Azure CLI Cheat Sheet 2026 — Quick Command Reference

Azure CLI Cheat Sheet is the complete quick-reference of Azure CLI commands grouped by function. Copy any command with one click and find what you need with Ctrl+F in under 3 seconds.

Command Sections

Pick a section — each is a focused, verified cheat sheet:

Identity & Subscriptions (12 commands)
Virtual Machines (12 commands)
Storage (12 commands)
AKS & Kubernetes (5 commands)
Networking (7 commands)
Containers & Registry (12 commands)
App Service & Web (10 commands)
Resource Groups & Tags (12 commands)

Cross-Cloud Equivalents (AWS · Azure · GCP)

Translate the same task between the three major clouds. Searchable with the filter above.

Action	AWS CLI	Azure CLI	gcloud
List compute instances	`aws ec2 describe-instances`	`az vm list`	`gcloud compute instances list`
Create storage bucket/container	`aws s3 mb s3://my-bucket`	`az storage container create --name my-container --account-name myaccount`	`gcloud storage buckets create gs://my-bucket`
List IAM roles	`aws iam list-roles`	`az role definition list`	`gcloud iam roles list`
Get cluster credentials	`aws eks update-kubeconfig --name my-cluster`	`az aks get-credentials --resource-group my-rg --name my-cluster`	`gcloud container clusters get-credentials my-cluster --zone us-central1-a`
View logs (recent entries)	`aws logs tail my-log-group --since 1h`	`az monitor activity-log list --max-events 10`	`gcloud logging read "resource.type=global" --limit 10 --order desc`
Delete resource group/stack/deplyment	`aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-stack`	`az group delete --name my-rg --yes --no-wait`	`gcloud deployment-manager deployments delete my-deplyment`
List storage buckets/containers	`aws s3 ls`	`az storage container list --account-name myaccount`	`gcloud storage buckets list`
Describe compute instance	`aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-12345`	`az vm show --name my-vm --resource-group my-rg`	`gcloud compute instances describe my-instance --zone us-central1-a`
Create firewall rule	`aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id sg-12345 --protocol tcp --port 80 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0`	`az network nsg rule create --resource-group my-rg --nsg-name my-nsg --name allow-http --priority 100 --destination-port-ranges 80 --protocol Tcp`	`gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-http --allow tcp:80 --source-ranges 0.0.0.0/0`

⚠️ Dangerous / Destructive Commands

These commands are irreversible. Verify your environment (dev/staging vs prod) before running them.

Action	Command	Warning
⚠️ Delete	`az disk delete --resource-group <resource_group> --name <disk_name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Storage account	`az storage account delete --resource-group <group_name> --name <account_name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Storage account	`az storage account delete --name <storage_account_name> --resource-group <azure_resource_group>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Delete	`az aks delete --resource-group <resource_group> --name <name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Acr repository	`az acr repository delete --name <registry_name> --repository <image_name>:<tag>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Delete	`az acr delete --name <registry_name> --resource-group <resource_group> --yes`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Delete	`az webapp delete --name <name> --resource-group <resource_group>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Delete	`az logicapp delete --name <name> --resource-group <resource_group>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Delete	`az group delete --name <name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Tag	`az tag delete --name <tag_name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running

FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Identity & Subscriptions and Virtual Machines?

Each group in this Azure CLI cheat sheet covers a distinct area. Identity & Subscriptions focuses on its specific scope, while Virtual Machines and the remaining groups cover networking, storage, security and diagnostics respectively.

How do I check the installed Azure CLI version?

Run the version command (usually az version or az --version). The output shows the client and, when applicable, the server version.

Why does Azure CLI return ‘permission denied’?

A ‘permission denied’ error in Azure CLI usually means the current user lacks sufficient privileges or credentials are not configured. Check: (1) assigned IAM/RBAC roles, (2) an active authentication context via the corresponding login command.

How do I filter Azure CLI output by status or name?

Use flags such as --filter, --selector or --query depending on the tool. You can also pipe into grep or jq to process JSON:

az list | grep RUNNING

What is the fastest way to debug a Azure CLI error?

Add the verbose flag (--verbose, -v or --debug) to the failing command. This reveals the underlying HTTP/API calls and the full error response body.

Official sources & references

Commands cross-checked against vendor documentation and high-authority repositories:

raw.githubusercontent.com