Welcome to Day 1 of our 30-Day Microsoft Agent Framework series. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to properly set up your development environment to build an AI agent using .NET 10 and Azure OpenAI.
Why Environment Setup Matters for AI Agent Development
Building an AI agent is not just about calling an API. You need:
- A stable backend framework (.NET 10)
- Cloud AI infrastructure (Azure OpenAI)
- Secure authentication and deployment tools
- Command-line tools for DevOps efficiency
If your foundation is weak, scaling becomes difficult later.
Step 1: Install .NET 10 SDK
Download .NET 10 SDK from Microsoft’s official website.
Verify installation:
dotnet --versionIf installed correctly, you should see version 10.x.x.
Step 2: Install Visual Studio or VS Code
For serious development, install:
- Visual Studio 2026 (recommended for enterprise)
- VS Code (lightweight alternative)
Ensure you install the ASP.NET and web development workload.
Step 3: Install Azure CLI
Azure CLI allows you to deploy and manage resources directly from your terminal.
az loginThis connects your local machine to your Azure account.
Step 4: Create an Azure Account
You’ll need Azure to:
- Create Azure OpenAI resource
- Deploy your AI agent
- Monitor performance and cost
Development Architecture Overview
Our AI Agent architecture will look like this:
User → ASP.NET API → Azure OpenAI → Response → User
Over the next 29 days, we’ll expand this into:
- Multi-agent orchestration
- RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
- Microsoft Graph integration
- Authentication with Entra ID
- Deployment and scaling
Best Practices for AI Development Setup
- Use environment variables for API keys
- Never hardcode secrets
- Use Git for version control
- Create separate dev and production configurations
What You’ve Accomplished Today
By completing Day 1, you have:
- Installed .NET 10
- Connected Azure CLI
- Prepared your AI development environment
What’s Next?
Tomorrow, we create our first AI Agent Web API project using ASP.NET Core.
Follow this series daily as we build a production-ready Microsoft AI Agent from scratch.
[Read Day 2 – Creating Your First AI Agent API]
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