Authentication

The AI Gateway supports four authentication modes for Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Foundry integrations. Pick the one that matches where the gateway runs and how your Azure tenant is configured.

Mode	`azureAuthMode`	When to use
API key	`apiKey`	Fastest setup; works anywhere.
Entra ID (service principal)	`entra`	Use an app registration with a client secret.
Managed identity	`managed`	Gateway runs on an Azure VM/AKS/App Service with a system- or user-assigned identity.
Workload identity	`workload`	Gateway runs on AKS with federated service-account tokens.
AWS federated (Entra ID)	`entraFederated`	Gateway runs on AWS (e.g. EKS with IRSA) and needs keyless access to Azure. Requires Enterprise Gateway v2.6.2+.

managed, workload, and entraFederated are only available on hybrid deployments. entraFederated requires Node.js runtime.

API key

The default mode. Provide the Azure resource’s API key along with the resource name, deployment, and API version.

{
  "azureAuthMode": "apiKey",
  "resourceName": "my-resource",
  "apiKey": "<AZURE_API_KEY>"
}

Entra ID (service principal)

Exchange a client ID + secret for an Entra access token. Tokens are cached for 15 minutes.

{
  "azureAuthMode": "entra",
  "resourceName": "my-resource",
  "azureEntraTenantId": "<TENANT_ID>",
  "azureEntraClientId": "<CLIENT_ID>",
  "azureEntraClientSecret": "<CLIENT_SECRET>"
}

Optionally set azureEntraScope to override the default scope (https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default).

Managed identity

Use the Azure IMDS endpoint to get a token for the identity attached to the host.

{
  "azureAuthMode": "managed",
  "resourceName": "my-resource",
  "azureManagedClientId": "<USER_ASSIGNED_CLIENT_ID>"
}

azureManagedClientId is only required when the host has multiple user-assigned identities. Omit it to use the system-assigned identity.

Workload identity (AKS)

Federates an AKS service-account token into an Entra access token. Requires these environment variables on the gateway pod — typically injected automatically by the Azure Workload Identity mutating webhook:

Variable	Purpose
`AZURE_AUTHORITY_HOST`	Entra login host (e.g. `https://login.microsoftonline.com/`).
`AZURE_TENANT_ID`	Azure tenant ID. Can be overridden per-integration with `azureWorkloadTenantId`.
`AZURE_CLIENT_ID`	Client ID of the federated app registration. Can be overridden per-integration with `azureWorkloadClientId`.
`AZURE_FEDERATED_TOKEN_FILE`	Path to the projected service-account token.

{
  "azureAuthMode": "workload",
  "resourceName": "my-resource",
  "azureWorkloadClientId": "<CLIENT_ID>",
  "azureWorkloadTenantId": "<TENANT_ID>"
}

Workload identity is supported on both Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Foundry integrations. The management-plane schema for workload mode (and entraFederated for Azure AI Foundry) requires Backend v1.16.0+.

AWS federated (Entra ID)

Exchanges an AWS STS web-identity token for an Entra access token — enabling keyless Azure access from workloads running on AWS (e.g. EKS with IRSA, or any host with standard AWS credentials). The gateway calls sts:GetWebIdentityToken with audience api://AzureADTokenExchange, then exchanges that token at the Entra token endpoint. On the Azure side, register a federated credential on your app registration with:

Issuer: https://sts.<region>.amazonaws.com
Subject: the AWS principal (role ARN) assumed by the gateway
Audience: api://AzureADTokenExchange

{
  "azureAuthMode": "entraFederated",
  "resourceName": "my-resource",
  "azureEntraTenantId": "<TENANT_ID>",
  "azureEntraClientId": "<CLIENT_ID>"
}

No client secret is required. The gateway picks up AWS credentials from the standard chain (IRSA, AWS_ROLE_ARN + AWS_WEB_IDENTITY_TOKEN_FILE, instance profile, or static creds).

Last modified on September 28, 2026

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API key

Entra ID (service principal)

Managed identity

Workload identity (AKS)

AWS federated (Entra ID)

​API key

​Entra ID (service principal)

​Managed identity

​Workload identity (AKS)

​AWS federated (Entra ID)

API key

Entra ID (service principal)

Managed identity

Workload identity (AKS)

AWS federated (Entra ID)