Azure Service Bus SDK for Python

Enterprise messaging for reliable cloud communication with queues and pub/sub topics.

Installation

pip install azure-servicebus azure-identity

Environment Variables

SERVICEBUS_FULLY_QUALIFIED_NAMESPACE=<namespace>.servicebus.windows.net  # Required for all auth methods
SERVICEBUS_QUEUE_NAME=myqueue  # Required for queue operations
SERVICEBUS_TOPIC_NAME=mytopic  # Required for topic operations
SERVICEBUS_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME=mysubscription  # Required for subscription operations
AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod # Required only if DefaultAzureCredential is used in production

Authentication & Lifecycle

🔑 Two rules apply to every code sample below:

1. Prefer DefaultAzureCredential. It works locally (Azure CLI / VS Code / Developer CLI) and in Azure (managed identity, workload identity) with no code change. Avoid connection strings, account/API keys — they bypass Entra audit and rotation.
   • Local dev: DefaultAzureCredential works as-is.
   • Production: set AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod (or AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=<specific_credential>) to constrain the credential chain to production-safe credentials.
2. Wrap every client in a context manager so HTTP transports, sockets, and token caches are released deterministically:
   • Sync: with <Client>(...) as client:
   • Async: async with <Client>(...) as client: and async with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential: (from azure.identity.aio)

Snippets may abbreviate this setup, but production code should always follow both rules.

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential, ManagedIdentityCredential
from azure.servicebus import ServiceBusClient

# Local dev: DefaultAzureCredential. Production: set AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod or AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=<specific_credential>
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(require_envvar=True)
# Or use a specific credential directly in production:
# See https://learn.microsoft.com/python/api/overview/azure/identity-readme?view=azure-python#credential-classes
# credential = ManagedIdentityCredential()
namespace = "<namespace>.servicebus.windows.net"

with ServiceBusClient(
    fully_qualified_namespace=namespace,
    credential=credential
) as client:
    # Use client here (see following sections for operations)
    ...

Client Types

Client	Purpose	Get From
ServiceBusClient	Connection management	Direct instantiation
ServiceBusSender	Send messages	client.get_queue_sender() / get_topic_sender()
ServiceBusReceiver	Receive messages	client.get_queue_receiver() / get_subscription_receiver()

Send Messages (Async)

import asyncio
from azure.servicebus.aio import ServiceBusClient
from azure.servicebus import ServiceBusMessage
from azure.identity.aio import DefaultAzureCredential

async def send_messages():
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    
    async with ServiceBusClient(
        fully_qualified_namespace="<namespace>.servicebus.windows.net",
        credential=credential
    ) as client:
        sender = client.get_queue_sender(queue_name="myqueue")
        
        async with sender:
            # Single message
            message = ServiceBusMessage("Hello, Service Bus!")
            await sender.send_messages(message)
            
            # Batch of messages
            messages = [ServiceBusMessage(f"Message {i}") for i in range(10)]
            await sender.send_messages(messages)
            
            # Message batch (for size control)
            batch = await sender.create_message_batch()
            for i in range(100):
                try:
                    batch.add_message(ServiceBusMessage(f"Batch message {i}"))
                except ValueError:  # Batch full
                    await sender.send_messages(batch)
                    batch = await sender.create_message_batch()
                    batch.add_message(ServiceBusMessage(f"Batch message {i}"))
            await sender.send_messages(batch)

asyncio.run(send_messages())

Receive Messages (Async)

async def receive_messages():
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    
    async with ServiceBusClient(
        fully_qualified_namespace="<namespace>.servicebus.windows.net",
        credential=credential
    ) as client:
        receiver = client.get_queue_receiver(queue_name="myqueue")
        
        async with receiver:
            # Receive batch
            messages = await receiver.receive_messages(
                max_message_count=10,
                max_wait_time=5  # seconds
            )
            
            for msg in messages:
                print(f"Received: {str(msg)}")
                await receiver.complete_message(msg)  # Remove from queue

asyncio.run(receive_messages())

Receive Modes

Mode	Behavior	Use Case
PEEK_LOCK (default)	Message locked, must complete/abandon	Reliable processing
RECEIVE_AND_DELETE	Removed immediately on receive	At-most-once delivery

from azure.servicebus import ServiceBusReceiveMode

receiver = client.get_queue_receiver(
    queue_name="myqueue",
    receive_mode=ServiceBusReceiveMode.RECEIVE_AND_DELETE
)

Message Settlement

async with receiver:
    messages = await receiver.receive_messages(max_message_count=1)
    
    for msg in messages:
        try:
            # Process message...
            await receiver.complete_message(msg)  # Success - remove from queue
        except ProcessingError:
            await receiver.abandon_message(msg)  # Retry later
        except PermanentError:
            await receiver.dead_letter_message(
                msg,
                reason="ProcessingFailed",
                error_description="Could not process"
            )

Action	Effect
complete_message()	Remove from queue (success)
abandon_message()	Release lock, retry immediately
dead_letter_message()	Move to dead-letter queue
defer_message()	Set aside, receive by sequence number

Topics and Subscriptions

# Send to topic
sender = client.get_topic_sender(topic_name="mytopic")
async with sender:
    await sender.send_messages(ServiceBusMessage("Topic message"))

# Receive from subscription
receiver = client.get_subscription_receiver(
    topic_name="mytopic",
    subscription_name="mysubscription"
)
async with receiver:
    messages = await receiver.receive_messages(max_message_count=10)

Sessions (FIFO)

# Send with session
message = ServiceBusMessage("Session message")
message.session_id = "order-123"
await sender.send_messages(message)

# Receive from specific session
receiver = client.get_queue_receiver(
    queue_name="session-queue",
    session_id="order-123"
)

# Receive from next available session
from azure.servicebus import NEXT_AVAILABLE_SESSION
receiver = client.get_queue_receiver(
    queue_name="session-queue",
    session_id=NEXT_AVAILABLE_SESSION
)

Scheduled Messages

from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

message = ServiceBusMessage("Scheduled message")
scheduled_time = datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(minutes=10)

# Schedule message
sequence_number = await sender.schedule_messages(message, scheduled_time)

# Cancel scheduled message
await sender.cancel_scheduled_messages(sequence_number)

Dead-Letter Queue

from azure.servicebus import ServiceBusSubQueue

# Receive from dead-letter queue
dlq_receiver = client.get_queue_receiver(
    queue_name="myqueue",
    sub_queue=ServiceBusSubQueue.DEAD_LETTER
)

async with dlq_receiver:
    messages = await dlq_receiver.receive_messages(max_message_count=10)
    for msg in messages:
        print(f"Dead-lettered: {msg.dead_letter_reason}")
        await dlq_receiver.complete_message(msg)

Sync Client (for simple scripts)

from azure.servicebus import ServiceBusClient, ServiceBusMessage
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

with ServiceBusClient(
    fully_qualified_namespace="<namespace>.servicebus.windows.net",
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
) as client:
    with client.get_queue_sender("myqueue") as sender:
        sender.send_messages(ServiceBusMessage("Sync message"))
    
    with client.get_queue_receiver("myqueue") as receiver:
        for msg in receiver:
            print(str(msg))
            receiver.complete_message(msg)

Best Practices

1. Pick sync OR async and stay consistent. Do not mix azure.xxx sync clients with azure.xxx.aio async clients in the same call path. Choose one mode per module.
2. Always use context managers for clients and async credentials. Wrap every client in with Client(...) as client: (sync) or async with Client(...) as client: (async) for proper cleanup. For async DefaultAzureCredential from azure.identity.aio, also use async with credential: so tokens and transports are cleaned up.
3. Use DefaultAzureCredential for portable auth across local dev and Azure (avoid connection strings / API keys when possible).
4. Use async client for production workloads
5. Complete messages after successful processing
6. Use dead-letter queue for poison messages
7. Use sessions for ordered, FIFO processing
8. Use message batches for high-throughput scenarios
9. Set max_wait_time to avoid infinite blocking

Reference Files

File	Contents
references/patterns.md	Competing consumers, sessions, retry patterns, request-response, transactions
references/dead-letter.md	DLQ handling, poison messages, reprocessing strategies
scripts/setup_servicebus.py	CLI for queue/topic/subscription management and DLQ monitoring