Azure Cloud Shell: A Browser-Based Shell with No Setup Required

What Azure Cloud Shell Is

Cloud Shell is a managed, ephemeral Linux container that Microsoft provisions when you start a session. It runs on Azure infrastructure, not on your computer. The shell process terminates after 20 minutes of inactivity, but your files persist on an Azure Files share that is automatically mounted to your home directory.

Because Cloud Shell runs in Azure, it already has a Microsoft Entra ID identity associated with your account. You do not run az login — the CLI is pre-authenticated for your account. The first command you run in a new Cloud Shell session can be a real Azure CLI command against your resources.

You can open Cloud Shell from:

• The Azure portal — click the terminal icon (looks like a >_ prompt) in the top navigation bar.
• A direct URL: shell.azure.com
• From within Visual Studio Code with the Azure Account extension.
• From the Azure mobile app.

Bash Mode vs PowerShell Mode

When you first open Cloud Shell, you choose between Bash and PowerShell. You can switch between them at any time using the dropdown in the Cloud Shell toolbar.

Bash mode gives you a standard Linux bash shell. The Azure CLI (az) commands you see throughout this documentation run here. You can also use Python, node, and common Unix tools. This is the recommended starting point if you are comfortable on the command line in any Linux/macOS environment.

PowerShell mode gives you a PowerShell 7 shell. The Azure PowerShell module (Az) is pre-installed, so you can use cmdlets like Get-AzResourceGroup, New-AzVM, and so on. The Azure CLI also works in PowerShell mode — you can mix az commands and Az cmdlets in the same session.

Pre-Installed Tools

Cloud Shell maintains a managed environment that Microsoft keeps updated. You do not control the update schedule, but the tools are generally current versions. Commonly pre-installed tools include:

• Azure CLI (az) — always current, automatically authenticated.
• Azure PowerShell (Az module) — in PowerShell mode.
• kubectl — for managing Kubernetes clusters, including AKS.
• Helm — the Kubernetes package manager.
• Terraform — for infrastructure as code. You can run terraform plan and terraform apply directly in Cloud Shell.
• Ansible — for configuration management.
• git — clone repos, commit, push, pull.
• Python 3 and pip — including the Azure SDK for Python.
• Node.js and npm.
• jq — for parsing and transforming JSON in shell scripts.
• curl and wget — for HTTP requests and file downloads.
• vim, nano — text editors for editing files in the shell.
• Azure Developer CLI (azd) — for scaffolding and deploying complete applications.

This set of tools covers the vast majority of Azure operations you might perform from a command line. For one-off tasks, you rarely need to install anything additional. For complex workflows that require specific package versions, Cloud Shell lets you install packages for the session duration using the usual package managers (pip, npm, apt).

Persistent Storage

When you start Cloud Shell for the first time, Azure creates a storage account in your subscription and an Azure Files share inside it. This share is mounted as your home directory (/home/username in Bash, C:\Users\ContainerAdministrator\CloudDrive in PowerShell). Files in your home directory survive session termination and container resets.

Files outside your home directory (for example, anything in /tmp) are in the container’s ephemeral storage and are gone when the session ends.

You can see the mounted share from within the shell:

# In Bash mode
df -h ~

# Shows the Azure Files share mounted at your home directory
# Filesystem: //csxxxxxxxx.file.core.windows.net/cs-username-xxx
# Size: 5.0G

The storage account created for Cloud Shell is in a resource group named cloud-shell-storage-{region} in your subscription. You can increase the share size in the portal if 5 GB is not enough. The contents are accessible through Azure Storage Explorer or the portal’s Storage Account blade.

Cloud Shell vs Local Azure CLI: When to Use Each

This comparison covers the practical scenarios where one tool is clearly better than the other.

Many teams use Cloud Shell for ad hoc operations and quick fixes, and local CLI for scripted, repeatable workflows. See Using Azure CLI for a detailed guide to CLI commands regardless of where you run them.

Your First Cloud Shell Session

Here is what happens and what to do when you open Cloud Shell for the first time:

1. Open the Azure portal and click the Cloud Shell icon (>_) in the top navigation bar.
2. Choose Bash or PowerShell when prompted.
3. If this is your first time, Azure prompts you to create a storage account for persistent files. Select the correct subscription and click Create storage. This takes about 30 seconds.
4. The terminal opens. You are already authenticated — no az login needed.
5. Verify your authentication and the active subscription:

az account show --output table

If you have multiple subscriptions, set the one you want to work with:

az account set --subscription "my-dev-subscription"

Now you can run any az command. For example, list your resource groups:

az group list --output table

The connection to Azure is direct — no credential configuration, no network setup. Commands that would take multiple setup steps locally work immediately.

Customizing Your Cloud Shell Environment

Because files in your home directory persist, you can customize Cloud Shell like a regular shell environment. Common customizations stored in ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile (Bash) or $PROFILE (PowerShell) carry over to every new session:

• Shell aliases (alias k=kubectl)
• CLI defaults (az configure —defaults location=eastus)
• Git configuration (git config —global user.email)
• kubectl context settings
• Custom prompt settings

You can also clone your personal dotfiles repository into Cloud Shell from git and run your usual setup script. Since the home directory persists, you only do this once.

The Cloud Shell editor (accessible with the {} icon in the toolbar) provides a basic web-based code editor for files on your Cloud Shell storage. It is useful for editing scripts without needing vim or nano.