azure-devops-cli_skill

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive, command-line control of Azure DevOps using the Azure DevOps CLI (az devops). It covers repositories, pipelines, boards (work items), artifacts, wiki, and service connections to automate and manage common DevOps tasks. The skill is built around practical workflows for creating and updating work items, running and monitoring pipelines, managing pull requests and branch policies, and maintaining artifact feeds and wiki content.

How this skill works

The skill issues az devops and related az CLI commands to perform operations against an Azure DevOps organization and project. It authenticates using az login (or a PAT via AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PAT) and sends commands such as az boards, az repos, az pipelines, az artifacts, and az devops wiki. For Windows-based automation, it wraps CLI calls with cmd.exe /c to ensure reliable output capture.

When to use it

• Create, update, search, or bulk-manage work items (tasks, bugs, user stories).
• Trigger, monitor, and troubleshoot build and release pipelines from scripts or automation.
• Create, review, and merge pull requests and manage branch policies for repositories.
• Manage package feeds and artifact lifecycle for CI/CD consumption.
• Create or update project wiki pages and keep documentation versioned with automation.
• Configure or update service connections and project-level settings as part of setup or onboarding.

Best practices

• Configure az devops defaults (organization and project) to avoid repeating arguments.
• Use AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PAT for non-interactive automation and store secrets securely.
• Prefer --output table for human-readable checks and --output json with --query or jq for automation.
• Wrap commands with cmd.exe /c on Windows automation hosts to reliably capture output.
• Use WIQL queries and saved queries for performant, repeatable work-item selections.

Example use cases

• Daily standup script that queries active work items assigned to the current user and updates states.
• CI script that triggers a pipeline, polls build status, and fetches logs when a run fails.
• Automated PR workflow that creates a PR, assigns reviewers, sets auto-complete, and merges on approval.
• Onboarding automation that creates service connections, sets branch policies, and seeds a project wiki.
• Release process that publishes packages to an artifacts feed and bumps feed permissions via CLI.