This PR modernizes the azure.yaml configuration to align with Azure Developer CLI (azd) version 1.17.0+ best practices by removing the explicit pipeline: variables section.

Changes Made

Removed Pipeline Variables Section

The entire pipeline: block containing 25+ variable declarations has been removed, including:

• Azure service configurations (AZURE_OPENAI_*, AZURE_COSMOS_*, etc.)
• Container app settings (SERVICE_ACA_*)
• Environment variables (AZURE_ENV_NAME, AZURE_LOCATION, etc.)
• Secrets (BING_SEARCH_KEY)

Added Version Requirements

Added a requiredVersions section that enforces azd >= 1.17.0:

requiredVersions:
  azd: ">= 1.17.0"

Updated Template Version

Bumped the metadata template version from 0.0.1 to 0.0.2 to indicate this configuration change.

Rationale

As of azd version 1.17.0, the pipeline: variables: section is no longer needed. The Azure Developer CLI now auto-detects required variables from main.parameters.json, which already contains all the necessary parameter mappings like:

{
  "environmentName": { "value": "${AZURE_ENV_NAME}" },
  "location": { "value": "${AZURE_LOCATION}" },
  "openAiApiVersion": { "value": "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION=2023-07-01-preview}" }
}

Benefits

• Simplified Configuration: Eliminates 30 lines of redundant variable declarations
• Reduced Maintenance: No need to keep pipeline variables in sync with parameters
• Modern Best Practices: Aligns with current azd recommendations
• Automatic Detection: Variables are now inferred automatically by azd

The repository's CI/CD workflows will continue to work as expected, as they already use the GitHub Actions setup that installs azd and the variables are properly defined in the parameters file.

Fixes #[issue-number]

Fixes #263

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