Azure Bicep RPC Client

A Node.js library for programmatically interacting with the Bicep CLI via JSON-RPC.

Getting started

Install the package

npm install @azure/bicep-rpc-client

Initialize the client

Bicep.install() downloads the Bicep CLI (if needed) and returns its path. By default, pass a directory such as os.tmpdir() or ~/.bicep as the base path. Then call Bicep.initialize() to open a JSON-RPC connection.

import os from 'os';
import { Bicep } from '@azure/bicep-rpc-client';

const bicepPath = await Bicep.install(os.tmpdir());
const bicep = await Bicep.initialize(bicepPath);

// ... use bicep ...

bicep.dispose();

Pin a specific Bicep version

const bicepPath = await Bicep.install(os.tmpdir(), '0.38.5');

Use an existing Bicep installation

const bicep = await Bicep.initialize('/usr/local/bin/bicep');

Available operations

All methods are async and communicate with the Bicep CLI over JSON-RPC. Call bicep.dispose() when finished to close the connection.

compile

Compiles a .bicep file into an ARM template JSON string.

const result = await bicep.compile({ path: './main.bicep' });

if (result.success) {
  // result.contents contains the ARM template JSON
  console.log(result.contents);
}

compileParams

Compiles a .bicepparam file into ARM deployment parameters. You can optionally override parameter values.

const result = await bicep.compileParams({
  path: './main.bicepparam',
  parameterOverrides: {},
});

if (result.success) {
  console.log(result.parameters); // ARM parameters JSON
  console.log(result.template);   // ARM template JSON (if resolvable)
  // result.templateSpecId is set when the params file references a template spec
}

format

Formats a Bicep file according to the standard Bicep formatting rules. Requires Bicep CLI 0.37.0 or later.

const result = await bicep.format({ path: './main.bicep' });

fs.writeFileSync('./main.bicep', result.contents);

getMetadata

Retrieves parameters, outputs, exports, and file-level metadata from a Bicep file.

const result = await bicep.getMetadata({ path: './main.bicep' });

for (const param of result.parameters) {
  console.log(`param ${param.name}: ${param.type?.name} — ${param.description}`);
}

for (const output of result.outputs) {
  console.log(`output ${output.name}: ${output.type?.name}`);
}

for (const exp of result.exports) {
  console.log(`@export() ${exp.kind} ${exp.name}`);
}

for (const meta of result.metadata) {
  console.log(`metadata ${meta.name} = '${meta.value}'`);
}

getFileReferences

Returns all file paths referenced by a Bicep file — modules, loaded files, and the file itself.

const result = await bicep.getFileReferences({ path: './main.bicep' });

for (const filePath of result.filePaths) {
  console.log(filePath);
}

getDeploymentGraph

Returns the resource dependency graph for a Bicep file, useful for visualization.

const result = await bicep.getDeploymentGraph({ path: './main.bicep' });

for (const node of result.nodes) {
  const existing = node.isExisting ? ' (existing)' : '';
  console.log(`  ${node.name}: ${node.type}${existing}`);
}

for (const edge of result.edges) {
  console.log(`  ${edge.source} -> ${edge.target}`);
}

getSnapshot

Generates a snapshot of a .bicepparam file with Azure deployment context. Requires Bicep CLI 0.36.1 or later.

const result = await bicep.getSnapshot({
  path: './main.bicepparam',
  metadata: {
    tenantId: undefined,
    subscriptionId: '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000',
    resourceGroup: 'my-rg',
    location: 'eastus',
    deploymentName: 'my-deployment',
  },
  externalInputs: undefined,
});

console.log(result.snapshot);

version

Returns the version of the connected Bicep CLI.

const ver = await bicep.version();
console.log(`Bicep CLI version: ${ver}`);