models-selector

name

models-selector

description

Select Microsoft Foundry models and regions, then configure azd environment variables (AZURE_LOCATION and AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS). Use when the user wants to choose, compare, or deploy AI models in Azure, set model deployments for azd provisioning, pick a region for AI workloads, or configure which models to deploy in their Azure AI Foundry project. Also use when user mentions model selection, model availability, region selection for AI, or azd env set for models.

Foundry Models Selector

Configure AZURE_LOCATION and AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS azd environment variables by selecting the right models and regions for the user's needs.

Preferred Models by Task & Modality

Use this section to recommend models based on what the user needs. Always suggest the best-fit model first, then offer alternatives.

Chat & General Purpose (Text In / Text Out)

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	gpt-5-mini	OpenAI	2025-08-07	Best balance of capability, speed, and cost. No registration required.
Strong	gpt-4.1-mini	OpenAI	2025-04-14	Fast, cheap, 1M token context, great for most tasks.
Strong	gpt-5-nano	OpenAI	2025-08-07	Cheapest GPT-5 series. No registration required.
Premium	gpt-5	OpenAI	2025-08-07	Top-tier reasoning. Registration required.
Premium	gpt-5.1	OpenAI	2025-11-13	Latest reasoning model. Registration required.
Alt	DeepSeek-V3.2	DeepSeek	1	Strong open-weight alternative. All regions.
Alt	Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8	Meta	1	Open-weight, 1M context, multimodal. All regions.

Advanced Reasoning & Complex Problem Solving

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	o4-mini	OpenAI	2025-04-16	Best reasoning-to-cost ratio.
Strong	o3	OpenAI	2025-04-16	Stronger reasoning, higher cost.
Strong	DeepSeek-R1-0528	DeepSeek	1	Open-weight reasoning model. All regions.
Premium	gpt-5	OpenAI	2025-08-07	Full GPT-5 reasoning. Registration required.
Premium	gpt-5.1	OpenAI	2025-11-13	Latest reasoning. Registration required.
Alt	grok-4-fast-reasoning	xAI	1	External reasoning alternative. All regions.
Alt	Kimi-K2-Thinking	Moonshot	1	Open-weight, 262K context, tool calling. All regions.

Coding & Development

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	gpt-4.1	OpenAI	2025-04-14	1M token context, great for large codebases.
Strong	gpt-4.1-mini	OpenAI	2025-04-14	Cost-efficient coding with large context.
Strong	codex-mini	OpenAI	2025-05-16	Fine-tuned o4-mini for code. East US 2 & Sweden Central only.
Alt	grok-code-fast-1	xAI	1	External coding specialist. Registration required.
Alt	DeepSeek-V3.2	DeepSeek	1	Strong coding performance, all regions.

Multimodal (Text + Image Input)

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	gpt-5-mini	OpenAI	2025-08-07	Vision + text, cost-efficient.
Strong	gpt-4.1	OpenAI	2025-04-14	1M context with vision.
Strong	o4-mini	OpenAI	2025-04-16	Vision + reasoning.
Alt	Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8	Meta	1	Open-weight multimodal, 1M context.
Alt	Kimi-K2.5	Moonshot	1	Multimodal reasoning. All regions.

Embeddings

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	text-embedding-3-large	OpenAI	1	Best quality embeddings, 3072 dimensions.
Smaller	text-embedding-3-small	OpenAI	1	Cheaper, 1536 dimensions.
Legacy	text-embedding-ada-002	OpenAI	2	Older model, still widely used.

Image Generation

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	gpt-image-1	OpenAI	1	Best quality. Registration required. Limited regions.
Alt	dall-e-3	OpenAI	3.0	Generally available. East US, Australia East, Sweden Central.
Alt	FLUX.2-pro	BlackForestLabs	1	Multi-reference support. All regions.

Document Processing

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	mistral-document-ai-2505	MistralAI	1	PDF/image to text specialist. All regions.

Cost-Optimized Routing

Priority	Model	Format	Version	Why
Best	model-router	Microsoft	2025-11-18	Automatically routes to optimal model. Up to 60% savings. East US 2 & Sweden Central only.

How to Set Environment Variables

Set Azure Location

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "<region>"

Example:

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"

Set Model Deployments

azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'<deployment-name>', 'model': {'name': '<model-name>','format': '<format>', 'version':'<version>'},'sku': {'name': '<sku-name>','capacity':<capacity>}}]"

Single model example:

azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-5-mini', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-5-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-08-07'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}]"

Multiple models example:

azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-4.1-mini', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-4.1-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-04-14'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}, {'name':'DeepSeek-V3.2', 'model': {'name': 'DeepSeek-V3.2','format': 'DeepSeek', 'version':'1'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}]"

Deployment Entry Format

Each deployment entry in the JSON array:

{
  'name': '<deployment-name>',        # Deployment name (typically same as model name)
  'model': {
    'name': '<model-name>',           # Exact model name from tables below
    'format': '<format>',             # Provider format (see Model Catalog)
    'version': '<version>'            # Model version string
  },
  'sku': {
    'name': '<sku-name>',             # Usually 'GlobalStandard'
    'capacity': <number>              # TPM in thousands (e.g., 100 = 100K TPM)
  }
}

Model Catalog

Azure OpenAI Models (format: OpenAI)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
gpt-5.2-codex	2026-01-14	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning, Codex)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.2	2025-12-11	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.2-chat	2025-12-11	Text→Text (Preview)	128K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.1	2025-11-13	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.1-chat	2025-11-13	Text→Text (Preview, Reasoning)	128K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.1-codex	2025-11-13	Text+Image→Text (Codex)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.1-codex-mini	2025-11-13	Text+Image→Text (Codex)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5.1-codex-max	2025-12-04	Text+Image→Text (Codex)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5	2025-08-07	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5-mini	2025-08-07	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5-nano	2025-08-07	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning)	400K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5-chat	2025-10-03	Text+Image→Text (Preview)	128K	GlobalStandard
gpt-5-codex

Azure OpenAI OSS Models (format: OpenAI-OSS)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
gpt-oss-120b	1	Text→Text (Reasoning, Preview)	131K	GlobalStandard

DeepSeek Models (format: DeepSeek)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale	1	Text→Text (Reasoning)	128K	GlobalStandard
DeepSeek-V3.2	1	Text→Text (Reasoning)	128K	GlobalStandard
DeepSeek-V3.1	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	131K	GlobalStandard
DeepSeek-V3-0324	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	131K	GlobalStandard
DeepSeek-R1-0528	1	Text→Text (Reasoning)	163K	GlobalStandard
DeepSeek-R1	1	Text→Text (Reasoning)	163K	GlobalStandard

Meta Models (format: Meta)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8	1	Text+Image→Text	1M	GlobalStandard
Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct	1	Text→Text	128K	GlobalStandard

Microsoft Models (format: Microsoft)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
model-router	2025-11-18	Text+Image→Text (Auto-routing)	200K	GlobalStandard
MAI-DS-R1	1	Text→Text (Reasoning)	163K	GlobalStandard

Mistral Models (format: MistralAI)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
Mistral-Large-3	1	Text+Image→Text (Tool calling)	-	GlobalStandard
mistral-document-ai-2505	1	Image/PDF→Text	-	GlobalStandard

Cohere Models (format: Cohere)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
Cohere-command-a	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	131K	GlobalStandard
Cohere-rerank-v4.0-pro	1	Text→Text (Rerank)	-	GlobalStandard
Cohere-rerank-v4.0-fast	1	Text→Text (Rerank)	-	GlobalStandard
embed-v-4-0	1	Text+Image→Embedding	512	GlobalStandard

Moonshot AI Models (format: Moonshot)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
Kimi-K2.5	1	Text+Image→Text (Reasoning, Tool calling)	262K	GlobalStandard
Kimi-K2-Thinking	1	Text→Text (Reasoning, Tool calling)	262K	GlobalStandard

xAI Models (format: xAI)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
grok-4	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	262K	GlobalStandard
grok-4-fast-reasoning	1	Text+Image→Text (Tool calling)	128K	GlobalStandard
grok-4-fast-non-reasoning	1	Text+Image→Text (Tool calling)	128K	GlobalStandard
grok-code-fast-1	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	256K	GlobalStandard
grok-3	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	131K	GlobalStandard
grok-3-mini	1	Text→Text (Tool calling)	131K	GlobalStandard

Black Forest Labs Models (format: BlackForestLabs)

Model Name	Version	Modality	Context	SKU
FLUX.2-pro	1	Text+Image→Image	-	GlobalStandard
FLUX.1-Kontext-pro	1	Text+Image→Image	-	GlobalStandard
FLUX-1.1-pro	1	Text→Image	-	GlobalStandard

Region Availability

Regions with Maximum Azure OpenAI Model Coverage

These regions have the broadest model availability. Prefer these when needing the widest selection:

Region	Azure ID	Coverage
East US 2	eastus2	All models — Best overall coverage. Has every Azure OpenAI model + audio + image + video + codex.
Sweden Central	swedencentral	Near-complete — All core models + audio + image + video. Missing only a few niche models vs East US 2.
Central US	centralus	Good coverage — GPT-5 series, GPT-4.1, o-series, plus some audio models.

Regions with Good Azure OpenAI Coverage

These regions support all mainstream models (GPT-5-mini/nano, GPT-4.1 series, o-series, GPT-4o, embeddings):

Region	Azure ID
Australia East	australiaeast
Canada East	canadaeast
Japan East	japaneast
Korea Central	koreacentral
UK South	uksouth
Switzerland North	switzerlandnorth
South India	southindia

Regions with Standard Azure OpenAI Coverage

Support GPT-4.1 series, o-series, GPT-4o, embeddings, but fewer GPT-5 variants:

Region	Azure ID
Brazil South	brazilsouth
East US	eastus
France Central	francecentral
Germany West Central	germanywestcentral
Italy North	italynorth
North Central US	northcentralus
Norway East	norwayeast
Poland Central	polandcentral
South Africa North	southafricanorth
South Central US	southcentralus
Spain Central	spaincentral
UAE North	uaenorth
West Europe	westeurope
West US	westus
West US 3	westus3

Non-Azure-OpenAI Models (DeepSeek, Meta, Cohere, xAI, Mistral, Moonshot, Black Forest Labs)

Most non-OpenAI models sold directly by Azure are available in all Global Standard regions listed above. Notable exceptions:

• Mistral-Large-3: West US 3 only
• model-router: East US 2 and Sweden Central only
• codex-mini, o3-pro: East US 2 and Sweden Central only

Registration-Required Models

These models require application approval before use:

• gpt-5, gpt-5-pro, gpt-5-codex, gpt-5.1, gpt-5.1-codex, gpt-5.1-codex-max, gpt-5.2, gpt-5.2-codex
• computer-use-preview
• gpt-image-1, gpt-image-1-mini, gpt-image-1.5
• grok-code-fast-1, grok-4

Models not requiring registration: gpt-5-mini, gpt-5-nano, gpt-5-chat, gpt-4.1 series, o4-mini, o3, all DeepSeek, Meta, Cohere, Moonshot, and most xAI models.

Workflow

1. Ask the user what task/modality they need (chat, reasoning, coding, embeddings, image gen, etc.)
2. Recommend models from "Preferred Models by Task" section above
3. Confirm which region works for them (suggest eastus2 or swedencentral for maximum coverage)
4. Confirm capacity needs (default to 100 for chat models, 30 for embedding models)
5. Run the azd env set commands:

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "<selected-region>"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[<deployment-entries>]"

Quick-Start Examples

Basic Chat App

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-5-mini', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-5-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-08-07'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}]"

RAG Application (Chat + Embeddings)

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-5-mini', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-5-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-08-07'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}, {'name':'text-embedding-3-large', 'model': {'name': 'text-embedding-3-large','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'1'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':30}}]"

Coding Agent

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-4.1', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-4.1','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-04-14'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}, {'name':'o4-mini', 'model': {'name': 'o4-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-04-16'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':50}}]"

Multi-Provider Setup

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'gpt-4.1-mini', 'model': {'name': 'gpt-4.1-mini','format': 'OpenAI', 'version':'2025-04-14'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}, {'name':'DeepSeek-R1-0528', 'model': {'name': 'DeepSeek-R1-0528','format': 'DeepSeek', 'version':'1'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}]"

Cost-Optimized with Model Router

azd env set AZURE_LOCATION "eastus2"
azd env set AI_PROJECT_DEPLOYMENTS "[{'name':'model-router', 'model': {'name': 'model-router','format': 'Microsoft', 'version':'2025-11-18'},'sku': {'name': 'GlobalStandard','capacity':100}}]"

Reference Links

• Azure OpenAI models
• Other model collections (DeepSeek, Meta, xAI, etc.)
• Deployment types
• Azure OpenAI pricing