Azure.Bicep.RpcClient 0.42.1

Azure Bicep RPC Client

A .NET library for programmatically interacting with the Bicep CLI via JSON-RPC.

Note: While this package is publicly available on nuget.org, it is not officially supported. Breaking changes may be introduced at any time.

Getting started

Install the package

dotnet add package Azure.Bicep.RpcClient

Initialize the client

The BicepClientFactory handles downloading the Bicep CLI (if needed) and establishing a JSON-RPC connection. By default, binaries are cached under ~/.bicep/bin.

using Bicep.RpcClient;

var factory = new BicepClientFactory();

// Download (or reuse) the latest Bicep CLI and connect
using var bicep = await factory.Initialize(BicepClientConfiguration.Default);

Pin a specific Bicep version

using var bicep = await factory.Initialize(new() {
    BicepVersion = "0.38.5"
});

Use an existing Bicep installation

using var bicep = await factory.Initialize(new() {
    ExistingCliPath = "/usr/local/bin/bicep"
});

Available operations

All methods are async, accept an optional CancellationToken, and communicate with the Bicep CLI over JSON-RPC.

Compile

Compiles a .bicep file into an ARM template JSON string.

var result = await bicep.Compile(new("./main.bicep"));

if (result.Success)
{
    // result.Contents contains the ARM template JSON
    Console.WriteLine(result.Contents);
}

CompileParams

Compiles a .bicepparam file into ARM deployment parameters. You can optionally override parameter values.

var result = await bicep.CompileParams(new(
    "./main.bicepparam",
    new Dictionary<string, JsonNode>()));

if (result.Success)
{
    Console.WriteLine(result.Parameters); // ARM parameters JSON
    Console.WriteLine(result.Template);   // ARM template JSON (if resolvable)
    // result.TemplateSpecId is set when the params file references a template spec
}

Format

Formats a Bicep file according to the standard Bicep formatting rules. Requires Bicep CLI 0.37.1 or later.

var result = await bicep.Format(new("./main.bicep"));

File.WriteAllText("./main.bicep", result.Contents);

GetMetadata

Retrieves parameters, outputs, exports, and file-level metadata from a Bicep file.

var result = await bicep.GetMetadata(new("./main.bicep"));

foreach (var param in result.Parameters)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"param {param.Name}: {param.Type?.Name} — {param.Description}");
}

foreach (var output in result.Outputs)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"output {output.Name}: {output.Type?.Name}");
}

foreach (var export in result.Exports)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"@export() {export.Kind} {export.Name}");
}

foreach (var meta in result.Metadata)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"metadata {meta.Name} = '{meta.Value}'");
}

GetFileReferences

Returns all file paths referenced by a Bicep file — modules, loaded files, and the file itself.

var result = await bicep.GetFileReferences(
    new("./main.bicep"));

foreach (var path in result.FilePaths)
{
    Console.WriteLine(path);
}

GetDeploymentGraph

Returns the resource dependency graph for a Bicep file, useful for visualization.

var result = await bicep.GetDeploymentGraph(
    new("./main.bicep"));

foreach (var node in result.Nodes)
{
    var existing = node.IsExisting ? " (existing)" : "";
    Console.WriteLine($"  {node.Name}: {node.Type}{existing}");
}

foreach (var edge in result.Edges)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"  {edge.Source} -> {edge.Target}");
}

GetSnapshot

Generates a snapshot of a .bicepparam file with Azure deployment context. Requires Bicep CLI 0.36.1 or later.

var result = await bicep.GetSnapshot(new(
    "./main.bicepparam",
    new(
        TenantId: null,
        SubscriptionId: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
        ResourceGroup: "my-rg",
        Location: "eastus",
        DeploymentName: "my-deployment"),
    ExternalInputs: null));

Console.WriteLine(result.Snapshot);

GetVersion

Returns the version of the connected Bicep CLI. The result is cached for subsequent calls.

var version = await bicep.GetVersion();
Console.WriteLine($"Bicep CLI version: {version}");