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Samples Structure & Design Choices — .NET

This file documents the structure and conventions of the .NET samples so that agents (AI or human) can maintain them without rediscovering decisions.

Directory layout

dotnet/samples/
├── 01-get-started/                    # Progressive tutorial (steps 01–06)
│   ├── 01_hello_agent/                # Create and run your first agent
│   ├── 02_add_tools/                  # Add function tools
│   ├── 03_multi_turn/                 # Multi-turn conversations with AgentSession
│   ├── 04_memory/                     # Agent memory with AIContextProvider
│   ├── 05_first_workflow/             # Build a workflow with executors and edges
│   └── 06_host_your_agent/            # Host your agent via Azure Functions
├── 02-agents/                         # Deep-dive concept samples
│   ├── Agents/                        # Core agent patterns (tools, structured output,
│   │                                  #   conversations, middleware, plugins, MCP, etc.)
│   ├── AgentProviders/                # One project per provider (Azure OpenAI, OpenAI,
│   │                                  #   Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, ONNX, Foundry, etc.)
│   ├── AgentOpenTelemetry/            # OpenTelemetry integration
│   ├── AgentSkills/                   # Agent skills patterns
│   ├── AgentWithAnthropic/            # Anthropic-specific samples
│   ├── AgentWithMemory/               # Memory providers (chat history, Mem0, Foundry)
│   ├── AgentWithOpenAI/               # OpenAI-specific samples
│   ├── AgentWithRAG/                  # RAG patterns (text, vector store, Foundry)
│   ├── AGUI/                          # AG-UI protocol samples
│   ├── DeclarativeAgents/             # Declarative agent definitions
│   ├── DevUI/                         # DevUI samples
│   ├── AgentsWithFoundry/             # Microsoft Foundry samples (FoundryAgent + AsAIAgent extensions)
│   └── ModelContextProtocol/          # MCP server/client patterns
├── 03-workflows/                      # Workflow patterns
│   ├── _StartHere/                    # Introductory workflow samples
│   ├── Agents/                        # Agents in workflows
│   ├── Checkpoint/                    # Checkpointing & resume
│   ├── Concurrent/                    # Concurrent execution
│   ├── ConditionalEdges/              # Conditional routing
│   ├── Declarative/                   # YAML-based workflows
│   ├── HumanInTheLoop/                # HITL patterns
│   ├── Loop/                          # Loop patterns
│   ├── Observability/                 # Workflow telemetry
│   ├── SharedStates/                  # State isolation
│   └── Visualization/                 # Workflow visualization
├── 04-hosting/                        # Deployment & hosting
│   ├── A2A/                           # Agent-to-Agent protocol
│   └── DurableAgents/                 # Durable task framework
│       ├── AzureFunctions/            #   Azure Functions hosting
│       └── ConsoleApps/               #   Console app hosting
├── 05-end-to-end/                     # Complete applications
│   ├── A2AClientServer/               # A2A client/server demo
│   ├── AgentWebChat/                  # Aspire-based web chat
│   ├── AgentWithPurview/              # Purview integration
│   ├── AGUIClientServer/              # AG-UI client/server demo
│   ├── AGUIWebChat/                   # AG-UI web chat
│   ├── HostedAgents/                  # Hosted agent scenarios
│   └── M365Agent/                     # Microsoft 365 agent

Design principles

  1. Progressive complexity: Sections 01→05 build from "hello world" to production. Within 01-get-started, projects are numbered 01–06 and each step adds exactly one concept.

  2. One concept per project in 01-get-started. Each step is a standalone C# project with a single Program.cs file.

  3. Workflows preserved: 03-workflows/ keeps the upstream folder names intact. Do not rename or restructure workflow samples.

  4. Per-project structure: Each sample is a separate .csproj. Shared build configuration is inherited from Directory.Build.props.

Default provider

All canonical samples (01-get-started) use Azure OpenAI via AzureOpenAIClient with DefaultAzureCredential:

using Azure.AI.OpenAI;
using Azure.Identity;
using Microsoft.Agents.AI;
using OpenAI.Chat;

var endpoint = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT is not set.");
var deploymentName = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT_NAME") ?? "gpt-5.4-mini";

// WARNING: DefaultAzureCredential is convenient for development but requires careful consideration in production.
// In production, consider using a specific credential (e.g., ManagedIdentityCredential) to avoid
// latency issues, unintended credential probing, and potential security risks from fallback mechanisms.
AIAgent agent = new AzureOpenAIClient(new Uri(endpoint), new DefaultAzureCredential())
    .GetChatClient(deploymentName)
    .AsAIAgent(instructions: "...", name: "...");

Environment variables:

  • AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT — Your Azure OpenAI endpoint
  • AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT_NAME — Model deployment name (defaults to gpt-5.4-mini)

For authentication, run az login before running samples.

Snippet tags for docs integration

Samples embed named snippet regions for future :::code integration:

// <snippet_name>
code here
// </snippet_name>

Building and running

All samples use project references to the framework source. To build and run:

cd dotnet/samples/01-get-started/01_hello_agent
dotnet run

Current API notes

  • AIAgent is the primary agent abstraction (created via ChatClient.AsAIAgent(...))
  • AgentSession manages multi-turn conversation state
  • AIContextProvider injects memory and context
  • Prefer client.GetChatClient(deployment).AsAIAgent(...) extension method pattern
  • Azure Functions hosting uses ConfigureDurableAgents(options => options.AddAIAgent(agent))
  • Workflows use WorkflowBuilder with Executor<TIn, TOut> and edge connections