Azure OpenAI Service expands .NET SDK support

[Guest Travis_Wilson_MSFT]

Since its first release in December 2022, Azure OpenAI Service has continuously worked to meet developers where they are with rich, idiomatic client libraries that expand on OpenAI’s language availability in Python and JavaScript with options for .NET, Java, and Go development. This week, we’re excited to share two major announcements for .NET customers: the preview release of OpenAI’s official .NET library and the matched update of the preview Azure OpenAI Service client library for .NET.

 

 

 

[HEADING=2].NET becomes OpenAI’s third officially supported language[/HEADING]

 

As recently announced on the official .NET blog, OpenAI this week released a new OpenAI 2.0.0-beta package on NuGet.org that marks its first official support for .NET developers using programming languages like C#. This new, open-source library is produced and maintained through close, ongoing collaboration with Microsoft; OpenAI’s openai-dotnet repository joins openai-python and openai-node as the next client library project available directly from OpenAI. In addition to empowering .NET developers with access to OpenAI’s models and capabilities in their programming language of choice, this new library also features substantial strides in simplifying usage patterns to make even data-rich operations -- like streaming with v2 of the Assistants (beta) API -- easier and more intuitive.

 

 

 

[HEADING=2]Azure OpenAI Service adopts and extends OpenAI’s library[/HEADING]

 

In reflection of this partnership, Azure.AI.OpenAI, the Azure SDK library for Azure OpenAI Service, has released a new 2.0.0-beta.1 update that converts the previously standalone .NET library into a companion of the official OpenAI .NET library. This new version streamlines Azure client configuration and provides additional, strongly typed support for concepts and capabilities specific to Azure OpenAI Service, such as Responsible AI Content Filtering annotations and On Your Data data sources and citations. With its extension of OpenAI’s .NET library, seamlessly switching between OpenAI and Azure OpenAI Service endpoints is easier than ever, and new language feature support can now arrive faster, independently of service API release vehicles.

 

 

 

Although this change brings a major version increment that will require migration, Azure OpenAI Service will also continue to support the previous 1.0.0-beta.17 package through the lifetime of that version’s most recently supported 2024-04-01-preview service API version. Developers are encouraged to upgrade for the latest features and substantial improvements to functionality and usability, but that upgrade is not mandatory for customers already using the previous library version in conjunction with an older service API version.

 

 

 

[HEADING=2]What’s next for .NET and OpenAI[/HEADING]

 

Together with OpenAI, we’re eager to refine and improve our .NET libraries to reach a General Availability (GA) status as soon as possible. Developer feedback on both OpenAI’s openai-dotnet discussions and Azure SDK’s azure-sdk-for-net issues is welcomed, appreciated, and will help accelerate the continued evolution of .NET support for OpenAI and Azure OpenAI Service.

 

Continue reading...