Add GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition for GSI container support

[mbhaskar]

Summary

Implements Global Secondary Index (GSI) container support in the Python Cosmos SDK, mirroring the Java SDK implementation (Azure/azure-sdk-for-java#48480).

A GSI container is a derived container built from a source container using a SQL projection query. The service already supports this; this PR adds the client-side support.

Changes

New files

• azure/cosmos/_global_secondary_index.py — GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition class with constructor validation, serialization (_to_dict/_from_dict), and read-only server-populated properties (source_container_rid, status)
• tests/test_global_secondary_index.py — 20 unit tests covering constructor validation, serialization, deserialization, forward-compatibility
• tests/test_global_secondary_index_live.py — Live integration tests using dedicated GSI test account

Modified files

• azure/cosmos/__init__.py — Export GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition
• azure/cosmos/database.py — Added global_secondary_index_definition kwarg to create_container, create_container_if_not_exists, and replace_container (all overloads) with dual-write pattern
• azure/cosmos/aio/_database.py — Async mirror of all sync changes
• CHANGELOG.md — Feature entry
• pytest.ini — Added cosmosGSI marker for live tests
• live-platform-matrix.json — Added GSITestConfig matrix entry
• tests.yml — Mapped gsi-pipeline-uri/gsi-pipeline-key KV secrets to env vars

Design Decisions

Dual-Write Pattern

For backward compatibility with older service versions, the SDK writes the GSI definition under both:

• "globalSecondaryIndexDefinition" (new key)
• "materializedViewDefinition" (legacy key)

On read, the new key is preferred with fallback to the legacy key.

Status as String Constants (not enum)

Status values ("Initializing", "InitialBuildAfterCreate", "InitialBuildAfterRestore", "Active", "DeleteInProgress") are kept as plain strings for forward-compatibility with future service-defined values.

Pattern Consistency

Follows the same integration pattern as computed_properties, vector_embedding_policy, full_text_policy, and change_feed_policy — kwarg extraction via kwargs.pop(), added to definition dict if not None.

Testing

• All 20 unit tests pass
• Live tests configured to use gsi-pipeline-uri/gsi-pipeline-key from KV (same secrets used by Java SDK pipeline)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR adds client-side support for Cosmos DB Global Secondary Index (GSI) containers in azure-cosmos, including a new GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition model, plumbing through container create/replace APIs (sync + async) with a dual-write wire format, and CI/live-test wiring for a dedicated GSI-enabled account.

Changes:

• Added GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition (validation + (de)serialization) and exported it from azure.cosmos.
• Added global_secondary_index_definition kwarg support to create_container, create_container_if_not_exists, and replace_container for both sync and async database clients (writing both globalSecondaryIndexDefinition and materializedViewDefinition).
• Added unit + live tests plus pipeline/matrix/marker updates to run GSI live coverage.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
sdk/cosmos/tests.yml	Injects GSI account secrets as env vars for pipeline live runs.
sdk/cosmos/live-platform-matrix.json	Adds a dedicated matrix entry to run cosmosGSI marked live tests.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/tests/test_global_secondary_index.py	Unit tests for constructor validation and dict round-tripping.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/tests/test_global_secondary_index_live.py	Live tests that exercise creating GSI containers (class + raw dict).
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/pytest.ini	Registers the new cosmosGSI pytest marker.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/CHANGELOG.md	Documents the new GSI feature in the Unreleased section.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/azure/cosmos/database.py	Adds sync API kwarg plumbing + dual-write of GSI definition in create/replace.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/azure/cosmos/aio/_database.py	Async mirror of sync GSI kwarg plumbing + dual-write behavior.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/azure/cosmos/_global_secondary_index.py	Introduces GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition model implementation.
sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/azure/cosmos/init.py	Exports GlobalSecondaryIndexDefinition from the public package namespace.

Copilot's findings

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

sdk/cosmos/azure-cosmos/CHANGELOG.md:11

• The new changelog entry under "Features Added" is missing the usual reference/link to the PR (most other bullets in this section end with "See PR ####" or similar). Keeping the same format makes it easier to trace changes back to discussions and reviews.

#### Bugs Fixed

#### Other Changes

• Files reviewed: 10/10 changed files
• Comments generated: 1

[dibahlfi]

@sdkReviewAgent-2

[dibahlfi]

/azp run python - cosmos - tests

[azure-pipelines]

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

[xinlian12]

✅ Review complete (38:22)

Posted 5 inline comment(s).

_{Steps: ✓ context, correctness, cross-sdk, design, history, past-prs, synthesis, test-coverage}

[xinlian12]

✅ Review complete (38:58)

Posted 6 inline comment(s).

_{Steps: ✓ context, correctness, cross-sdk, design, history, past-prs, synthesis, test-coverage}

[simorenoh]

In merging main it seems this PR has manually pulled in a lot of other changes and now touches 200k+ lines across several repos - let's please clean that up or open a new one.

[mbhaskar]

In merging main it seems this PR has manually pulled in a lot of other changes and now touches 200k+ lines across several repos - let's please clean that up or open a new one.

Yes AI quirk! asked it to resolve conflicts and this is the result!