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Containers cae

Container apps environment naming convention

The CAF abbreviation for Container apps environment is cae. Names can be 2 to 32 characters long and allow lowercase alphanumerics and hyphens. The name must be unique within the resource group.

Naming rules

CAF abbreviation cae
Length 2 to 32 characters
Allowed characters Lowercase letters and numbers, hyphens
Scope of uniqueness Unique within the resource group
CAF pattern cae-{workload}-{environment}-{region}-{instance}

Rules follow Microsoft's resource naming rules and CAF abbreviations. Some resource types have extra start/end character restrictions, so verify against the official docs before locking in a convention.

Naming Containers resources

Container Registry is globally unique and already has its own guide. AKS node pools are the sharp edge in this category, the system node pool name is capped at 12 characters (6 on Windows), far tighter than almost anything else in Azure, so short, functional names matter more here than anywhere else in the naming scheme.

A Container Apps environment groups multiple container apps the way a Service Bus namespace groups queues, name the environment for the shared platform boundary and the individual container app for the workload it runs. The common mistake is giving node pools descriptive names and hitting the character ceiling immediately, plan for the 12 character limit before you need it.

Example names

Generated by the same engine as the name generator, so length and character rules are already applied.

Scenario Generated name Length
Payments API, production cae-payments-prod-eus-001 25/32
Web app, development cae-webapp-dev-weu-002 22/32
Analytics with company prefix cae-analytics-stage-uks-001
Dropped company to fit the 32-char limit.
27/32

Naming in Terraform and Bicep

Build the name from variables so one module produces the right name in every environment. The 32-character limit is enforced in the expression.

Terraform
locals {
  container_app_environment_name = substr(lower("cae-${var.workload}-${var.environment}-${var.region}-001"), 0, 32)
}
Bicep
var containerAppEnvironmentName = take(toLower('cae-${workload}-${environment}-${region}-001'), 32)

Generate Container apps environment names for your workload

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Related Containers resources

See the full list of Azure resource naming rules or read the complete CAF naming guide.