azure-devops-cli

name	azure-devops-cli
description	Use when working with Azure DevOps from the command line. Covers managing PRs, pipelines, work items, repos, and variable groups via `az devops` CLI. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user mentions "az devops", "Azure DevOps", "ADO pipeline", "create PR in DevOps", "work item", or "variable group", even if they don't explicitly ask for it.

Azure DevOps CLI

Manage Azure DevOps resources via command line. For full command syntax and examples, see REFERENCE.md.

Prerequisites

# Install Azure CLI
brew install azure-cli              # macOS
winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI   # Windows

# Install DevOps extension (auto-installs on first use)
az extension add --name azure-devops

# Login
az login
az devops login --organization https://dev.azure.com/{org}

# Configure defaults (avoids repeating --org/--project on every call)
az devops configure --defaults organization=https://dev.azure.com/{org} project={project}

Key Concepts

• --detect — Auto-detects organization/project from the local git remote. Use this in repos already cloned from Azure DevOps to skip --org and --project flags.
• --output tsv — Outputs tab-separated values without headers, which makes it safe to pipe into awk, cut, or variable assignment in scripts. Prefer over json when extracting a single value.
• PAT auth — Store a Personal Access Token in AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PAT env var for non-interactive/CI use.
• Cloud only — The az devops extension works with Azure DevOps Services (cloud), not Azure DevOps Server (on-prem).

Common Workflows

Create PR from Current Branch

CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
az repos pr create \
  --source-branch "$CURRENT_BRANCH" \
  --target-branch main \
  --title "$(git log -1 --pretty=%B)" \
  --detect --open

Approve and Complete a PR

az repos pr set-vote --id {pr-id} --vote approve
az repos pr update --id {pr-id} --status completed

Run Pipeline and Check Status

az pipelines run --name {pipeline-name} --branch main
az pipelines runs list --pipeline-ids {pipeline-id} --top 1 --output table

Query Work Items

az boards query \
  --wiql "SELECT [System.Id], [System.Title] FROM WorkItems WHERE [System.State] = 'Active'" \
  --output table

Manage Variable Groups

# List
az pipelines variable-group list --output table

# Create
az pipelines variable-group create \
  --name {group-name} \
  --variables key1=value1 key2=value2

# Add a secret variable
az pipelines variable-group variable create \
  --group-id {group-id} \
  --name {var-name} \
  --secret true

Output Formats

Format	Flag	When to use
Table	--output table	Human-readable display
JSON	--output json	Default; structured data
TSV	--output tsv	Scripting and piping (no headers, no quoting)
JMESPath	--query "..."	Filter/reshape any output format

Full Reference

See references/REFERENCE.md for complete command documentation covering:

• Pull requests (create, list, show, update, vote, policies)
• Pipelines (list, run, show runs, variables)
• Work items (create, query, update, relations)
• Repositories (list, create, import, policies)
• Variable groups (create, list, update, secrets)
• Global arguments and advanced query patterns