Apply tags with Python

Article
03/18/2024

This article describes how to use Python to tag resources, resource groups, and subscriptions. For tag recommendations and limitations, see Use tags to organize your Azure resources and management hierarchy.

Prerequisites

Python 3.8 or later installed. To install the latest, see Python.org
The following Azure library packages for Python installed in your virtual environment. To install any of the packages, use pip install {package-name}
- azure-identity
- azure-mgmt-resource
If you have older versions of these packages already installed in your virtual environment, you may need to update them with pip install --upgrade {package-name}
The examples in this article use CLI-based authentication (AzureCliCredential). Depending on your environment, you may need to run az login first to authenticate.
An environment variable with your Azure subscription ID. To get your Azure subscription ID, use:
```
az account show --name 'your subscription name' --query id -o tsv
```
To set the value, use the option for your environment.
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
```
setx AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID your-subscription-id
```
Note

If you only need to access the environment variable in the current running console, you can set the environment variable with set instead of setx.

After you add the environment variables, you may need to restart any running programs that will need to read the environment variable, including the console window. For example, if you're using Visual Studio as your editor, restart Visual Studio before running the example.
```
export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=your-subscription-id
```
After you add the environment variables, run source ~/.bashrc from your console window to make the changes effective.
Bash

Edit your .bash_profile, and add the environment variables:
```
export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=your-subscription-id
```
After you add the environment variables, run source ~/.bash_profile from your console window to make the changes effective.

Apply tags

Azure Python offers the ResourceManagementClient.tags.begin_create_or_update_at_scope method to apply tags. It replaces all tags on the resource, resource group, or subscription. When you call the command, pass the resource ID of the entity you want to tag.

The following example applies a set of tags to a storage account:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostore"

tags = {
    "Dept": "Finance",
    "Status": "Normal"
}

tag_resource = TagsResource(
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_client.tags.begin_create_or_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_resource.properties.tags} were added to resource with ID: {resource.id}")

If you run the command again, but this time with different tags, notice that the earlier tags disappear.

tags = {
    "Team": "Compliance",
    "Environment": "Production"
}

To add tags to a resource that already has tags, use ResourceManagementClient.tags.begin_update_at_scope. On the TagsPatchResource object, set the operation parameter to Merge.

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostore"

tags = {
    "Dept": "Finance",
    "Status": "Normal"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Merge",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were added to existing tags on resource with ID: {resource.id}")

Notice that the existing tags grow with the addition of the two new tags.

Each tag name can have only one value. If you provide a new value for a tag, it replaces the old value even if you use the merge operation. The following example changes the Status tag from Normal to Green.

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostore"

tags = {
    "Status": "Green"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Merge",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were added to existing tags on resource with ID: {resource.id}")

When you set the operation parameter to Replace, the new set of tags replaces the existing tags.

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostore"

tags = {
    "Project": "ECommerce",
    "CostCenter": "00123",
    "Team": "Web"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Replace",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} replaced tags on resource with ID: {resource.id}")

Only the new tags remain on the resource.

The same commands also work with resource groups or subscriptions. Pass them in the identifier of the resource group or subscription you want to tag. To add a new set of tags to a resource group, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"

tags = {
    "Dept": "Finance",
    "Status": "Normal"
}

tag_resource = TagsResource(
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource_group = resource_client.resource_groups.get(resource_group_name)

resource_client.tags.begin_create_or_update_at_scope(resource_group.id, tag_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_resource.properties.tags} were added to resource group: {resource_group.id}")

To update the tags for a resource group, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"

tags = {
    "CostCenter": "00123",
    "Environment": "Production"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Merge",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource_group = resource_client.resource_groups.get(resource_group_name)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource_group.id, tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were added to existing tags on resource group: {resource_group.id}")

To update the tags for a subscription, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

tags = {
    "Team": "Web Apps"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Merge",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}", tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were added to subscription: {subscription_id}")

You may have more than one resource with the same name in a resource group. In that case, you can set each resource with the following commands:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"

tags = {
    "Dept": "IT",
    "Environment": "Test"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Merge",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resources = resource_client.resources.list_by_resource_group(resource_group_name, filter="name eq 'sqlDatabase1'")

for resource in resources:
    resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_patch_resource)
    print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were added to resource: {resource.id}")

To get the tags for a resource, resource group, or subscription, use the ResourceManagementClient.tags.get_at_scope method and pass the resource ID of the entity.

To see the tags for a resource, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostorage"

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_tags = resource_client.tags.get_at_scope(resource.id)
print (resource_tags.properties.tags)

To see the tags for a resource group, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group = resource_client.resource_groups.get("demoGroup")

resource_group_tags = resource_client.tags.get_at_scope(resource_group.id)
print (resource_group_tags.properties.tags)

To see the tags for a subscription, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

subscription_tags = resource_client.tags.get_at_scope(f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}")
print (subscription_tags.properties.tags)

List by tag

To get resources that have a specific tag name and value, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resources = resource_client.resources.list(filter="tagName eq 'CostCenter' and tagValue eq '00123'")

for resource in resources:
    print(resource.name)

To get resources that have a specific tag name with any tag value, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resources = resource_client.resources.list(filter="tagName eq 'Dept'")

for resource in resources:
    print(resource.name)

To get resource groups that have a specific tag name and value, use:

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_groups = resource_client.resource_groups.list(filter="tagName eq 'CostCenter' and tagValue eq '00123'")

for resource_group in resource_groups:
    print(resource_group.name)

Remove tags

To remove specific tags, set operation to Delete. Pass the resource IDs of the tags you want to delete.

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models import TagsPatchResource

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

resource_group_name = "demoGroup"
storage_account_name = "demostore"

tags = {
    "Dept": "IT",
    "Environment": "Test"
}

tag_patch_resource = TagsPatchResource(
    operation="Delete",
    properties={'tags': tags}
)

resource = resource_client.resources.get_by_id(
    f"/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/resourceGroups/{resource_group_name}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storage_account_name}",
    "2022-09-01"
)

resource_client.tags.begin_update_at_scope(resource.id, tag_patch_resource)

print(f"Tags {tag_patch_resource.properties.tags} were removed from resource: {resource.id}")

The specified tags are removed.

To remove all tags, use the ResourceManagementClient.tags.begin_delete_at_scope method.

import os
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient

credential = AzureCliCredential()
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]

resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

subscription = resource_client.subscriptions.get(subscription_id)

resource_client.tags.begin_delete_at_scope(subscription.id)

Next steps

Not all resource types support tags. To determine if you can apply a tag to a resource type, see Tag support for Azure resources.
For tag recommendations and limitations, see Use tags to organize your Azure resources and management hierarchy.