azure-web-apps-deploy pipe (1.2.4) uses deprecated az webapp deployment source config-zip.

Ben Fifield

I deploy a Node.js app to Azure App Service (Linux) with the atlassian/azure-web-apps-deploy:1.2.4 pipe. Deployments succeed, but the Azure CLI inside the pipe now prints a deprecation warning:

INFO: Starting deployment to Azure app service...

az webapp deployment source config-zip --resource-group <rg> --name <app> --src app.zip

WARNING: This command has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use 'az webapp deploy' instead.

WARNING: Getting scm site credentials for zip deployment

WARNING: Starting zip deployment. This operation can take a while to complete ...

...

WARNING: Status: Site started successfully. Time: 98(s)

✔ Deployment successful.

As far as I can tell, 1.2.4 is the latest version of the pipe, so upgrading isn't an option. Once Microsoft removes config-zip from the CLI, this pipe will stop working.

My step:

- step:
    name: Deploy to Azure App Service
    deployment: production
    script:
      - pipe: atlassian/azure-web-apps-deploy:1.2.4
        variables:
          AZURE_APP_ID: $AZURE_APP_ID
          AZURE_PASSWORD: $AZURE_PASSWORD
          AZURE_TENANT_ID: $AZURE_TENANT_ID
          AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP: '<rg>'
          AZURE_APP_NAME: '<app>'
          ZIP_FILE: 'app.zip'

Questions:

1. Is there a planned release of azure-web-apps-deploy that switches to az webapp deploy --type zip?
2. If not, is the recommended path to replace the pipe with a script step on an image that has the Azure CLI (for example, mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli), running az login --service-principal ... and then az webapp deploy --src-path app.zip --type zip?
3. Is the pipe still maintained, or should it be treated as deprecated?

Thanks!

Josh

Hi Ben, you're reading it correctly. The current atlassian/azure-web-apps-deploy:1.2.4 pipe still calls az webapp deployment source config-zip under the hood (it's right there in the published pipe/pipe.sh), and the 1.2.x changelog entries are only image/maintenance bumps. There's no public release that switches to az webapp deploy yet.

So yes: until Atlassian ships a pipe update, the reliable path is to replace the pipe with a short script step on an image that already has the Azure CLI. Same service principal variables you already use:

- step:
    name: Deploy to Azure App Service
    deployment: production
    image: mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli:latest
    script:
      - az login --service-principal -u "$AZURE_APP_ID" -p "$AZURE_PASSWORD" --tenant "$AZURE_TENANT_ID"
      - az webapp deploy --resource-group "$AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP" --name "$AZURE_APP_NAME" --src-path app.zip --type zip

Add --slot <name> if you deploy to a slot. Keep the zip-building step exactly as it is today; only the deploy step changes. Deployments that already succeed with the pipe will keep working until Microsoft removes config-zip, so you can migrate on your own schedule, but I wouldn't wait for that removal date.

I'd also leave a short note on the pipe's Bitbucket repo / Marketplace listing (or a Community post tagged Pipelines) asking for a 1.3 that swaps the command. The pipe is still published under the Atlassian workspace, so it isn't abandoned, but the Azure CLI change hasn't caught up yet.