dotnet-ado-patterns

name	dotnet-ado-patterns
description	Composes Azure DevOps YAML pipelines. Templates, variable groups, multi-stage, triggers.
license	MIT
targets	["*"]
tags	["cicd","dotnet","skill"]
version	0.0.1
author	dotnet-agent-harness
claudecode	{"allowed-tools":["Read","Grep","Glob","Bash","Write","Edit"]}
codexcli	{"short-description":".NET skill guidance for cicd tasks"}
opencode	{"allowed-tools":["Read","Grep","Glob","Bash","Write","Edit"]}

dotnet-ado-patterns

Composable Azure DevOps YAML pipeline patterns for .NET projects: template references with extends, stages, jobs, and steps keywords for hierarchical pipeline composition, variable groups and variable templates for centralized configuration, pipeline decorators for organization-wide policy injection, conditional insertion with ${{ if }} and ${{ each }} expressions, multi-stage pipelines (build, test, deploy), and pipeline triggers for CI, PR, and scheduled runs.

Version assumptions: Azure Pipelines YAML schema. DotNetCoreCLI@2 task for .NET 8/9/10 builds. Template expressions syntax v2.

Scope

• Template references with extends, stages, jobs, and steps keywords
• Variable groups and variable templates for centralized configuration
• Pipeline decorators for organization-wide policy injection
• Conditional insertion with ${{ if }} and ${{ each }} expressions
• Multi-stage pipelines (build, test, deploy)
• Pipeline triggers for CI, PR, and scheduled runs

Out of scope

• Starter CI templates -- see [skill:dotnet-add-ci]
• CLI release pipelines (tag-triggered build-package-release for CLI tools) -- see [skill:dotnet-cli-release-pipeline]
• ADO-unique features (environments, service connections, classic releases) -- see [skill:dotnet-ado-unique]
• Build/test specifics -- see [skill:dotnet-ado-build-test]
• Publishing pipelines -- see [skill:dotnet-ado-publish]
• GitHub Actions workflow patterns -- see [skill:dotnet-gha-patterns]

Cross-references: [skill:dotnet-add-ci] for starter templates that these patterns extend, [skill:dotnet-cli-release-pipeline] for CLI-specific release automation.

---

For detailed YAML examples (stage/job/step templates, extends, variable groups, conditional insertion, multi-stage pipelines, triggers), see examples.md in this skill directory.

Agent Gotchas

1. Template parameter types are enforced at compile time -- passing a string where type: boolean is expected causes a validation error before the pipeline runs; always match types exactly.
2. extends templates cannot be overridden -- callers cannot inject steps before or after the mandatory stages; this is by design for policy enforcement.
3. Variable group secrets are not available in template expressions -- ${{ variables.mySecret }} resolves at compile time when secrets are not yet available; use runtime syntax instead.