.NET: Python: [Feature Branch] Azure AI Responses client

[Dmytro Struk (dmytrostruk)]

Motivation and Context

Implemented Azure AI responses client with initial basic and thread management examples.

Contribution Checklist

• The code builds clean without any errors or warnings
• The PR follows the Contribution Guidelines
• All unit tests pass, and I have added new tests where possible
• Is this a breaking change? If yes, add "[BREAKING]" prefix to the title of the PR.

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR introduces a new AzureAIAgentClientV2 class that uses the OpenAI Responses API (instead of the Azure AI Agents API), migrates AzureAIAgentClient from using AIProjectClient to AgentsClient, and adds sample code demonstrating thread management with the new V2 client. Several test files and configurations were updated to reflect the refactoring.

Key Changes

• Added AzureAIAgentClientV2 using OpenAI Responses API for Azure AI integration
• Refactored AzureAIAgentClient to use AgentsClient instead of AIProjectClient
• Removed connection resolution logic that required HTTP calls to get connection IDs
• Added sample files demonstrating V2 client usage with thread management

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
python/packages/azure-ai/agent_framework_azure_ai/_chat_client_v2.py	New V2 client implementation using OpenAI Responses API
python/packages/azure-ai/agent_framework_azure_ai/_chat_client.py	Refactored to use AgentsClient instead of AIProjectClient and simplified Bing connection handling
python/packages/core/agent_framework/openai/_responses_client.py	Made client initialization async-friendly and refactored option preparation
python/packages/core/agent_framework/openai/_shared.py	Made OpenAI client optional and added async initialization methods
python/samples/getting_started/agents/azure_ai_v2/*.py	New sample files demonstrating V2 client usage
python/packages/azure-ai/tests/test_azure_ai_agent_client*.py	Updated tests to reflect API changes
python/packages/azure-ai/tests/conftest.py	Updated fixture from mock_ai_project_client to mock_agents_client
python/.pre-commit-config.yaml	Commented out several pre-commit hooks temporarily

[Zachary BENSALEM (Zochory)]

Hello a small feedback to maybe avoid confusion, in the title it is mention Azure AI Response Client, but in the PR, there is for example a "AzureAIAgentClientV2". that is added, which can be confusing due to the different type of API/SDK ;
-Azure AI Agents SDKs,

• Foundry Agent Service and the
  -Azure OpenAI Response Format

If we stick to the documentation , it recommends using the OpenAI() client with the responses.create() endpoint for stateful interaction and thread management.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-foundry/openai/api-version-lifecycle?tabs=python#api-evolution

Also worth mentionning :
_Microsoft Entra ID:

Important

Handling automatic token refresh was previously handled through use of the AzureOpenAI() client. The v1 API removes this dependency, by adding automatic token refresh support to the OpenAI() client._

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-foundry/openai/api-version-lifecycle?tabs=python#api-evolution

other ressources :

Azure AI Agent Client (Python) : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/python/api/overview/azure/ai-agents-readme?view=azure-python-preview&preserve-view=true

Azure OpenAI Response API v1 GA -
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-foundry/openai/latest#create-response

Azure OpenAI v1 REST API : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-foundry/openai/latest

OpenAPI v1 https://github.com/Azure/azure-rest-api-specs/blob/main/specification/ai/data-plane/OpenAI.v1/azure-v1-v1-generated.json

[Eduard van Valkenburg (eavanvalkenburg)]

I don't fully understand the changes for the v1 client, the v2 client looks good overall, added some comments

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

Copilot reviewed 14 out of 14 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

[Zachary BENSALEM (Zochory)]

I mean the official terminology is v1 for the APIs Azure OpenAI but not only, also for the Foundry AI Agents in the microsoft documentation, might be kind of confusing to provide in agent-framework an azure ai client v2 imho

Also the Response API (OpenAI Response format) is for now in Azure, only for the Azure OpenAI models, having a microsoft entra id auth as example that would use from openai import OpenAI seems simplier and fully in accordance with potential future changes in azure openai

also the agent-framework-core -mem0 -azure-ai-evaluation are already install a openai

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-foundry/openai/latest

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

Copilot reviewed 14 out of 14 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

[Dmytro Struk (dmytrostruk)]

might be kind of confusing to provide in agent-framework an azure ai client v2 imho

Zachary BENSALEM (@Zochory) Sorry, I'm not sure I understand your comment, but current naming is temporary.

[Dmytro Struk (dmytrostruk)]

I would like to change base branch to keep Python and .NET changes independently, so will create another PR.

[Zachary BENSALEM (Zochory)]

might be kind of confusing to provide in agent-framework an azure ai client v2 imho

Zachary BENSALEM (@Zochory) Sorry, I'm not sure I understand your comment, but current naming is temporary.

If I understand correctly, the purpose of this PR is to add an OpenAI Response API client supporting both Azure OpenAI and Foundry Agent, correct?
The _chat_response_v2.py file appears to use OpenAIResponse with the OpenAI SDK. I believe similar functionality is already available in the repository (for example, in azure_responses_client_basic.py and the openai_response_client).

Additionally, this format is not used in the same way as the Azure AI Agents or the current implementation.
If I haven't missed anything, it seems that azure.identity is not utilized here—instead, it uses from azure.core.credentials_async import AsyncTokenCredential.

For further information, see:
Azure OpenAI Responses Agent User Guide

Foundry Models Responses Agent User Guide

the other links above