01 - Run Locally (Consumption)¶

Run the sample Azure Functions Python app on your machine before deploying to the Consumption (Y1) plan. This track uses Linux shell examples; the same workflow works on Windows with equivalent commands.

Prerequisites¶

Tool	Version	Purpose
Python	3.11+	Local runtime for the function code
Azure Functions Core Tools	v4	Start the local host and publish later
Azure CLI	2.61+	Provision and configure Azure resources
Azurite (optional)	latest	Local Storage emulator for triggers and bindings

Consumption plan basics

Consumption (Y1) is serverless with scale-to-zero, up to 200 instances, 1.5 GB memory per instance, and a default 5-minute timeout (max 10 minutes).

What You'll Build¶

You will run the Python Functions app locally from apps/python, load local settings, and verify the health endpoint responds from the local Functions host.

Infrastructure Context

Plan: Consumption (Y1) — Network: Public internet only (no VNet support)

This tutorial runs locally - no Azure resources are created.

flowchart LR
    DEV["Local Machine"] --> HOST["Functions Host :7071"]
    HOST --> AZURITE["Azurite Local Storage"]

flowchart LR
    A[Activate Python venv] --> B["Install deps from apps/python/requirements.txt"]
    B --> C[Copy local settings example]
    C --> D["Start Functions host in apps/python"]
    D --> E["Test /api/health locally"]

Steps¶

Step 1 - Create and activate a virtual environment¶

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install --requirement apps/python/requirements.txt

Step 2 - Create local settings¶

cp apps/python/local.settings.json.example apps/python/local.settings.json

Update apps/python/local.settings.json with these baseline values:

{
  "IsEncrypted": false,
  "Values": {
    "FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME": "python",
    "AzureWebJobsStorage": "UseDevelopmentStorage=true"
  }
}

AzureWebJobsStorage can be a connection string (common for Consumption) or identity-based settings in Azure; both are supported.

Step 3 - Start Azurite (optional but recommended)¶

azurite --silent --location /tmp/azurite --debug /tmp/azurite/debug.log

Step 4 - Start the Functions host¶

cd apps/python && func start

Step 5 - Call an endpoint from another terminal¶

curl --request GET "http://localhost:7071/api/health"

Verification¶

Host start output:

Azure Functions Core Tools
Core Tools Version:       4.x.x
Function Runtime Version: 4.x.x.x

Functions:

    health: [GET] http://localhost:7071/api/health
    info: [GET] http://localhost:7071/api/info

HTTP response example:

{"status":"healthy","timestamp":"2026-04-03T09:00:00Z","version":"1.0.0"}

Next Steps¶

You now have local parity and can deploy to Azure Consumption (Y1).

Next: 02 - First Deploy