az search admin-key without subcommend doesn't show subcommands

[diberry]

Describe the bug

The command for az search admin-key and az search query-key shows error for missing subcommand but doesn't say how to get the subcommands list or show an example subcommand.

Related command

Errors

the following arguments are required: _subcommand

Issue script & Debug output

az search admin-key --debug
cli.knack.cli: Command arguments: ['search', 'admin-key', '--debug']
cli.knack.cli: init debug log:
Enable color in terminal.
cli.knack.cli: Event: Cli.PreExecute []
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandParser.OnGlobalArgumentsCreate [<function CLILogging.on_global_arguments at 0x0000015E2FA3B920>, <function OutputProducer.on_global_arguments at 0x0000015E2FBC6160>, <function CLIQuery.on_global_arguments at 0x0000015E2FBF3CE0>]
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPreCommandTableCreate []
cli.azure.cli.core: Modules found from index for 'search': ['azure.cli.command_modules.search']
cli.azure.cli.core: Loading command modules:
cli.azure.cli.core: Name Load Time Groups Commands
cli.azure.cli.core: search 0.432 7 19
cli.azure.cli.core: Total (1) 0.432 7 19
cli.azure.cli.core: Loaded 7 groups, 19 commands.
cli.azure.cli.core: Found a match in the command group table for 'search admin-key'.
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPreCommandTableTruncate [<function AzCliLogging.init_command_file_logging at 0x0000015E32A9E3E0>]
cli.azure.cli.core.azlogging: metadata file logging enabled - writing logs to 'C:\Users\diberry.azure\commands\2025-04-01.06-26-44.search_admin-key.27120.log'.
az_command_data_logger: command args: search admin-key --debug
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPreArgumentLoad [<function register_global_subscription_argument..add_subscription_parameter at 0x0000015E32AD6840>]
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPostArgumentLoad []
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPostCommandTableCreate [<function register_ids_argument..add_ids_arguments at 0x0000015E32B38860>, <function register_cache_arguments..add_cache_arguments at 0x0000015E32B389A0>]
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnCommandTableLoaded []
cli.knack.cli: Event: CommandInvoker.OnPreParseArgs []
urllib3.connectionpool: Starting new HTTPS connection (1): app.aladdin.microsoft.com:443
urllib3.connectionpool: https://app.aladdin.microsoft.com:443 "GET /api/v1.0/suggestions?query=%7B%22command%22%3A+%22search+admin-key%22%2C+%22parameters%22%3A+%22%22%7D&clientType=AzureCli&context=%7B%22versionNumber%22%3A+%222.61.0%22%2C+%22errorType%22%3A+%22MissingRequiredSubcommand%22%2C+%22correlationId%22%3A+%22bf1b6792-697a-4492-9c37-bd424b7878b9%22%2C+%22subscriptionId%22%3A+%221bd6f57f-967b-4aed-a90f-d13ad8d84ffe%22%2C+%22eventId%22%3A+%22072c4cdf-b0f4-4b62-888b-34e6c0399272%22%7D HTTP/1.1" 200 None
cli.azure.cli.core.azclierror: NoneType: None

cli.azure.cli.core.azclierror: the following arguments are required: _subcommand
az_command_data_logger: the following arguments are required: _subcommand

Examples from AI knowledge base:
https://aka.ms/cli_ref
Read more about the command in reference docs
cli.knack.cli: Event: Cli.PostExecute [<function AzCliLogging.deinit_cmd_metadata_logging at 0x0000015E32A9E660>]
az_command_data_logger: exit code: 2
cli.main: Command ran in 2.155 seconds (init: 0.973, invoke: 1.182)
telemetry.main: Begin splitting cli events and extra events, total events: 1
telemetry.client: Accumulated 0 events. Flush the clients.
telemetry.main: Finish splitting cli events and extra events, cli events: 1
telemetry.save: Save telemetry record of length 3764 in cache
telemetry.main: Begin creating telemetry upload process.
telemetry.process: Creating upload process: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\python.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\Lib\site-packages\azure\cli\telemetry_init_.pyc C:\Users\diberry.azure"
telemetry.process: Return from creating process
telemetry.main: Finish creating telemetry upload process.

Expected behavior

tell me what is missing with an example

Environment Summary

{
"azure-cli": "2.61.0",
"azure-cli-core": "2.61.0",
"azure-cli-telemetry": "1.1.0",
"extensions": {}
}

Additional context

No response

[azure-client-tools-bot-prd]

Hi @diberry,

2.61.0 is not the latest Azure CLI(2.71.0).

If you haven't already attempted to do so, please upgrade to the latest Azure CLI version by following https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/update-azure-cli.

[yonzhan]

Thank you for opening this issue, we will look into it.

[github-actions]

Here are some similar issues that might help you. Please check if they can solve your problem.

• Need better error message for cli the sub command is not supplied: the following arguments are required: _subcommand #23430

---

Possible solution (Extracted from existing issue, might be incorrect; please verify carefully)

Solution 1:

Passing --help works, but the user needs to know the --help parameter also. Subcommand required does not seem to be a very user-friendly error message when the user does not know what the possible parameters are available to be supplied while running the CLI command.

Reference:

• Need better error message for cli the sub command is not supplied: the following arguments are required: _subcommand #23430 (comment)

Solution 2:

As #576 (comment) said, we could consider to make a change in cli core to override the behavior of argparse. Need time to investigate.

Reference:

• Need better error message for cli the sub command is not supplied: the following arguments are required: _subcommand #23430 (comment)

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[microsoft-github-policy-service]

Thanks for the feedback! We are routing this to the appropriate team for follow-up. cc @bleroy, @tjacobhi, @MarkHeff, @miwelsh.