azd uses a three-stage lifecycle to graduate features from experimental to fully supported.
- Behind a feature flag — must be explicitly opted into
- Enable per-feature:
azd config set alpha.<name> on - Enable all:
azd config set alpha.all on - In CI: set
AZD_ALPHA_ENABLE_<NAME>=true - No stability guarantees — may be removed or redesigned
- Discoverable via
azd config list-alpha
- Available by default (no feature flag needed)
- Functional and supported, but may undergo breaking changes
- Actively collecting user feedback
- Fully supported with backward compatibility guarantees
- Complete documentation on aka.ms/azd
- Breaking changes follow a deprecation process
For a feature to move from alpha → beta, all of the following must be met:
- Feature is spec'd and approved by PM and engineering for design
- PM and engineering team have completed a formal review meeting to sign off on advancement
- Documented on DevHub and in CLI help text
- Positive user feedback signal
For the current status of all features, see Feature Status.
For implementation details on the alpha feature flag system, see cli/azd/docs/alpha-features.md.