User Managed Identity Authentication Setup

User Managed Identity authentication eliminates the need for secrets or passwords. A managed identity is created alongside your bot and assigned to your compute resource (App Service, Container App, VM, etc.).

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• An Azure subscription
• Permissions to create App Registrations, Azure Bot Services, and manage identities
• A compute resource where your bot will be hosted (App Service, Container App, VM, etc.)

Setup Steps

Step 1: Create Azure Bot with User Managed Identity

When creating your Azure Bot Service, select User Managed Identity for the Type of App.

This will automatically create a User Managed Identity resource alongside your bot.

Step 2: Assign the Managed Identity to Your Compute Resource

The User Managed Identity created with your bot must be assigned to the service running your application.

Azure Portal

1. Navigate to your compute resource (App Service, Container App, VM, etc.) in the Azure Portal
2. Go to Identity section in the left menu
3. Select the User assigned tab
4. Click Add
5. Select the User Managed Identity that was created with your Azure Bot
6. Click Add to confirm

Azure CLI

# Assign user managed identity to your compute resource
# Example for App Service:
az webapp identity assign \
  --name $APP_NAME \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --identities $MANAGED_IDENTITY_RESOURCE_ID

# Example for Container App:
az containerapp identity assign \
  --name $APP_NAME \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --user-assigned $MANAGED_IDENTITY_RESOURCE_ID

Next Steps

After completing the Azure setup, configure your application code with the appropriate environment variables. See the App Authentication Essentials Guide for details.