AI
AI Development on Windows: from PyTorch and llama.cpp to Windows ML
Today we are highlighting improvements across a few key open-source projects many of you already use, as well as updates to Windows ML. To empower developers, we must support the broad range of tools for experimentation and exploration across inference and training, in addition to our production grade native inference stack. Available today, Windows adds experimental llama.cpp support to Windows ML so you can run GGUF models locally through new task-specific APIs. Windows ML is the unified, high-performance local AI inferencing framework for Windows. Our experimental Windows-native Runtime API is now in preview ...
From Spec-First to Enterprise-Ready: Extending GitHub Spec Kit
How presets, extensions, bundles, workflows, and governed catalogs make Spec-Driven Development adaptable at scale This article continues Spec-Driven Development: A Spec-First Approach to AI-Native Engineering, which introduced the principles and lifecycle of SDD. Here, we focus on the next challenge: adapting that workflow to the standards, domains, tools, and governance needs of a large engineering organization. When a good workflow meets organizational reality Spec-Driven Development (SDD) gives teams a durable source of truth: structured specs that carry intent through requirements, design, implementatio...
Upcoming SQL and AI Events to Put on Your Calendar
Developers, database administrators, data professionals, architects and technology decision makers have several opportunities to connect, learn and gain hands-on experience this fall. 2027 Q4 SQL Events Get hands-on with SQL and AI The Friday workshops are led by the SQL product group! They provide a full day of practical learning before the community conferences begin. This AI workshop is designed for SQL developers, database administrators, application developers, architects and other data professionals who want to build AI-powered applications without abandoning the SQL tools and security model they alr...
Bring agentic reasoning to Python function apps with Azure Functions Agent bindings (preview)
Add bounded AI reasoning to Python function apps with Azure Functions Agent bindings, while keeping deterministic application code in control.
What is Agent Experience (AX)?
Your agent says it's done, and the code compiles, but did it pick your technology? Did it use it correctly? Learn what Agent Experience (AX) is, how to measure it, and why the obvious fix isn't always the right one.
From an Empty Folder to an AI Agent: Meet create-cosmos-agent
The first few minutes of a new AI project often feel productive. Create a chat endpoint, connect a model, send a prompt, and display the answer. Then the real questions arrive. Where should the agent store memory? How do we keep one customer's data away from another? How do we trace the source of an answer? What happens when an action requires approval? How do we test the application locally before creating cloud resources? And how do we move to Azure without rebuilding the project? Those questions inspired me to build create-cosmos-agent, an open-source CLI for creating production-oriented TypeScript AI...
Azure Cosmos DB Shell is now available in the Azure portal
You can now open Azure Cosmos DB Shell directly from Data Explorer in the Azure portal. The shell gives you a terminal-style way to work with Azure Cosmos DB. You can move through databases and containers as you would through folders, run NoSQL queries, inspect resources, and update data. When you launch it from Data Explorer, it is already connected to the account you are viewing. Open a shell from Data Explorer Open an Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account in the portal, go to Data Explorer, and select Open Cosmos DB Shell from the toolbar. The shell opens in a new tab and connects to the selec...
Why content extraction still matters in the GenAI era
Learn why stronger AI models make trustworthy content extraction more important, how Azure Content Understanding and Azure Document Intelligence serve different needs, and what comes next.
Build with Azure Canvases: a shared workspace for agents
See how Azure Canvases bring plans, code, previews, and deployment feedback together in a collaborative workspace for agent-assisted development.
DiskANN Vector Index and Vector Search Are Now Generally Available in Azure SQL
Today, we are announcing the general availability of DiskANN Vector Index & Search across Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance with the always-up-to-date update policy, and SQL database in Microsoft Fabric. DiskANN brings scalable approximate nearest-neighbor search directly to the SQL engine. Developers can store vectors alongside relational data and combine vector similarity with the filters, joins, security policies, and transactional data their applications already rely on. Why Vector indexes matter Applications use embeddings to represent the semantic meaning of text, images, products, doc...
