amber-cloud 1.0.0

Local-first Azure emulator — build, test, and iterate without an Azure account.

Amber

Local-first Azure emulator — Build, test, and iterate on Azure services without an Azure account.

Amber emulates 86 Azure service-family surfaces across 17 categories, all running locally with zero core runtime dependencies. Every operation records billing usage so you can estimate costs before deploying to real Azure.

Amber is a developer test double, not Microsoft Azure. It provides useful local behavior, ARM-shaped resource IDs, region and zone metadata, billing ledgers, and adapter hooks while documenting where cloud validation is still required.

Amber is inspired by the local-cloud developer experience pioneered by Floci for AWS, and brings that same kind of fast local workflow to Azure-shaped Python, CLI, and REST development.

Quick Start

from amber import AmberWorkspace

ws = AmberWorkspace.create(".amber")

# Blob Storage
ws.storage.blob.create_container("data")
ws.storage.blob.put_blob("data", "hello.txt", b"Hello, Azure!")

# Redis Cache
ws.redis.set(0, "session:1", "active")
assert ws.redis.get(0, "session:1") == "active"

# Cosmos DB
ws.cosmosdb.create_account("myaccount")
ws.cosmosdb.create_database("myaccount", "mydb")
ws.cosmosdb.create_container("myaccount", "mydb", "items", "/category")
ws.cosmosdb.create_document("myaccount", "mydb", "items", {
    "id": "doc1", "category": "fruit", "name": "apple"
})

# Service Bus messaging
ws.servicebus.create_queue("orders")
ws.servicebus.send_to_queue("orders", "new-order-123")

# Check billing
for key, usage in sorted(ws.billing.summary().items()):
    print(f"{key}: {usage.quantity} {usage.unit}")

ws.close()

Installation

pip install amber-cloud

Amber is published on PyPI as amber-cloud, while the import package and CLI are both amber.

Documentation

• Documentation: https://vishwa-docs.github.io/amber/
• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/amber-cloud/
• Issues and roadmap: https://github.com/Vishwa-docs/amber/issues

Local Azure Workflows

amber doctor
amber az group create --name apps --location eastus --tags env=dev
amber az group list
eval "$(amber env --endpoint http://127.0.0.1:8000)"

For an optional ARM-shaped local endpoint:

pip install "amber-cloud[server]"
python -m amber.server --workspace .amber --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Why Amber

• Run Azure-shaped integration tests locally without cloud accounts or shared test subscriptions.
• Keep application code close to ARM-shaped IDs, locations, tags, resource groups, and service-family names.
• Prototype lift-and-shift flows before replacing local adapters with real Azure SDK clients or deployment pipelines.
• Give students, teams, and open-source projects a fast local playground for Azure concepts.

Service Coverage (86 services)

Category	Services
Storage	Blob, Queue, Table, Files, Data Lake Gen2
Databases	Redis, Cosmos DB, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Database Migration Service
Messaging	Service Bus, Event Hubs, Event Grid
Compute	Functions, App Service, Container Apps, Batch, Static Web Apps, Virtual Machines, Managed Disks, VM Scale Sets, Service Fabric, Azure Virtual Desktop
Containers	ACR, AKS
Networking	VNet, Load Balancer, DNS, Firewall, App Gateway, Front Door, CDN, Traffic Manager, NAT Gateway, Private DNS, Bastion, Private Link, ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, WAF
AI	Azure OpenAI, Azure AI services, AI Search, Maps, Document Intelligence/Form Recognizer, Speech, Content Safety/Content Moderator compatibility
Analytics	Data Factory, Kusto (Data Explorer), Stream Analytics, Purview, Synapse Analytics, Machine Learning
Governance	Policy, RBAC, Cost Management, Advisor, Resource Graph
Observability	Azure Monitor, Application Insights
Identity	Managed Identity / Service Principals
Security	Key Vault, Managed HSM, Confidential Ledger, DDoS Protection
Integration	Logic Apps, API Management, IoT Hub, SignalR, Communication Services, Notification Hubs, Web PubSub, Digital Twins
DevOps	Azure DevOps (projects, pipelines)
Automation	Azure Automation (runbooks, jobs, variables)
Media	Azure Media Services-style legacy workflows (retired in Azure; local compatibility only)
Management	Billing, Resource Groups, Subscriptions, Locks, Tags, Activity Log, Blueprints legacy workflows, Maintenance, Change Analysis

Public Python API

Amber is packaged as amber-cloud and imported as amber:

from amber import AmberWorkspace
from amber.core import ServiceRegistry
from amber.cosmosdb import CosmosDBService
from amber.storage import BlobStorageService, QueueStorageService
from amber.networking import VNetService

The subpackages intentionally mirror Azure service families so tests and prototypes can move from local Amber code toward Azure SDK or deployment workflows with minimal conceptual translation. See the Sphinx documentation's Microsoft References page for the official Microsoft docs that each local service surface maps to.

Architecture

• SQLite persistence with WAL mode for concurrent access
• Content-addressed blob storage with SHA-256 deduplication
• Lazy service initialization — only loaded when accessed
• Thread-safe workspace with double-checked locking
• Zero external dependencies — pure Python stdlib

Commands

Command	Description
pip install -e '.[dev]'	Install for local development
.venv/bin/python -m pytest	Run the Python test suite
.venv/bin/ruff check src tests	Run Python lint checks
.venv/bin/mypy src	Run the configured type checks
.venv/bin/python -m build	Build sdist and wheel
amber registry list	List all registered services
amber doctor	Check local package, workspace, SQLite, registry, and optional server deps
amber status	Show workspace, registered services, resource groups, and resources
amber env --format json	Emit local endpoint and Azure-shaped environment metadata
amber az account show	Show the local subscription document
amber az group create --name apps --location eastus	Create an ARM-shaped local resource group
amber compose	Print a Docker Compose service for the optional REST server
amber billing summary	Show local billing summary

Go Core

The Go runtime and CLI remain alongside the Python package:

go test ./...
go run ./cmd/amber --workspace .amber doctor
go run ./cmd/amber --workspace .amber status

License

Apache 2.0. Azure, Microsoft Azure, and related service names are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Amber is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation.