Azure OpenAI’s v1 API: Ditch the Azure-Specific Boilerplate, Keep the Enterprise Power

TL;DR Starting in August 2025, Azure OpenAI’s new v1 API removes the need to specify API versions each month , and enables OpenAI client support with minimal code changes to swap between OpenAI and Azure OpenAI when using key-based authentication . If you’re tired of maintaining Azure-specific clients and versioning headaches, this is your escape hatch.

The Problem: Azure Friction

For years, Azure OpenAI developers faced an annoying tax. Previously, Azure OpenAI received monthly updates of new API versions, and taking advantage of new features required constantly updating code and environment variables with each new API release, plus the extra step of using Azure specific clients which created overhead when migrating code between OpenAI and Azure OpenAI .

Translation: You’d ship code with AzureOpenAI() client, lock in an api-version like 2024-10-21, and then six months later, when OpenAI ships GPT-6-turbo-deluxe, you’d be scrambling to update your environment variables and test the new version. Fun times.

The Solution: v1 API

The new v1 API adds support for ongoing access to the latest features with no need to specify new api-version’s each month, and offers a faster API release cycle with new features launching more frequently .

Here’s the magic: you can now use the standard OpenAI Python client instead of the Azure-specific one. Watch this:

import os
from openai import OpenAI

# That's right—just OpenAI(), not AzureOpenAI()
client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://YOUR-RESOURCE-NAME.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4",  # No api-version parameter needed
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, Azure!"}]
)

No api_version parameter. No Azure-specific imports. api-version is no longer a required parameter with the v1 GA API .

Why This Matters for .NET Developers

If you’re running .NET, the implications are equally clean. The v1 API adds automatic token refresh support to the OpenAI() client, removing the dependency previously handled through the AzureOpenAI() client . This means:

Simpler dependency injection: One fewer Azure-specific NuGet package to manage.
Easier testing: Mock the standard OpenAI client instead of wrestling with Azure-specific abstractions.
Future-proof migrations: If your org ever moves to a different LLM provider (Claude on Azure, Mistral, etc.), your client code doesn’t need to change.

The Catch: Feature Parity Isn’t Complete (Yet)

The v1 API accepts both https://YOUR-RESOURCE-NAME.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/ and https://YOUR-RESOURCE-NAME.services.ai.azure.com/openai/v1/ formats, and the Responses API also works with Foundry Models sold directly by Azure, such as Microsoft AI, DeepSeek, and Grok models . However, for the initial v1 Generally Available (GA) API launch, only a subset of the inference and authoring API capabilities are supported, though all GA features are supported for use in production and Microsoft is rapidly adding support for more capabilities .

Translation: If you’re using bleeding-edge preview features, you might still need the older API version temporarily. But for core chat completions, embeddings, and fine-tuning? You’re golden.

Practical Next Steps

Update your base URL to include /openai/v1/ (note the trailing slash).
Swap your client from AzureOpenAI() to the standard OpenAI().
Remove api_version from your code—it’s ignored now.
Test thoroughly in dev/staging first (as always).

Azure OpenAI's v1 API: Ditch the Azure-Specific Boilerplate, Keep the Enterprise Power