Route Azure OpenAI through Stockyard

Why proxy Azure OpenAI?

Azure OpenAI gives you OpenAI models hosted on Azure infrastructure with enterprise SLAs and data residency. But it uses a different authentication scheme (api-key header) and URL format than direct OpenAI.

Stockyard handles the Azure-specific auth and URL translation. Your application calls the standard /v1/chat/completions endpoint, and Stockyard routes to your Azure deployment with the correct headers. This also lets you fail over from Azure OpenAI to direct OpenAI or other providers seamlessly.

Quick start

# Install Stockyard
curl -fsSL stockyard.dev/install.sh | sh

# Set your Azure OpenAI API key
export AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key-here

# Start the proxy
stockyard
# Provider: azure-openai (from AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY)
# Proxy listening on :4200

# Send a request through the proxy
curl http://localhost:4200/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"GPT-4o","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hello"}]}'

Good to know

Set AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY and AZURE_OPENAI_BASE_URL (your deployment endpoint). Stockyard handles the api-key header format automatically.

Escape Azure lock-in gradually

If you're on Azure OpenAI today but want the option to use direct OpenAI, Anthropic, or other providers later, Stockyard gives you that exit path. Your app talks to Stockyard, not Azure directly. Add providers over time without changing application code.

# Start with Azure OpenAI
export AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=...
export AZURE_OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://your-deployment.openai.azure.com

# Later, add direct OpenAI as failover
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# Stockyard now routes to both. No app changes needed.