Task 01: Set up and run the starter web application

Introduction

Before CWBC’s Intelligent Assistant can help customers with bike-related queries, you need to ensure the foundational environment is properly set up. This lets you confirm everything builds and runs as intended. Think of it as tightening the bolts on a new bike frame before a test ride.

Description

In this task, you’ll set up authentication, verify your code builds successfully, and run the existing starter application. Once complete, you’ll see a placeholder AI response in the chat UI.

Success criteria

You authenticated to Azure, trusted the HTTPS development certificate, and ran the project without encountering any errors.
You launched the basic chat UI, which displayed a placeholder response in the conversation window.
You successfully accessed the .NET Aspire dashboard locally, confirming that the app is listening and reachable.

Learning resources

Key tasks

01: Configure authentication

Expand this section to view the solution

CWBC values a secure-by-design approach—especially as the Intelligent Assistant will store private user data, product catalogs, and ride recommendations in Azure Cosmos DB. Proper authentication ensures only authorized personnel and processes can access these resources.

On your Windows task bar, select Terminal.
Change the current working directory to where the application repository was cloned.
```
 cd C:\Users\Admin\Repos\cosmosdb-nosql-copilot
```
Using the Copy option and selecting Ctrl+V to paste into the VM will be faster than using Text for Type Text. This will be more useful later on with long blocks of code.
Open the project in Visual Studio Code with the following command.
```
 code .
```
Within Visual Studio Code, open a new terminal by selecting Terminal on the top toolbar, then selecting New Terminal. Alternatively, select Ctrl+Shift+.

To access the Azure resources, you need to be authenticated from the terminal in Visual Studio Code. This application uses authentication with Microsoft Entra ID. Role assignments have already been created for your user during resource deployment.

Sign in to the Azure CLI by entering the following command in the terminal window inside of Visual Studio Code.
```
 az login
```
Select Work or school account, then select Continue.

The sign in window may open behind Visual Studio Code.
Sign in with your credentials.
Select No, sign in to this app only, when prompted.
In the Visual Studio Code Terminal, enter 1 to select your subscription and tenant.

Grant Azure permissions to your account

Before you can run the applications locally within the security context of your Azure user you need to ensure it has permissions to the data in Azure Cosmos DB account and the endpoints of Azure Open AI account.

Within Visual Studio Code terminal and change the current working directory to the scripts folder of this application.
```
 cd ~/Repos/cosmosdb-nosql-copilot/infra/scripts
```
Open Microsoft Edge, go to Azure portal, then sign in with your credentials:

Item Value

Username Azure user name

Password Azure password
Expand the service menu on the left, then select Resource Groups.
Select cosmosdb-nosql-copilot.
On the resource group page, verify all the deployments have Succeeded under the Deployments property before proceeding forward.

If it’s still deploying, wait until it’s complete.
Close the browser window.
Go to your Visual Studio Code terminal, then run the azd-role-assignments.sh script to grant permissions to your Azure user account.
```
 ./azd-role-assignments.sh
```
You can open the file in Visual Studio Code to see how this was written.

Item	Value
Username	Azure user name
Password	Azure password

02: Build and run the application for the first time