Microsoft Azure VirtualMachineImageTemplate
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For Agents
Defines and runs Azure VM Image Builder templates so agents can produce custom Managed Images, Shared Image Gallery versions, or VHDs from a scripted build pipeline.
Use for: Create a VM image template with a shell customizer that installs nginx, Trigger a build of the 'web-baseline' image template, List run outputs for the latest build of my image template, Distribute the built image to a Shared Image Gallery in westeurope
Not supported: Does not provision VMs, manage disks, or configure networking — use the Compute, Disk, and Network management APIs for those; this API only defines and runs imageTemplate resources.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for VirtualMachineImageTemplate, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Azure VM Image Builder API (Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages) lets agents define imageTemplate resources that describe a source image, a list of customizers (shell, PowerShell, Windows-update, file copy), and one or more distribute targets (Managed Image, Shared Image Gallery, VHD). Once the template is created, agents trigger a build via the run action, list runOutputs to inspect generated artefacts, and use the resulting images to provision standardised VM fleets. Authentication uses Azure Active Directory OAuth 2.0.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the VirtualMachineImageTemplate to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the VirtualMachineImageTemplate, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with VirtualMachineImageTemplate API.
Create an imageTemplate that customises a source Marketplace, Managed, or Platform image with shell, PowerShell, or Windows-update steps
Distribute a built image to a Managed Image, Shared Image Gallery version, or VHD blob target in a single template
Trigger a build of a defined imageTemplate via the run action and produce a versioned artefact in the configured distribute targets
List runOutputs of a template to retrieve the resource IDs and locations of every distributed artefact for downstream provisioning
List imageTemplates by subscription or resource group to inventory active and successful image pipelines
Update the customizer or distribute lists on an existing imageTemplate to evolve the build without recreating it
Delete an imageTemplate when its image lineage is retired so the resource group stays tidy
Use Cases
Patterns agents use VirtualMachineImageTemplate API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Golden image pipeline for a VM fleet
Platform teams maintaining a standardised VM fleet need a reproducible golden image that includes patched OS, agents, and baseline configuration. The agent creates an imageTemplate that pulls an Ubuntu 20.04 LTS source, runs a shell customizer to install the monitoring agent and harden SSH, and distributes the result to a Shared Image Gallery version. Triggering the run action builds the image; subsequent VM Scale Sets use the gallery version directly.
Create imageTemplate 'web-baseline' in resource group 'images-rg' with source=PlatformImage Canonical UbuntuServer 20_04-lts latest, a shell customizer running 'apt-get update && apt-get install -y nginx', and distribute=SharedImage to gallery '/subscriptions/.../galleries/myGallery/images/web' version 1.0.0; then POST the run action.
Windows patched image refresh
A Windows VM fleet needs monthly patched images. The agent updates an existing imageTemplate to use the latest Windows Server source, ensures a windows-update customizer is present, and triggers a new run. The runOutputs endpoint returns the new gallery image version, which downstream Scale Set updates can consume to roll out patches without provisioning ad hoc VMs first.
Update imageTemplate 'win-baseline' to a newer source image, POST run, then poll GET /runOutputs until lastRunStatus.runState=Succeeded and return the distributed image versionId.
Per-region distribute fan-out
Multi-region deployments need an image present in each region's Shared Image Gallery. Agents define a single imageTemplate whose distribute array contains one SharedImage entry per target gallery and region. A single run produces image versions in every region in parallel, replacing fragile per-region scripts and keeping image lineage consistent.
Create imageTemplate 'multi-region-web' with three distribute SharedImage entries pointing at galleries in westeurope, eastus, and southeastasia; trigger run; list runOutputs and return the three resulting image version IDs.
Agent-driven image build via Jentic
An ops agent fielding 'rebuild the golden image with the latest CVE patch' can chain image-template update, run, and runOutputs queries through Jentic. Jentic exposes each operation with its input schema and handles the AAD bearer token from the vault, so the agent only needs to compose the customizer and distribute payload and watch for completion.
Search Jentic for 'run azure vm image template', execute POST run on imageTemplate 'web-baseline' in 'images-rg', then poll GET runOutputs until Succeeded and return the new image version.
Key Endpoints
10 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for virtualmachineimagetemplate, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates
List image templates in the subscription
PUT
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}
Create or update an image template
POST
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}/run
Trigger a build of the image template
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}/runOutputs
List the artefacts produced by the latest run
DELETE
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}
Delete an image template
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates
List image templates in the subscription
PUT
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}
Create or update an image template
POST
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}/run
Trigger a build of the image template
GET
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}/runOutputs
List the artefacts produced by the latest run
DELETE
/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{imageTemplateName}
Delete an image template
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Azure AD client credentials live encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents see only a scoped OAuth bearer token at call time so the secret used to drive long image builds never leaks into agent prompts or build logs.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic with intents like 'create azure vm image template' or 'run azure image builder' and Jentic returns the matching Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages operation with the imageTemplate JSON schema (source, customize, distribute) ready to populate.
Time to first call
Direct ARM integration: 2-3 days for MSAL setup, image-template schema understanding, and async run polling. Through Jentic: under 1 hour.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using VirtualMachineImageTemplate API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for VirtualMachineImageTemplate?
Microsoft Azure does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call VirtualMachineImageTemplate via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up .
What authentication does the VirtualMachineImageTemplate API use?
Azure Active Directory OAuth 2.0 with the user_impersonation scope against https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/authorize. Through Jentic the AAD client secret stays encrypted in the vault and the agent only ever sees a scoped bearer token at execution time.
Can I trigger an image build with the VirtualMachineImageTemplate API?
Yes. POST /subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.VirtualMachineImages/imageTemplates/{name}/run starts a build. The operation is long-running; poll the imageTemplate's lastRunStatus.runState or the operation status URL until it reaches Succeeded or Failed.
What are the rate limits for the VirtualMachineImageTemplate API?
Calls go through Azure Resource Manager, subject to the standard ARM read and write throttling envelope. Image build durations themselves depend on customizers and source image; they are not rate-limited but are bounded by the buildTimeoutInMinutes you configure on the template.
How do I distribute a built image to a Shared Image Gallery through Jentic?
Run pip install jentic, then client.search('create azure vm image template'), client.load on the returned PUT, and client.execute with distribute containing a SharedImage entry pointing at the gallery image resource ID and version. Then call client.search('run azure vm image template') and execute the POST run action.
Can I use a custom Managed Image as the source for an imageTemplate?
Yes. Set source.type=ManagedImage and source.imageId to the resource ID of the existing Managed Image. PlatformImage and SharedImageVersion are also valid source types in the spec.
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