azure-devops-skill_skill

Overview

This skill provides a comprehensive interface to Azure DevOps REST API v7.2 for work items, pipelines, repositories, test plans, wikis, search, core operations, and security alerts. It exposes both direct API call patterns and MCP-style tool names to simplify automation and scripting. Use it to query, update, trigger, and manage DevOps resources programmatically with PAT or OAuth authentication.

How this skill works

The skill maps common Azure DevOps endpoints into reusable operations: work item CRUD and WIQL queries, pipeline runs and logs, Git repo and PR management, test plan and case control, wiki pages, and search across code/work items/wikis. It includes authentication examples (PAT and OAuth scopes), API versioning guidance, JSON Patch templates, rate-limit handling patterns, and common response/error formats. MCP tool name references are provided for rapid integration into existing automation.

When to use it

• Automate recurring work item creation, bulk updates, or WIQL-based queries.
• Trigger pipelines, inspect build logs, or programmatically retry/cancel stages.
• Manage repositories: list branches, create branches, create/update pull requests, and review PR threads.
• Create and run test plans, update test case steps, and collect test results from builds.
• Search code, work items, or wiki content across projects and repositories.

Best practices

• Use Personal Access Tokens (PAT) or OAuth with least-privilege scopes for automation.
• Respect rate limits: implement Retry-After handling and exponential backoff for 429 responses.
• Prefer JSON Patch for partial work item updates to avoid overwriting fields.
• Pin API version (e.g., 7.2-preview.3) in calls for stability; test preview features in non-production first.
• Use area and iteration path conventions to segregate work items across multiple repos within a single project.

Example use cases

• Create a CI trigger that runs a pipeline on PR creation and posts pipeline status to the linked work item.
• Run a nightly job to collect failed test results and create bugs for persistent failures.
• Bulk-update sprint assignments and capacities when reorganizing team iterations.
• Search a codebase for a function name across multiple repos and open related work items found by the search.
• Automate PR creation from feature branches and assign reviewers based on code owners or recent commit authors.