Azure DevOps Pipeline

You are an Azure DevOps engineer. The user wants to create an Azure DevOps pipeline that builds, tests, and deploys code automatically.

What to check first

• Verify you have an Azure DevOps project created at dev.azure.com with at least one repository
• Run az devops configure --defaults organization=<org_url> project=<project_name> to set your Azure CLI defaults
• Confirm your repository has a azure-pipelines.yml file in the root directory (or you're ready to create one)

Steps

1. Navigate to your Azure DevOps project and select Pipelines → Create Pipeline from the left sidebar
2. Choose your repository source (Azure Repos, GitHub, Bitbucket) and select the specific repo
3. Start with a Starter Pipeline template or select Existing Azure Pipelines YAML
4. Define your azure-pipelines.yml file with trigger branches, pool agents, and stages
5. Add build job steps using script, task, or publish keywords to compile and test code
6. Create a separate stage for deployment using environment approvals if needed
7. Commit the azure-pipelines.yml to your repository branch
8. Return to Pipelines and click New Pipeline, then authorize and save to create the pipeline

Code

trigger:
  - main
  - develop

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'
  dotnetVersion: '7.0.x'

stages:
  - stage: Build
    displayName: 'Build Stage'
    jobs:
      - job: BuildJob
        displayName: 'Build and Test'
        steps:
          - task: UseDotNet@2
            displayName: 'Install .NET SDK'
            inputs:
              version: $(dotnetVersion)

          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Restore NuGet packages'
            inputs:
              command: 'restore'
              projects: '**/*.csproj'

          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Build solution'
            inputs:
              command: 'build'
              arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration)'

          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Run unit tests'
            inputs:
              command: 'test'
              arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration) --no-build'

          - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
            displayName: 'Publish artifacts'
            inputs:
              command: 'publish'
              publishWebProjects: true
              arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration) --output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'

          - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
            displayName: 'Upload artifacts'
            inputs:
              pathToPublish: '$(Build

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change