ADO Pipelines

Read pipeline status, inspect build logs, trigger runs, manage pipeline definitions, and download artifacts for Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines.

When to use

• User wants to know if a build passed or failed
• User wants to read error output from a failing build
• User wants to trigger (queue) a new pipeline run
• User wants to list available pipeline definitions in a project
• User wants to download or inspect a pipeline artifact
• User wants to create or update a pipeline definition (YAML)

MCP tools used

Workflow

Getting the latest build status

1. Identify: project name and either pipeline name or repository+branch.
2. Call pipelines_build(project, pipelineName, branch) — returns the latest N builds with status (succeeded, failed, running, cancelled) and duration.
3. Present the Build Status table.

Reading build logs (failure triage)

1. Call pipelines_build to get the failing build ID.
2. Call pipelines_build_log(buildId) — returns the structured task timeline with each step's result (succeeded / failed / skipped) and log URL.
3. Focus on the first failed step. Extract error lines (lines containing error:, Error, FAILED, Exception).
4. Present the Failure Summary with the failing step name and extracted error lines.
5. Offer to create a bug work item from the failure.

Triggering a run

1. Identify: project, pipeline name/ID, branch, and any variable overrides.
2. Call pipelines_run(project, pipelineId, branch, variables).
3. Confirm with the new run ID and a link to the run page.

Listing pipeline definitions

1. Call pipelines_definition(project) — returns all defined pipelines with ID, name, folder, and default branch.
2. Present as a Pipeline Definitions table.

Downloading an artifact

1. Identify build ID and artifact name.
2. Call pipelines_artifact(buildId, artifactName) — returns the artifact download URL or file list.
3. Present the artifact content or URL.

Output Format

Build Status

Failure Summary

Build #456 — api-gateway / main — FAILED

error: Test run failed.
  FAILED  AuthServiceTests.TokenExpiry (0.23s)
    System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Token expired before validation
    at AuthService.ValidateToken() line 87

Pipeline Definitions

Notes

• pipelines_build returns builds in reverse-chronological order. To get a specific build, pass the build ID directly.
• Log lines can be very long. Truncate to the first 50 error lines; offer to show more if the user asks.
• When triggering a run, always confirm the branch and variables with the user before calling pipelines_run — a misfire on a release pipeline can be disruptive.

Active context

This skill respects the session context set by the ado-context skill.

• If activeProject is set, use it automatically as the project parameter — do not ask the user to re-specify it.
• If no context is set and a project is required, invoke Workflow E of ado-context to resolve it (list projects, ask user to pick, then proceed).