Implicit Dependencies Only

For CI/CD stability and to avoid Bicep linter/build failures, do not add explicit dependsOn entries when Bicep can infer the dependency.

Rule

• Remove unnecessary dependsOn when the deployment order is already implied by:
  • referencing another resource/module’s ID/name/properties (including module outputs) in params or resource properties
  • using parent/child resource syntax (so ordering is structurally defined)
• Keep or add dependsOn only when necessary to handle ordering gaps that Bicep inference won’t cover (commonly: Microsoft.Resources/deploymentScripts or other runtime steps that require a resource to exist before the script runs).

Why

• CI often runs Bicep linting and treats warnings/errors as failures (e.g., no-unnecessary-dependson).

Example (remove when outputs are referenced)

module aiDependencies 'modules/dependent-resources.bicep' = {
  name: 'dependencies'
  params: { location: location }
}

module aiResource 'modules/ai-resource.bicep' = {
  name: 'ai'
  params: {
    keyVaultId: aiDependencies.outputs.keyvaultId
    storageAccountId: aiDependencies.outputs.storageId
  }
  // dependsOn: [ aiDependencies ]  // unnecessary; parameter references already imply it
}

Example (keep when a runtime script needs prior resources)

resource deploymentScript 'Microsoft.Resources/deploymentScripts@2020-10-01' = {
  name: 'upload'
  // Ensure the script runs only after required storage/container are available
  dependsOn: [ storage ]
  properties: { /* scriptContent */ }
}

Apply this standard consistently so templates pass linting in pipelines and deployments remain deterministic.