🚀 Announcing the Azure SQL Database container Private Preview 🎉

[Carlos Robles (croblesm)]

We're excited to invite developers to get early access to the Azure SQL Database container, the local development target for Azure SQL Database.

📝 Sign up now to get access:
👉 https://aka.ms/sqldbcontainerpreview-signup

Note

This Private Preview is for the container itself. You can run it today with Docker, Podman, OrbStack, or any OCI-compliant runtime. Native integration inside the MSSQL extension for VS Code is on the roadmap and will follow in a future preview. We are sharing this here because many of you in the VS Code SQL community will want to be among the first to try it.

This is your chance to try it out before public preview, share feedback, and help shape how developers build modern, AI-native applications with Azure SQL Database locally, without an Azure subscription.

💡 What you'll get:

• AI-native: vector data types, vector search, and embeddings, built in
• Build RAG and agentic AI apps locally before committing cloud spend
• Use local models for fast iteration; switch to Azure OpenAI in production with no code changes
• Same Azure SQL Database surface area as the cloud service: what works locally works the same in Azure
• No Azure subscription required to develop and test
• OCI-compliant; runs on Docker, Podman, OrbStack, Rancher Desktop, or any preferred runtime
• Drop it into a Dev Container, a docker compose file, a Codespace, or CI / CD
• First-class support for modern app dev: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, .NET, etc.

We'd love your feedback as we refine this experience. Your insights will help shape both the container itself and the eventual integration into the MSSQL extension for VS Code.

Got questions or feedback? Reach out to us at vscode-mssql@microsoft.com
Thanks!