Azure DevOps Services (ADO) setup

Follow this step-by-step guide to connect your Microsoft Azure DevOps Services (ADO Cloud) account to Flow.

Azure DevOps Services was previously known as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS).

Before getting started, make sure your system is supported. Git repos are supported, but TFVC repos are not.

If a PR has not been updated, deleted, abandoned, or created within six months prior to the initial integration processing date, it will not be ingested into Flow and will not appear in reports.

Use a service account to create this integration. Learn more about creating a service account.

Azure DevOps permission requirements

Set up personal access token scopes.
Make sure the service account is set up as a Project Collection Administrator at the organizational level.
Your git host may not require webhooks. If this is the case, set the git host’s View instance-level information permission to Allow. This permission is required to establish a connection and import repos. Add the user to the reader group at the project level.

Create an ADO personal access token

To create a personal access token in Azure DevOps Services:

Locate Personal access tokens under your user settings.
On the Personal access token page, click New Token.
Fill in the following information for your new personal access token:
- Name
- Organization
- Expiration date
- Scopes - Below, find the minimum scopes required to connect your account.
  - Code: Read
  - Build: Read
  - Graph: Read
  - Identity: Read
  - Project and Team: Read
  - Work Items: Read
Click Save.

Create your integration

To connect to Azure DevOps Services:

Click Settings in Flow’s top navigation.
In the left navigation under Integrations, click Integrations.
Click Add integration.
On the Integration Provider list, click Azure DevOps.
Optional: If you see the Direct Connection or Hybrid Connection, select one.
Next, select your authentication method with ADO: Access token.

Since Azure DevOps OAuth 2.0 is deprecated and no longer accepts new registrations, currently, the only supported authentication method is using a Personal Access Token.

Existing connections will continue to work as long as OAuth exists for ADO, but customers will no longer be able to edit their OAuth connections. Should you need to update your existing integration or create a new one, you will then need to use a valid authentication method.

Input your email address, Personal access token, and Base URL. Use the exact email format seen in your Azure user profile. The email field is case sensitive. Your URL will look like https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}.

Use the https://dev.azure.com domain in the Base URL field in Flow to connect successfully. This applies even if your base URL in Azure DevOps Services uses the visualstudios.com domain. While you may be able to access your instance using either a dev.azure.com or visualstudios.com domain, Flow requires the format of https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization} to successfully connect and import your data.

Authentication method modal for ADO integration creation.

Click Test connection. If the connection is successful, you'll see a Successfully connected message:

A green Success button informs about the successfull connection to the ADO via the access token.

If you receive an Authorization denied error when trying to connect your Azure DevOps Services account, verify that the access token is correct and try again.
If you're notified that An error has occurred, verify the email and base URL are correct and try again.

After connecting to your Azure DevOps Services account, click Next.

On the following page, use toggles to select the available services you want ingested by Flow: Repos, Pull Requests, and Tickets.

The terminology used in ADO and Flow differs slightly. Use this mapping to understand how concepts in ADO map to Flow:

An ADO work item is called a ticket in Flow
An ADO project or board is called a ticket project in Flow
An ADO iteration is called a sprint in Flow

Click Next.
Toggle the Repos, Tickets, and Pull requests services on or off to determine which data types Flow will ingest for this integration. After you've made your selections, click Next. Azure DevOps Services Work Items are generally mapped to Tickets in Flow.
Name your integration. This is the name Flow will display for the integration. Choose a name that will help you identify the integration later. Click Create.
Click Create.

Flow will take you to the new integration’s Integration page, and your integration will be listed on the Integrations page.

Troubleshooting

If your integration does not test successfully, check your credentials.
- Verify that your email address matches the case and spelling in your Azure Profile. The email field is case-sensitive.
- Review the scopes in your access token to ensure all required scopes have been selected.
- Confirm your base URL adheres to the required format: https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}. While you may be able to access your instance using either a dev.azure.com or visualstudios.com domain, Flow requires the format of https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization} to successfully connect and import your data.
- If you receive an authorization denied error and your organization uses conditional access policies (external site, opens in new tab), ensure the service account has the correct permission to access resources in your ADO instance.
If you’re unable to enable webhooks, check your Azure user permissions. To enable webhooks, you must be a Project Collection Administrator.
If you have multiple ADO service integrations and tickets are not being associated with their epics, ensure that the ticket projects for both the epic ticket and the child ticket are ingested under the same integration.