# Azure Devops

> Complete Azure DevOps (ADO) automation — work items, boards, sprints, repos, pull requests, pipelines, builds, artifacts. Use when user mentions ADO, work items, user stories, bugs, sprints, builds, releases, or Azure DevOps URLs.

- Skill: `rysweet/azure-devops-2` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 10 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rysweet/azure-devops-2`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rysweet/azure-devops-2/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: rysweet (https://skillmd.com/u/rysweet)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rysweet/azure-devops-2

---


# Azure DevOps Skill

Complete Azure DevOps integration covering boards, repositories, pipelines, and artifacts through the Azure CLI and the official `azure-devops` extension.

**Auto-activates when:** User mentions Azure DevOps, ADO, work items, boards, repos, pipelines, artifacts, or Azure DevOps URLs.

## Quick Start

### 1. Authenticate and configure defaults

```bash
az extension add --name azure-devops
az login
export AZURE_DEVOPS_ORG_URL="${AZURE_DEVOPS_ORG_URL:?set the Azure DevOps organization URL}"
export AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT="${AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT:?set the Azure DevOps project name}"
az devops configure --defaults organization="$AZURE_DEVOPS_ORG_URL" project="$AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT"
az devops configure --list
```

See [@authentication.md] for setup details.

### 2. Common operations

Create a work item:

```bash
az boards work-item create \
  --type "User Story" \
  --title "Implement feature" \
  --description "<p>Story description</p>"
```

Query work items:

```bash
az boards query \
  --wiql "SELECT [System.Id], [System.Title] FROM workitems WHERE [System.AssignedTo] = @Me ORDER BY [System.ChangedDate] DESC"
```

Create a pull request:

```bash
az repos pr create \
  --source-branch feature/branch \
  --target-branch main \
  --title "Add feature"
```

## Progressive Loading References

- [@authentication.md] - Azure CLI login and project defaults
- [@cli-automation.md] - CLI automation patterns, dashboards, `az devops invoke`, and JMESPath
- [@work-items.md] - Work item creation, updates, links, and queries
- [@queries.md] - WIQL query patterns
- [@html-formatting.md] - Formatting HTML descriptions for Azure DevOps
- [@repos.md] - Repository and pull request operations
- [@pipelines.md] - Pipeline and build operations
- [@artifacts.md] - Package feed operations

## Important Notes

- Azure DevOps work item descriptions are HTML. Convert Markdown to HTML before passing long descriptions.
- Prefer `--output json` when automation needs IDs or URLs.
- Always configure `organization` and `project` defaults before running board/repo commands.
- Use `az devops invoke` only when the official `az boards`, `az repos`, `az pipelines`, or `az artifacts` command group does not expose the needed operation.