Azure DevOps Remote MCP Server Public Preview

Overview

The Azure DevOps MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server is a lightweight TypeScript server that exposes Azure DevOps context for agent-based language model integrations. Run locally (or connect to the public preview Remote MCP Server) to let copilots and other LLM agents query organization data and perform common Azure DevOps tasks from inside editors like VS Code.

This server acts as a thin, predictable bridge to Azure DevOps REST APIs. Instead of embedding complex API logic in prompts, agents request structured data (projects, repos, builds, work items, wikis, etc.) via purpose-built tools. That keeps tools small and focused while allowing the language model to perform higher-level reasoning.

The Remote MCP Server is now available in public preview and is the recommended migration path. The local server remains supported for development and debugging.

Features

• Focused, single-purpose tools that map to common Azure DevOps operations
• Thin abstraction over Azure DevOps REST APIs — minimal transformation of data
• Local stdio server that can be invoked by editors and agent runtimes (VS Code, Copilot, Claude Code, etc.)
• Easy one-line installation via npx for quick experimentation
• Support for listing projects/repos/builds/teams/iterations/work items and reading/updating wikis
• Remote MCP Server public preview for hosted usage and centralized management

Installation / Configuration

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 20+
• VS Code (recommended) or another editor that can launch an stdio MCP server
• Azure DevOps organization and credentials (Personal Access Token or editor-integrated sign-in)

Install and run the local MCP server with NPX (recommended for quick test):

# macOS / Linux
export ADO_ORG="contoso"
export ADO_PAT="your_personal_access_token"   # or use VS Code auth where supported
npx -y @azure-devops/mcp $ADO_ORG

# Windows PowerShell
$env:ADO_ORG="contoso"
$env:ADO_PAT="your_personal_access_token"
npx -y @azure-devops/mcp $env:ADO_ORG

Notes:

• The server needs Azure DevOps credentials to call REST APIs. You can supply a Personal Access Token (PAT) via an environment variable or use your editor’s sign-in flow where supported.
• For editor integration, use the provided VS Code redirect URLs or follow the Getting Started docs to configure an stdio language server.

Sample package install (optional):

# Install locally for development
npm install @azure-devops/mcp
# Run from node_modules/.bin if needed
npx @azure-devops/mcp contoso

Available Resources

If you hit bugs or need features related to the Remote MCP Server public preview, open an issue using the repository templates (note internal Microsoft users have different reporting channels).

Available Tools (Examples)

The server exposes concise tools that provide structured outputs. Examples include:

• List projects
• List repos in a project
• List builds and pipeline runs
• List work items (by query, iteration, or assignee)
• List teams and iterations for a project
• Read, create, and update wiki pages Refer to TOOLSET.md in the repo for the full toolset and exact inputs/outputs.

Use Cases

• Developer productivity: Ask an LLM to “List my open work items in project Contoso” and get a structured list without writing API calls.
• Code-aware doc updates: “Create wiki page /Architecture/Overview with content about system design” — the tool performs the wiki create/update operation.
• Release and CI ops: “List ADO Builds for ‘Contoso’ and show failed runs from the last 24 hours” to surface actionable pipeline information.
• Onboarding and discovery: Quickly enumerate projects, teams, repos and generate a summary for new team members.

Concrete prompt examples agents can use:

• “List ADO projects”
• “List ADO Repos for ‘Contoso’ project”
• “List work items in the current iteration for project ‘Contoso’ and team ‘Contoso Team’”
• “Get the content of wiki page ‘/API/Authentication’ from the Documentation wiki”

Migration and Best Practice

• Evaluate the Remote MCP Server public preview for production or organization-wide usage — it reduces local setup and centralizes management.
• Keep MCP tools minimal and composable. Prefer multiple focused tools over one large tool to simplify authorization and auditing.
• Use PATs scoped to the least privilege required for the tasks, and rotate tokens per organization policy.

Troubleshooting

• Authentication errors: verify your PAT or editor sign-in method and ensure it has the required scopes (read/write for repos or wiki, work items, builds as needed).
• Tool failures: check server logs printed to stdio for tool-specific error details.
• If you need support or want to report a bug in the public preview, use the repository issue templates linked in the repo.

For full documentation, examples, and contribution guidelines, see the GitHub repository: https://github.com/microsoft/azure-devops-mcp.