable assets

6. Create a Pull Request to the Public Bicep Registry

Creating `e2e` tests