Microsoft Build 2026 Updates & Next Steps
Azure and Azure Functions
It's exciting to see the announcements coming out of Microsoft Build, but even more exciting when you know that many of these features are powered by Azure under the hood. As you all know, Azure Functions is my favorite azure service, and yes, it made the headlines too. It would have been great to attend in person, especially since I was assigned an Expert Pass, but logistics got in the way. Thankfully, the Azure Functions team put together a solid roundup that made it easy to get up to speed on the key announcements and start exploring what's new.
Just before getting into the updates from Build, here is a good example of Azure Functions powering experiences at scale. Microsoft Copilot, the same platform serving hundreds of millions of people. On the surface, the experience feels simple. Recently, the Copilot engineering team released a case study showing how they used Durable Task Scheduler to simplify resilience, recovery, and orchestration for long running workloads at scale. Read more: Microsoft Copilot scales AI workflows to hundreds of millions with Durable Task Scheduler
For Azure Functions users, here is the complete list of announcements from Build 2026:
Serverless agents runtime
Managed connectors
MCP updates
New Azure Functions CLI
Azure Functions VS Code Template Gallery
Go language support
On-demand Sandboxes for Durable Task Scheduler
Azure Functions Skills for coding agents
Built-in Grafana dashboards
TLS/SSL certificate support Flex Consumption
Rolling Updates for Flex Consumption
OS-level dependencies with containers on Flex Consumption
To learn more about each feature and its availability, as many are still in preview, refer to the official documentation:: Azure Functions at Build 2026 Update
For additional Microsoft Build content, including sessions, demos, repositories, and hands on labs, explore the topic based resources to continue your learning journey: Microsoft Build 2026 — Next Steps
That’s all for today. Expect more updates in the coming weeks as I continue exploring these features and sharing my findings.