az storage account create: Create a Storage Account

az storage account create provisions an Azure Storage account for blobs, files, queues, and tables.

Many pipelines need somewhere to drop build artifacts or Terraform state. A storage account is the first step, and its name must be globally unique.

What it does

az storage account create provisions a storage account in a resource group with the SKU and kind you choose. The name must be globally unique, 3 to 24 lowercase alphanumeric characters, because it forms part of a public hostname.

Common usage

Terminal

az storage account create \
  --resource-group rg-app --name stappci20260630 \
  --sku Standard_LRS --kind StorageV2 \
  --location eastus \
  --allow-blob-public-access false

Subcommands and flags

Flag	What it does
--name, -n	Globally unique account name (3-24 lowercase)
--resource-group, -g	Target resource group
--sku	Replication SKU, e.g. Standard_LRS
--kind	Account kind, e.g. StorageV2
--location, -l	Azure region
--allow-blob-public-access	Allow or block anonymous blob access

In CI

Because the name is global, derive it deterministically (prefix plus a short hash) so reruns are idempotent. Set --allow-blob-public-access false by default and grant access with RBAC. Use --query to read back the account id for downstream steps.

Common errors in CI

"The storage account named ... is already taken" means another tenant owns that global name; change it. "StorageAccountAlreadyExists" within your own subscription means a rerun; treat it as success. "The name is not valid" means uppercase, hyphens, or the wrong length. "AuthorizationFailed" means missing Contributor.