Built-in connectors in Azure Logic Apps

Article
10/30/2023

Built-in connectors provide ways for you to control your workflow's schedule and structure, run your own code, manage or manipulate data, and complete other tasks in your workflows. Different from managed connectors, some built-in connectors aren't tied to a specific service, system, or protocol. For example, you can start almost any workflow on a schedule by using the Recurrence trigger. Or, you can have your workflow wait until called by using the Request trigger. All built-in connectors run natively on the Azure Logic Apps runtime. Some don't require that you create a connection before you use them.

For a smaller number of services, systems, and protocols, Azure Logic Apps provides a built-in version alongside the managed version. The number and range of built-in connectors vary based on whether you create a Consumption logic app workflow that runs in multi-tenant Azure Logic Apps or a Standard logic app workflow that runs in single-tenant Azure Logic Apps. In most cases, the built-in version provides better performance, capabilities, pricing, and so on. In a few cases, some built-in connectors are available only in one logic app workflow type and not the other.

For example, a Standard workflow can use both managed connectors and built-in connectors for Azure Blob, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Service Bus, DB2, FTP, MQ, SFTP, and SQL Server. A Consumption workflow doesn't have the built-in versions. A Consumption workflow can use built-in connectors for Azure API Management, Azure App Services, and Batch, while a Standard workflow doesn't have these built-in connectors.

Also, in Standard workflows, some built-in connectors with specific attributes are informally known as service providers. Some built-in connectors support only a single way to authenticate a connection to the underlying service. Other built-in connectors can offer a choice, such as using a connection string, Microsoft Entra ID, or a managed identity. All built-in connectors run in the same process as the Azure Logic Apps runtime. For more information, review Single-tenant versus multi-tenant.

This article provides a general overview about built-in connectors in Consumption workflows versus Standard workflows.

Built-in connectors in Consumption versus Standard

The following table lists the current and expanding galleries of built-in connectors available for Consumption versus Standard workflows. For Standard workflows, an asterisk (*) marks built-in connectors based on the service provider model, which is described in more detail later.

Consumption	Standard
Azure API Management Azure App Services Azure Functions Azure Logic Apps Batch Control Data Operations Date Time Flat File HTTP Inline Code Integration Account Liquid Request Schedule Variables XML	AS2 (v2) Azure Automation* Azure Blob* Azure Cosmos DB* Azure File Storage* Azure Functions Azure Queue* Azure Table Storage* Control Data Operations Date Time DB2* Event Hubs* Flat File FTP* HTTP IBM Host File* Inline Code Key Vault* Liquid operations MQ* Request Schedule Service Bus* SFTP* SMTP* SQL Server* Variables Workflow operations XML operations

Service provider-based built-in connectors

In Standard workflows, a built-in connector that has the following attributes is informally known as a service provider:

Is based on the Azure Functions extensibility model.
Provides access from a Standard workflow to a service, such as Azure Blob Storage, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Hubs, SFTP, and SQL Server.

Some built-in connectors support only a single way to authenticate a connection to the underlying service. Other built-in connectors can offer a choice, such as using a connection string, Microsoft Entra ID, or a managed identity.
Runs in the same process as the redesigned Azure Logic Apps runtime.

Service provider-based built-in connectors are available alongside their managed connector versions.

In contrast, a built-in connector that's not a service provider has the following attributes:

Isn't based on the Azure Functions extensibility model.
Is directly implemented as a job within the Azure Logic Apps runtime, such as Schedule, HTTP, Request, and XML operations.

Custom built-in connectors

For Standard workflows, you can create your own built-in connector with the same built-in connector extensibility model that's used by service provider-based built-in connectors, such as Azure Blob, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Service Bus, SQL Server, and more. This interface implementation is based on the Azure Functions extensibility model and provides the capability for you to create custom built-in connectors that anyone can use in Standard workflows.

For Consumption workflows, you can't create your own built-in connectors, but you create your own managed connectors.

For more information, review the following documentation:

General built-in connectors

You can use the following built-in connectors to perform general tasks, for example:

Run workflows using custom and advanced schedules. For more information about scheduling, review the Recurrence behavior for connectors in Azure Logic Apps.
Organize and control your workflow's structure, for example, using loops and conditions.
Work with variables, dates, data operations, content transformations, and batch operations.
Communicate with other endpoints using HTTP triggers and actions.
Receive and respond to requests.
Call your own functions (Azure Functions) or other Azure Logic Apps workflows that can receive requests, and so on.

Schedule

Recurrence: Trigger a workflow based on the specified recurrence.

Sliding Window
(Consumption workflow only):
Trigger a workflow that needs to handle data in continuous chunks.

Delay: Pause your workflow for the specified duration.

Delay until: Pause your workflow until the specified date and time.

HTTP

Call an HTTP or HTTPS endpoint by using either the HTTP trigger or action.

You can also use these other built-in HTTP triggers and actions:

Request

When a HTTP request is received: Wait for a request from another workflow, app, or service. This trigger makes your workflow callable without having to be checked or polled on a schedule.

Response: Respond to a request received by the When a HTTP request is received trigger in the same workflow.

Batch
(Consumption workflow only)

Batch messages: Trigger a workflow that processes messages in batches.

Send messages to batch: Call an existing workflow that currently starts with a Batch messages trigger.

FTP icon

FTP
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to FTP or FTPS servers that you can access from the internet so that you can work with your files and folders.

SFTP-SSH icon

SFTP
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to SFTP servers that you can access from the internet by using SSH so that you can work with your files and folders.

SMTP icon

SMTP
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to SMTP servers that you can send email.

Built-in connectors for specific services and systems

You can use the following built-in connectors to access specific services and systems. In Standard workflows, some of these built-in connectors are also informally known as service providers, which can differ from their managed connector counterparts in some ways.

Azure API Management
(Consumption workflow only)

Call your own triggers and actions in APIs that you define, manage, and publish using Azure API Management.

Note: Not supported when using Consumption tier for API Management.

Azure App Services
(Consumption workflow only)

Call apps that you create and host on Azure App Service, for example, API Apps and Web Apps.

When Swagger is included, the triggers and actions defined by these apps appear like any other first-class triggers and actions in Azure Logic Apps.

Azure Blob icon

Azure Blob
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to your Azure Blob Storage account so you can create and manage blob content.

Azure Cosmos DB icon

Azure Cosmos DB
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to Azure Cosmos DB so that you can access and manage Azure Cosmos DB documents.

Azure Event Hubs icon

Azure Event Hubs
(Standard workflow only)

Consume and publish events through an event hub. For example, get output from your workflow with Event Hubs, and then send that output to a real-time analytics provider.

Azure File Storage icon

Azure File Storage
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to your Azure Storage account so that you can create, update, and manage files.

Azure Functions

Call Azure-hosted functions to run your own code snippets (C# or Node.js) within your workflow.

Azure Key Vault icon

Azure Key Vault
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to Azure Key Vault to store, access, and manage secrets.

Azure Logic Apps
(Consumption workflow)

-or-

Workflow operations
(Standard workflow)

Call other workflows that start with the Request trigger named When a HTTP request is received.

Azure Service Bus
(Standard workflow only)

Manage asynchronous messages, queues, sessions, topics, and topic subscriptions.

Azure Table Storage icon

Azure Table Storage
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to your Azure Storage account so that you can create, update, query, and manage tables.

Azure Queue Storage
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to your Azure Storage account so that you can create, update, and manage queues.

IBM DB2 icon

IBM DB2
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to IBM DB2 in the cloud or on-premises. Update a row, get a table, and more.

IBM Host File icon

IBM Host File
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to IBM Host File and generate or parse contents.

IBM MQ icon

IBM MQ
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to IBM MQ on-premises or in Azure to send and receive messages.

SQL Server
(Standard workflow only)

Connect to your SQL Server on premises or an Azure SQL Database in the cloud so that you can manage records, run stored procedures, or perform queries.

Run code from workflows

Azure Logic Apps provides the following built-in actions for running your own code in your workflow:

Azure Functions

Call Azure-hosted functions to run your own code snippets (C# or Node.js) within your workflow.

Control workflow

Azure Logic Apps provides the following built-in actions for structuring and controlling the actions in your workflow:

Condition

Evaluate a condition and run different actions based on whether the condition is true or false.

For Each

Perform the same actions on every item in an array.

Scope action icon

Name

Group actions into scopes, which get their own status after the actions in the scope finish running.

Switch

Group actions into cases, which are assigned unique values except for the default case. Run only that case whose assigned value matches the result from an expression, object, or token. If no matches exist, run the default case.

Terminate

Stop an actively running workflow.

Until

Repeat actions until the specified condition is true or some state has changed.

Manage or manipulate data

Azure Logic Apps provides the following built-in actions for working with data outputs and their formats:

Data Operations

Perform operations with data.

Compose: Create a single output from multiple inputs with various types.

Create CSV table: Create a comma-separated-value (CSV) table from an array with JSON objects.

Create HTML table: Create an HTML table from an array with JSON objects.

Filter array: Create an array from items in another array that meet your criteria.

Join: Create a string from all items in an array and separate those items with the specified delimiter.

Parse JSON: Create user-friendly tokens from properties and their values in JSON content so that you can use those properties in your workflow.

Select: Create an array with JSON objects by transforming items or values in another array and mapping those items to specified properties.

Date Time action icon

Date Time

Perform operations with timestamps.

Add to time: Add the specified number of units to a timestamp.

Convert time zone: Convert a timestamp from the source time zone to the target time zone.

Current time: Return the current timestamp as a string.

Get future time: Return the current timestamp plus the specified time units.

Get past time: Return the current timestamp minus the specified time units.

Subtract from time: Subtract a number of time units from a timestamp.

Variables

Perform operations with variables.

Append to array variable: Insert a value as the last item in an array stored by a variable.

Append to string variable: Insert a value as the last character in a string stored by a variable.

Decrement variable: Decrease a variable by a constant value.

Increment variable: Increase a variable by a constant value.

Initialize variable: Create a variable and declare its data type and initial value.

Set variable: Assign a different value to an existing variable.

Integration account built-in connectors

Integration account operations support business-to-business (B2B) communication scenarios in Azure Logic Apps. After you create an integration account and define your B2B artifacts, such as trading partners, agreements, and others, you can use integration account built-in actions to encode and decode messages, transform content, and more.

Consumption workflows

Before you use any integration account operations in a workflow, link your logic app resource to your integration account.
Standard workflows

While most integration account operations don't require that you link your logic app resource to your integration account, linking lets you share artifacts across multiple Standard workflows and their child workflows. Based on the integration account operation that you want to use, complete one of the following steps before you use the operation:
- For operations that require maps or schemas, you can either:
  - Upload these artifacts to your logic app resource using the Azure portal or Visual Studio Code. You can then use these artifacts across all child workflows in the same logic app resource. For more information, review Add schemas to use with workflows in Azure Logic Apps and Add schemas to use with workflows in Azure Logic Apps.
  - Link your logic app resource to your integration account.
- For operations that require a connection to your integration account, create the connection when you add the operation to your workflow.

For more information, review the following documentation:

AS2 Decode (v2)
(Standard workflow only)

Decode messages received using the AS2 protocol.

AS2 Encode (v2)
(Standard workflow only)

Encode messages sent using the AS2 protocol.

Flat file decoding

Encode XML before sending the content to a trading partner.

Flat file encoding

Decode XML after receiving the content from a trading partner.

Integration Account Artifact Lookup
(Consumption workflow only)

Get custom metadata for artifacts, such as trading partners, agreements, schemas, and so on, in your integration account.