Azure DevOps Documentation

Analytics is the reporting platform for Azure DevOps, designed for fast read-access and server-based aggregations. It replaces the legacy SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) platform. It transforms raw Azure DevOps data into quantitative insights to help teams track progress, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Key Capabilities:

• Analytics widgets: Add immediate insights to dashboards.
• In-context reports: Available directly from select Azure DevOps pages (e.g., Backlogs, Boards).
• Rollup bars and counts: Track progress in Azure Boards backlogs.
• Custom reports: Create advanced analytics using Power BI or programmatic access via OData queries.
• Extensibility: Develop and add custom Analytics widgets to dashboards.

This index provides a centralized collection of command-line examples for managing various Azure DevOps services. Use these examples to automate tasks across Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Pipelines, Repos, and Security settings.

Important Compatibility Note: The Azure DevOps CLI is only available for use with Azure DevOps Services. The Azure DevOps extension for the Azure CLI does not support Azure DevOps Server.

Azure Pipelines provides continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) capabilities to automate the testing, building, and shipping of code to various targets. By integrating Azure Pipelines with Azure services, you can automate the entire lifecycle from code commit to production deployment.

This overview serves as a directory for specific integration guides for Azure services. For a comprehensive list of all available automation steps, refer to the Build and release tasks documentation.

Azure DevOps supports several integration patterns depending on your use case. Select the approach that matches your requirements:

• REST API: Best for simple automation, scripts, or platform-agnostic development. It works with any programming language via direct HTTP calls.
• .NET Client Libraries: Best for C# applications and enterprise development. Provides strongly typed APIs, IntelliSense, built-in retry logic, and async/await patterns.
• Event-driven Integration (Service Hooks): Best for real-time responses and webhook-based automation. Uses service hooks to trigger actions based on Azure DevOps events.
• Platform Extensions: Best for custom UI components and marketplace products. Allows native integration with the Azure DevOps UI.

Azure Boards provides a team-based model designed to scale Agile practices across growing organizations. It balances team autonomy (dedicated backlogs, boards, and sprint planning) with organizational visibility (portfolio rollups, cross-team reporting, and multi-team dashboards).

Key scaling components include:

• Portfolio Management: For connecting work hierarchies (epics to team items) and tracking cross-team progress.
• Delivery Plans: For timeline-based coordination, milestone tracking, and visualizing dependencies across multiple teams.
• Multi-team Dashboards: For aggregating metrics and providing real-time visibility into project health for stakeholders and leadership.

You can use the legacy Azure DevOps Office integration add-in to add or update work items using Microsoft Excel. This allows for two-way synchronization: you can work in online mode (connected to Azure Boards or Azure DevOps Server) or in offline mode (against a local copy of the document).

Note: This is a legacy integration. For modern bulk workflows, it is recommended to use CSV import/export or bulk modify work items in the web portal.

Extensions can be used to inject new capabilities into various parts of the Azure DevOps user interface. Common extensibility patterns include:

• Azure Pipelines tasks: Providing new build or release tasks for teams to use in their pipelines.
• Dashboard widgets: Creating custom visual views for Azure DevOps dashboards.
• Work item form extensions: Adding new tabs, sections, or actions directly to work item forms.
• Custom hubs: Embedding entirely new capabilities within the Agile, code, build, or test experiences.
• Actions: Developing logic that can be triggered from existing or custom hubs.

Build tool installer tasks allow your build pipeline to install and control dependencies. They are useful for:

• Installing a tool or runtime for a build, including on Microsoft-hosted agents.
• Validating your app or library against multiple versions of a dependency (such as Node.js).

For a complete list of available tasks, refer to the Tool tasks reference.

Azure DevOps provides several ways to bridge your GitHub identity and collaboration with Azure DevOps projects:

• Sign in with GitHub credentials: Users can sign into Azure DevOps using their GitHub credentials and link their GitHub account to a Microsoft account.
• Invite GitHub collaborators: You can invite users with GitHub accounts to collaborate directly within an Azure DevOps project.
• Visual Studio Integration: Use Visual Studio to connect to GitHub repositories for operations like cloning, pushing, and pulling commits.

Administrative tasks in Azure DevOps are categorized by the scope of the resources being managed:

Team Administrators

Manage team-specific settings, including:

• Backlog and board settings
• Team areas and iterations (sprints)
• Team members, dashboards, work item templates, and alerts.

Project Administrators

Manage project-level resources, including:

• Area paths and iteration paths
• Project permissions and repository security
• Build agents, pools, and service connections
• Test and release retention policies.

Organization Owners and Project Collection Administrators

Manage organization-wide resources, including:

• Billing management
• Adding and managing projects
• Collection-level permissions
• Customizing work tracking processes
• Installing and managing extensions.