decompiling.md

Decompiling an ARM Template

Requires Bicep CLI v0.2.59 or later

The Bicep CLI provides the ability to decompile any existing ARM Template to a .bicep file, using the decompile command:

bicep decompile "path/to/file.json"

You can use this command to get to a starting point for Bicep authoring. Note that because there is no guaranteed conversion from JSON to Bicep, decompilation may fail, or you may be left with errors/warnings in the generated Bicep file to fix up. See Limitations for some details of what is not currently possible.

You can also use the "Decompile" button in the Bicep Playground

Exporting a resource group

You can pass an exported template directly to the bicep decompile command to effectively export a resource group to a .bicep file.

Azure CLI

The following will create a file named 'main.bicep' in the current directory:

az group export --name "your_resource_group_name" > main.json
bicep decompile main.json

Azure PowerShell

The following will create a file named 'main.bicep' in the current directory:

Export-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName "your_resource_group_name" -Path ./main.json
bicep decompile main.json

Azure Portal

See Export Template for guidance. Use bicep decompile <filename> on the downloaded file.

Current Limitations

The following are temporary limiations on the bicep decompile command:

• Templates using copy loops cannot be decompiled.
• Nested templates can only be decompiled if they are using 'inner' expression evaluation scope.