Entra Agent Id

---
name: entra-agent-id
description: "Microsoft Entra Agent ID (preview) — create OAuth2-capable AI agent identities via Microsoft Graph beta API"
lastReviewed: 2026-04-30
---

# Microsoft Entra Agent ID


> Create and manage OAuth2-capable identities for AI agents using Microsoft Graph beta API

> **Staleness Watch**: See `EXTERNAL-API-REGISTRY.md` for source URLs and recheck cadence

**⚠️ Preview API** — All Agent Identity endpoints are under `/beta` only. Not available in `/v1.0`.

---

## Before You Start

Search `microsoft-docs` MCP for the latest Agent ID documentation:

- Query: "Microsoft Entra agent identity setup"
- Verify: API parameters match current preview behavior

---

## Conceptual Model

```text
Agent Identity Blueprint (application)        ← one per agent type/project
 └── BlueprintPrincipal (service principal)   ← MUST be created explicitly
       ├── Agent Identity (SP): agent-1       ← one per agent instance
       ├── Agent Identity (SP): agent-2
       └── Agent Identity (SP): agent-3
```

---

## Prerequisites

### PowerShell (recommended for interactive setup)

```powershell
# Requires PowerShell 7+
Install-Module Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Applications -Scope CurrentUser -Force
```

### Python (for programmatic provisioning)

```bash
pip install azure-identity requests
```

### Required Entra Roles

One of: **Agent Identity Developer**, **Agent Identity Administrator**, or **Application Administrator**.

---

## Environment Variables

```bash
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<your-tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<app-registration-client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<app-registration-secret>
```

---

## Authentication

> **⚠️ `DefaultAzureCredential` is NOT supported.** Azure CLI tokens contain `Directory.AccessAsUser.All`, which Agent Identity APIs explicitly reject (403). You MUST use a dedicated app registration with `client_credentials` flow or connect via `Connect-MgGraph` with explicit delegated scopes.

### PowerShell (delegated permissions)

```powershell
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes @(
    "AgentIdentityBlueprint.Create",
    "AgentIdentityBlueprint.ReadWrite.All",
    "AgentIdentityBlueprintPrincipal.Create",
    "User.Read"
)
Set-MgRequestContext -ApiVersion beta

$currentUser = (Get-MgContext).Account
$userId = (Get-MgUser -UserId $currentUser).Id
```

### Python (application permissions)

```python
import os
import requests
from azure.identity import ClientSecretCredential

credential = ClientSecretCredential(
    tenant_id=os.environ["AZURE_TENANT_ID"],
    client_id=os.environ["AZURE_CLIENT_ID"],
    client_secret=os.environ["AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET"],
)
token = credential.get_token("https://graph.microsoft.com/.default")

GRAPH = "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta"
headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {token.token}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "OData-Version": "4.0",  # Required for all Agent Identity API calls
}
```

---

## Core Workflow

### Step 1: Create Agent Identity Blueprint

Sponsors are required and **must be User objects** — ServicePrincipals and Groups are rejected.

```python
import subprocess

# Get sponsor user ID (client_credentials has no user context, so use az CLI)
result = subprocess.run(
    ["az", "ad", "signed-in-user", "show", "--query", "id", "-o", "tsv"],
    capture_output=True, text=True, check=True,
)
user_id = result.stdout.strip()

blueprint_body = {
    "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentityBlueprint",
    "displayName": "My Agent Blueprint",
    "sponsors@odata.bind": [
        f"https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{user_id}"
    ],
}
resp = requests.post(f"{GRAPH}/applications", headers=headers, json=blueprint_body)
resp.raise_for_status()

blueprint = resp.json()
app_id = blueprint["appId"]
blueprint_obj_id = blueprint["id"]
```

### Step 2: Create BlueprintPrincipal

> **This step is mandatory.** Creating a Blueprint does NOT auto-create its service principal. Without this, Agent Identity creation fails with: `400: The Agent Blueprint Principal for the Agent Blueprint does not exist.`

```python
sp_body = {
    "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentityBlueprintPrincipal",
    "appId": app_id,
}
resp = requests.post(f"{GRAPH}/servicePrincipals", headers=headers, json=sp_body)
resp.raise_for_status()
```

If implementing idempotent scripts, check for and create the BlueprintPrincipal even when the Blueprint already exists (a previous run may have created the Blueprint but crashed before creating the SP).

### Step 3: Create Agent Identities

```python
agent_body = {
    "@odata.type": "Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentity",
    "displayName": "my-agent-instance-1",
    "agentIdentityBlueprintId": app_id,
    "sponsors@odata.bind": [
        f"https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{user_id}"
    ],
}
resp = requests.post(f"{GRAPH}/servicePrincipals", headers=headers, json=agent_body)
resp.raise_for_status()
agent = resp.json()
```

---

## API Reference

| Operation | Method | Endpoint | OData Type |
|-----------|--------|----------|------------|
| Create Blueprint | `POST` | `/applications` | `Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentityBlueprint` |
| Create BlueprintPrincipal | `POST` | `/servicePrincipals` | `Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentityBlueprintPrincipal` |
| Create Agent Identity | `POST` | `/servicePrincipals` | `Microsoft.Graph.AgentIdentity` |
| List Agent Identities | `GET` | `/servicePrincipals?$filter=...` | — |
| Delete Agent Identity | `DELETE` | `/servicePrincipals/{id}` | — |
| Delete Blueprint | `DELETE` | `/applications/{id}` | — |

All endpoints use base URL: `https://graph.microsoft.com/beta`

---

## Required Permissions

| Permission | Purpose |
|-----------|---------|
| `Application.ReadWrite.All` | Blueprint CRUD (application objects) |
| `AgentIdentityBlueprint.Create` | Create new Blueprints |
| `AgentIdentityBlueprint.ReadWrite.All` | Read/update Blueprints |
| `AgentIdentityBlueprintPrincipal.Create` | Create BlueprintPrincipals |
| `AgentIdentity.Create.All` | Create Agent Identities |
| `AgentIdentity.ReadWrite.All` | Read/update Agent Identities |

There are **18 Agent Identity-specific** Graph application permissions. Discover all:

```bash
az ad sp show --id 00000003-0000-0000-c000-000000000000 \
  --query "appRoles[?contains(value, 'AgentIdentity')].{id:id, value:value}" -o json
```

Grant admin consent (required for application permissions):

```bash
az ad app permission admin-consent --id <client-id>
```

> Admin consent may fail with 404 if the service principal hasn't replicated. Retry with 10–40s backoff.

---

## Cleanup

```python
# Delete Agent Identity
requests.delete(f"{GRAPH}/servicePrincipals/{agent['id']}", headers=headers)

# Delete BlueprintPrincipal (get SP ID first)
sps = requests.get(
    f"{GRAPH}/servicePrincipals?$filter=appId eq '{app_id}'",
    headers=headers,
).json()
for sp in sps.get("value", []):
    requests.delete(f"{GRAPH}/servicePrincipals/{sp['id']}", headers=headers)

# Delete Blueprint
requests.delete(f"{GRAPH}/applications/{blueprint_obj_id}", headers=headers)
```

---

## Best Practices

1. **Always create BlueprintPrincipal after Blueprint** — not auto-created; implement idempotent checks on both
2. **Use User objects as sponsors** — ServicePrincipals and Groups are rejected
3. **Handle permission propagation delays** — after admin consent, wait 30–120s; retry with backoff on 403
4. **Include `OData-Version: 4.0` header** on every Graph request
5. **Use Workload Identity Federation for production auth** — for local dev, use a client secret on the Blueprint
6. **Set `identifierUris` on Blueprint** before using OAuth2 scoping (`api://{app-id}`)
7. **Never use Azure CLI tokens** for API calls — they contain `Directory.AccessAsUser.All` which is hard-rejected
8. **Check for existing resources** before creating — implement idempotent provisioning

---

## Common Issues

| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| 403 on API call | Azure CLI token used | Use dedicated app registration with client_credentials |
| 400: Blueprint Principal does not exist | Step 2 skipped | Create BlueprintPrincipal explicitly |
| 403 after admin consent | Propagation delay | Wait 30–120s, retry with backoff |
| Sponsors rejected | Non-User sponsor | Only User objects accepted as sponsors |
| 404 on admin consent | SP not replicated | Wait 10–40s, retry |

---

## Related Skills

This skill complements:

- **microsoft-graph-api** — General Graph API patterns
- **msal-authentication** — MSAL token flows
- **azure-architecture-patterns** — Agent deployment patterns

---

## References

- [Official Setup Guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/agent-id/identity-platform/agent-id-setup-instructions)
- [AI-Guided Setup](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/agent-id/identity-platform/agent-id-ai-guided-setup)
- [Microsoft Entra SDK for AgentID — Overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/msidweb/agent-id-sdk/overview)
- [Microsoft Entra SDK for AgentID — Endpoints](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/msidweb/agent-id-sdk/endpoints)