Validation Commands Reference

This reference documents all commands used for Azure deployment preflight validation.

Azure Developer CLI (azd)

azd provision --preview

Preview infrastructure changes for azd projects without deploying.

azd provision --preview [options]

Options:

Examples:

# Preview with default environment
azd provision --preview

# Preview specific environment
azd provision --preview --environment dev

# Preview without prompts (CI/CD)
azd provision --preview --no-prompt

Output: Shows resources that will be created, modified, or deleted.

azd auth login

Authenticate to Azure for azd operations.

azd auth login [options]

Options:

azd env list

List available environments.

azd env list

Azure CLI (az)

az deployment group what-if

Preview changes for resource group deployments.

az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group <rg-name> \
  --template-file <bicep-file> \
  [options]

Required Parameters:

Optional Parameters:

Validation Levels:

Examples:

# Basic what-if
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep

# With parameters and full validation
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters main.bicepparam \
  --validation-level Provider

# Fallback without RBAC checks
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --validation-level ProviderNoRbac

# JSON output for parsing
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --no-pretty-print

az deployment sub what-if

Preview changes for subscription-level deployments.

az deployment sub what-if \
  --location <location> \
  --template-file <bicep-file> \
  [options]

Required Parameters:

Examples:

az deployment sub what-if \
  --location eastus \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters main.bicepparam \
  --validation-level Provider

az deployment mg what-if

Preview changes for management group deployments.

az deployment mg what-if \
  --location <location> \
  --management-group-id <mg-id> \
  --template-file <bicep-file> \
  [options]

Required Parameters:

az deployment tenant what-if

Preview changes for tenant-level deployments.

az deployment tenant what-if \
  --location <location> \
  --template-file <bicep-file> \
  [options]

Required Parameters:

az login

Authenticate to Azure CLI.

az login [options]

Options:

az account show

Display current subscription context.

az account show

az group exists

Check if resource group exists.

az group exists --name <rg-name>

Bicep CLI

bicep build

Compile Bicep to ARM JSON and validate syntax.

bicep build <bicep-file> [options]

Options:

Examples:

# Validate syntax (output to stdout, no file created)
bicep build main.bicep --stdout > /dev/null

# Build to specific directory
bicep build main.bicep --outdir ./build

# Validate multiple files
for f in *.bicep; do bicep build "$f" --stdout; done

Error Output Format:

/path/to/file.bicep(22,51) : Error BCP064: Found unexpected tokens in interpolated expression.
/path/to/file.bicep(22,51) : Error BCP004: The string at this location is not terminated.

Format: <file>(<line>,<column>) : <severity> <code>: <message>

bicep --version

Check Bicep CLI version.

bicep --version

Parameter File Detection

Bicep Parameters (.bicepparam)

Modern Bicep parameter files (recommended):

using './main.bicep'

param location = 'eastus'
param environment = 'dev'
param tags = {
  environment: 'dev'
  project: 'myapp'
}

Detection pattern: <template-name>.bicepparam

JSON Parameters (.parameters.json)

Traditional ARM parameter files:

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentParameters.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "location": { "value": "eastus" },
    "environment": { "value": "dev" }
  }
}

Detection patterns:

• <template-name>.parameters.json
• parameters.json
• parameters/<env>.json

Using Parameters with Commands

# Bicep parameters file
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters main.bicepparam

# JSON parameters file
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters @parameters.json

# Inline parameter overrides
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group my-rg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters main.bicepparam \
  --parameters location=westus

Determining Deployment Scope

Check the Bicep file's targetScope declaration:

// Resource Group (default if not specified)
targetScope = 'resourceGroup'

// Subscription
targetScope = 'subscription'

// Management Group
targetScope = 'managementGroup'

// Tenant
targetScope = 'tenant'

Scope to Command Mapping:

Version Requirements

Check versions:

az --version
azd version
bicep --version