Native Azure Functions with .Net Aspire.

[ricoprzybylski]

Hi,

I'm exploring .NET Aspire for local orchestration of Azure Functions but want to deploy them natively as serverless Azure Functions to leverage full serverless benefits (e.g., automatic scalability, cost efficiency). Currently, .NET Aspire lacks native Azure Functions support, so I'm considering a hybrid approach: use .NET Aspire for local development and orchestrate Azure Functions locally, but deploy them separately using GitHub Actions.

My proposed approach in the .NET Aspire host project:

if (!builder.ExecutionContext.IsPublishMode)
{
    builder.AddAzureFunctionsProject<AICoach_Function>("azureFunction");
}

And a GitHub Actions extra step for deployment azure function:

name: Deploy to Azure Functions
uses: Azure/functions-action@v1
id: deploy-to-function-app
with:
  app-name: ${{ env.AZURE_FUNCTIONAPP_NAME }}
  package: '${{ env.AZURE_FUNCTIONAPP_PACKAGE_PATH }}/output'
  

My question: Does this approach make sense? Are there potential pitfalls or better alternatives for integrating .NET Aspire with native Azure Functions?

Goals:

• Achieve automatic scalability with Azure Functions' serverless model.
• Minimize costs for processing scheduled messages (e.g., unlike Hangfire, which requires a continuously running instance).

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[davidfowl]

Are you using aspire for local development only?

[ricoprzybylski]

For now I don't use the function at all. For that reason.
However I'm really starting to hit a wall where I'll have to implement it somehow. And my production environment really need this!.

@davidfowl BTW thx a lot for always helping my with aspire questions :D