C# script function apps beyond Azure portal

Creating a C# function app in the Azure portal is incredibly simple and great for playing and learning. I love the simplicity and light-ness that comes from just having a single .csx script file with everything you need for the function. The more "serious" approach with a "proper" C# project, the functions SDK and the corresponding CI/CD setup seems quite the leap, in comparison.

I recently had to move a bunch of functions from one subscription to another and wanted to take the chance to improve the maintainability for some in-portal functions I had. Moving them also failed in the portal, so I looking at a non-enjoyable time copying/pasting files over. Made me question why I used in-portal functions at all.

So, while trying to save myself some time doing that, I got a zip of the existing in-portal function app using the Kudu debug console at https://[APP_NAME].scm.azurewebsites.net/DebugConsole, and simply clicking the download icon next to the wwwroot folder:

And that's where it clicked: why not just put all those files in my own GitHub repo and deploy straight from there via a subfolder?

Well, that *totally* works, and you can keep the simplicity of the .csx while having a proper deployment history (and rollback capabilities) you're likely going to need sooner or later, no matter how simple the function.

I couldn't get rid of the function.json file though, so placing the Functions SDK attributes on the code in the .csx doesn't work, but I'd say it's an acceptable trade-off.