Azure Cosmos DB Blog
The latest news, updates and technical insights from the Azure Cosmos DB team
Latest posts
From an Empty Folder to an AI Agent: Meet create-cosmos-agent
The first few minutes of a new AI project often feel productive. Create a chat endpoint, connect a model, send a prompt, and display the answer. Then the real questions arrive. Where should the agent store memory? How do we keep one customer's data away from another? How do we trace the source of an answer? What happens when an action requires approval? How do we test the application locally before creating cloud resources? And how do we move to Azure without rebuilding the project? Those questions inspired me to build create-cosmos-agent, an open-source CLI for creating production-oriented TypeScript AI...
I’m the Only Developer on This Project. Do I Really Need RBAC?
You own the account, wrote the application, and would be the one fixing it if something broke. So role-based access control (RBAC) can sound like an answer to a problem you do not have: managing other people. You do not need RBAC for your app to function; account keys still work while key-based authentication is enabled. But for a live Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL project you intend to keep, identity-based access is the better default, even if you remain its only developer. The reason is not team size. It is reducing the secrets you maintain and giving your code only the access it needs. Neither benefit requir...
Translating an Elasticsearch Search Request to Azure Cosmos DB
This tutorial shows how common Elasticsearch search requests can be expressed using Azure Cosmos DB query patterns. Some Elasticsearch capabilities map directly to Cosmos DB full-text search functions, while others require separate queries or application-layer handling. Each step shows the closest Cosmos DB pattern and explains what changes in the process. In Elasticsearch, one search request can return hits, highlights, and aggregation buckets together. In Azure Cosmos DB, it is clearer to separate those concerns: one query retrieves ranked results, separate aggregate queries calculate facets, and the applicat...
Genspark protects live agent sessions with Azure Cosmos DB Global Secondary Indexes
This article was authored by Justin Liu, co-founder and chief architect, Genspark. The work does not end when the prompt does A user comes to Genspark with a goal: research a market, build a presentation, produce a report, analyze a dataset, or complete another complex assignment. Our agents take it from there, working across tools, sources, and multiple steps until the user has a finished result. The request may fit in a sentence; the actual work of the request, though, rarely does. One assignment can involve repeated searches, decisions, tool calls, and revisions. Throughout the process, the agent relie...
Azure Cosmos DB Shell is now available in the Azure portal
You can now open Azure Cosmos DB Shell directly from Data Explorer in the Azure portal. The shell gives you a terminal-style way to work with Azure Cosmos DB. You can move through databases and containers as you would through folders, run NoSQL queries, inspect resources, and update data. When you launch it from Data Explorer, it is already connected to the account you are viewing. Open a shell from Data Explorer Open an Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account in the portal, go to Data Explorer, and select Open Cosmos DB Shell from the toolbar. The shell opens in a new tab and connects to the selec...
Migrating Elasticsearch Mappings to Azure Cosmos DB
This post focuses on one of the most important design tasks when migrating from Elasticsearch to Azure Cosmos DB: translating an Elasticsearch mapping into Azure Cosmos DB container configuration. In Elasticsearch, a mapping defines how document fields are stored and indexed. Azure Cosmos DB is schema-agnostic, so there is no single mapping document to translate. Instead, distribute the mapping’s intent across the indexing policy, full-text policy, vector policy, and computed properties. The goal is not a line-by-line conversion. It is to preserve the query, filtering, ranking, and retrieval behavior that...
Azure Cosmos DB Migration Guide for Elasticsearch Users
Azure Cosmos DB’s full-text search capabilities can improve price performance and simplify application architecture by consolidating operational data and search in a single service. For customers currently using Elasticsearch, these capabilities create a practical path to bringing operational data and search together in Azure Cosmos DB, particularly when the application’s data already lives there. This guide is for teams evaluating migration from Elasticsearch to Azure Cosmos DB. It explains how the two architectures differ, maps common Elasticsearch search capabilities to their Azure Cosmos DB equivalents, an...
Cosmos DB Mirroring in Fabric Now Supports Virtual Network Data Gateways
Azure Cosmos DB mirroring in Microsoft Fabric now offers a simpler way to connect accounts secured by private endpoints or virtual networks. A virtual network data gateway provisioned inside your own virtual network keeps public network access disabled throughout setup and ongoing replication. This release builds on the general availability of private network support announced earlier this year, and it reflects the feedback we received from enterprise and regulated customers about reducing the configuration effort required to bring secured operational data into OneLake. A simpler path for secured accounts ...
Announcing Public Preview for Azure Cosmos DB in Fabric Database Hub!
Azure Cosmos DB support in Fabric Database Hub is now available in public preview. For the first time, Azure Cosmos DB customers can discover and monitor their accounts from Database Hub alongside other Microsoft database engines. Database Hub provides a single place to view every Azure Cosmos DB account you can access, compare health and performance, review key security findings, and create new accounts. Your accounts remain in their existing subscriptions, resource groups, and regions. A single view of your Azure Cosmos DB estate Most Azure Cosmos DB customers do not operate a single account. Accoun...