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Setting Up the Development Environment for Generative AI for Java

Quick Start: Provision your AI models on Azure AI Foundry as code with Bicep + azd in a few minutes — see the Azure AI Foundry Setup Guide. Authentication is keyless (Microsoft Entra ID), so there are no API keys to manage.

What You'll Learn

  • Set up a Java development environment for AI applications
  • Choose and configure your preferred development environment (cloud-first with Codespaces, local dev container, or full local setup)
  • Test your setup by connecting to an Azure AI Foundry model

Table of Contents

Introduction

This chapter will guide you through setting up a development environment. We'll use Azure AI Foundry for the models throughout this course. You provision the models as code with Bicep and the Azure Developer CLI (azd), then connect with keyless authentication (Microsoft Entra ID) — no API keys to copy or leak.

No local setup required! You can use GitHub Codespaces, which provides a full development environment in your browser, and provision Foundry from there.

We use Azure AI Foundry for this course because it's:

  • Provisioned as code — one azd up deploys the account and model deployments
  • Keyless — authenticate with your Azure sign-in or a managed identity
  • Production-ready — the same code runs locally and in Azure
  • Flexible — swap models by changing a deployment name, not your code

Note: Azure AI Foundry deployments are billed per token (pay-as-you-go). See the Azure AI Foundry setup guide for provisioning, region, and cost details.

Step 1: Set Up Your Development Environment

We've created a preconfigured development container to minimize setup time and ensure you have all the necessary tools for this Generative AI for Java course. Choose your preferred development approach:

Environment Setup Options:

Option A: GitHub Codespaces (Recommended)

Start coding in 2 minutes - no local setup required!

  1. Fork this repository to your GitHub account

    Note: If you want to edit the basic config please have a look at the Dev Container Configuration

  2. Click Code → Codespaces tab → ... → New with options...
  3. Use the defaults – this will select the Dev container configuration: Generative AI Java Development Environment custom devcontainer created for this course
  4. Click Create codespace
  5. Wait ~2 minutes for the environment to be ready
  6. Proceed to Step 2: Provision Azure AI Foundry

Screenshot: Codespaces submenu

Screenshot: New with options

Screenshot: Create codespace options

Benefits of Codespaces:

  • No local installation required
  • Works on any device with a browser
  • Pre-configured with all tools and dependencies
  • Free 60 hours per month for personal accounts
  • Consistent environment for all learners

Option B: Local Dev Container

For developers who prefer local development with Docker

  1. Fork and clone this repository to your local machine

    Note: If you want to edit the basic config please have a look at the Dev Container Configuration

  2. Install Docker Desktop and VS Code
  3. Install the Dev Containers extension in VS Code
  4. Open the repository folder in VS Code
  5. When prompted, click Reopen in Container (or use Ctrl+Shift+P → "Dev Containers: Reopen in Container")
  6. Wait for the container to build and start
  7. Proceed to Step 2: Provision Azure AI Foundry

Screenshot: Dev container setup

Screenshot: Dev container build complete

Option C: Use Your Existing Local Installation

For developers with existing Java environments

Prerequisites:

Steps:

  1. Clone this repository to your local machine
  2. Open the project in your IDE
  3. Proceed to Step 2: Provision Azure AI Foundry

Pro Tip: If you have a low-spec machine but want VS Code locally, use GitHub Codespaces! You can connect your local VS Code to a cloud-hosted Codespace for the best of both worlds.

Screenshot: created local devcontainer instance

Step 2: Provision Azure AI Foundry

Deploy the course's AI models to Azure AI Foundry as code. From the repository root:

cd 02-SetupDevEnvironment
azd auth login
az login
azd up

azd prompts for an environment name and region, provisions an Azure AI Foundry account with gpt-4o-mini and text-embedding-3-small deployments, and writes the endpoint into the example's .env — all with keyless authentication (no API keys).

Full walkthrough: See the Azure AI Foundry Setup Guide for prerequisites, a manual (portal) alternative, region guidance, and cost/cleanup notes.

Step 3: Test Your Setup

Once your Foundry models are provisioned, test the connection with the example app in 02-SetupDevEnvironment/examples/basic-chat-azure.

  1. Open the terminal in your development environment.
  2. Navigate to the example: 
    cd 02-SetupDevEnvironment/examples/basic-chat-azure
  3. Make sure you're signed in (keyless auth needs a token): 
    az login

    If you ran azd up, the .env file with your endpoint was already written for you.

  4. Run the application: 
    mvn clean spring-boot:run

You should see a response from the gpt-4o-mini model.

Understanding the Example Code

The example under examples/basic-chat-azure is a Spring Boot app that uses Spring AI to connect to Azure AI Foundry with keyless authentication.

What this code does:

  • Connects to Azure AI Foundry using your Azure sign-in (Microsoft Entra ID) — no API key
  • Sends a prompt to the gpt-4o-mini model
  • Receives and displays the AI's response
  • Validates your setup is working correctly

Key Dependency (in pom.xml):

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.ai</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-ai-starter-model-azure-openai</artifactId>
</dependency>

Configuration (application.yml):

spring:
  ai:
    azure:
      openai:
        # Endpoint only - no api-key. Spring AI uses DefaultAzureCredential (keyless).
        endpoint: ${AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT}
        chat:
          options:
            deployment-name: ${AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT:gpt-4o-mini}

Summary

Great! You now have everything set up:

  • Provisioned Azure AI Foundry models as code with Bicep + azd
  • Got your Java development environment running (whether that's Codespaces, dev containers, or local)
  • Connected to Azure AI Foundry with keyless authentication (Microsoft Entra ID) — no API keys
  • Tested it all works with a simple example that talks to your model

Next Steps

Chapter 3: Core Generative AI Techniques

Troubleshooting

Having issues? Here are common problems and solutions:

  • Authentication failing (401/403)?

    • Run az login — authentication is keyless, so you must be signed in
    • Verify your account has the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role on the resource
    • If you just provisioned, wait a minute for the role assignment to propagate

  • Maven not found?

    • If using dev containers/Codespaces, Maven should be pre-installed
    • For local setup, ensure Java 21+ and Maven 3.9+ are installed
    • Try mvn --version to verify installation

  • azd not found or provisioning fails?

  • Dev container not starting?

    • Ensure Docker Desktop is running (for local development)
    • Try rebuilding the container: Ctrl+Shift+P → "Dev Containers: Rebuild Container"

  • Application compilation errors?

    • Ensure you're in the correct directory: 02-SetupDevEnvironment/examples/basic-chat-azure
    • Try cleaning and rebuilding: mvn clean compile

Need help?: Still having issues? Open an issue in the repository and we'll help you out.