Azure DevOps Boards Export Skill

This skill creates work items in Azure DevOps Boards from a task list.

When to Use This Skill

• User asks to export tasks to Azure DevOps
• User mentions syncing with Boards
• User wants to create Tasks/Stories/Bugs from specifications
• User needs to migrate tasks to Azure DevOps

Prerequisites

User must provide:

1. Organization: Azure DevOps organization name (e.g., mycompany)
2. Project: Project name or ID
3. PAT Token: Personal Access Token with vso.work_write scope
4. Work Item Type: Task, User Story, or Bug

Input Format

The skill accepts tasks in Markdown or JSON format:

Markdown Format (from tasks.md)

| ID | Task | Description | Hours |
|----|------|-------------|-------|
| T001 | Create Attachment entity | Class with Guid, TaskId properties | 1 |
| T002 | Status enum | AttachmentStatus enum | 0.5 |

JSON Format (structured)

[
  {
    "id": "T001",
    "title": "Create Attachment entity",
    "description": "Attachment class with Guid, TaskId properties",
    "hours": 1,
    "priority": 2,
    "tags": ["domain", "backend"]
  }
]

Azure DevOps API

Create Work Items Endpoint

POST https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/{project}/_apis/wit/workitems/${type}?api-version=7.1

Required Headers

Authorization: Basic BASE64_PAT
Content-Type: application/json-patch+json

Body Format (JSON Patch)

[
  { "op": "add", "path": "/fields/System.Title", "value": "Task title" },
  { "op": "add", "path": "/fields/System.Description", "value": "Description" },
  { "op": "add", "path": "/fields/Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Priority", "value": 2 }
]

Script Usage

From VS Code with GitHub Copilot Chat

@skill/azure-devops-boards-export Export tasks to Azure DevOps.

Organization: mycompany
Project: PortalEmpleo
Type: Task
Token: ${AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT}

Input: specs/001-attachments/tasks.md

From Command Line

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run export
node scripts/export-tasks.js \
  --org "mycompany" \
  --project "PortalEmpleo" \
  --type "Task" \
  --token "$AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT" \
  --input "specs/001-attachments/tasks.md"

# Dry run (no changes)
node scripts/export-tasks.js \
  --org "mycompany" \
  --project "PortalEmpleo" \
  --type "Task" \
  --token "$AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT" \
  --input "specs/001-attachments/tasks.md" \
  --dry-run

Common Work Item Fields

Error Handling

Example Output

{
  "success": true,
  "created": [
    {
      "id": 131,
      "title": "T001: Create Attachment entity",
      "url": "https://dev.azure.com/mycompany/PortalEmpleo/_workitems/edit/131"
    }
  ],
  "failed": []
}

Important Notes

• Local IDs (T001, T010) are included in title for traceability
• Tasks are created in "New" state
• Script prompts for confirmation before creating in production
• Results are saved to azure-devops-results.json