ADO PR Comment Publish

Publish a PR comment draft file to post comments, replies, or resolve threads.

CRITICAL: Preview Before All Mutations

NEVER execute without showing the user a preview first.

For every publish operation:

•Read the draft file
•Validate frontmatter completeness
•Resolve repository GUID (required by ADO MCP)
•Show preview with exact content
•Ask for approval explicitly
•Only then execute the MCP call
•Update draft file with published status

If the user hasn't approved, DO NOT execute.

CRITICAL: Repository GUID Required

The ADO MCP requires repository GUIDs, not names.

Before any MCP call, resolve the repository:

code

mcp__azure-devops__repo_get_repo_by_name_or_id:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryNameOrId: "{repository}"

Extract the id field from the response and use that as repositoryId in subsequent calls.

CRITICAL: project is REQUIRED for ALL MCP calls

Every MCP call WILL FAIL without project. Always include it.

Loading MCP Tools

Load ADO tools at the start:

code

ToolSearch query: "+azure-devops repo_get_repo_by_name_or_id"
ToolSearch query: "+azure-devops repo_create_pull_request_thread"
ToolSearch query: "+azure-devops repo_reply_to_comment"
ToolSearch query: "+azure-devops repo_update_pull_request_thread"

Workflow

•Read draft file from provided path
•Parse frontmatter and body content
•Validate required fields for action type
•Resolve repository GUID via MCP lookup
•Show preview in box format
•Ask for explicit approval
•Execute appropriate MCP call
•Update draft with status: published and thread ID
•Return confirmation with PR URL

Input

User provides path to a draft file:

code

/dataops-assistant:ado-pr-comment-publish .ado-drafts/20250210-143022-pr-comment-nil-check.md

Validation

Comment Action

•project must be present
•repository must be present
•pull_request_id must be present
•Body must have content

Reply Action

•All of the above, plus:
•thread_id must be present

Resolve Action

•All of the above, plus:
•thread_id must be present
•resolve_status must be valid (fixed, wontFix, closed, byDesign)

If validation fails, show error and stop:

code

Cannot publish: Missing required field 'thread_id' for reply action.

Preview Format

For New Comment

code

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| PREVIEW: Add Comment                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Target: PR #12345 in project/repo                   |
| Location: /src/retry.go:42                          |
|                                                     |
| Comment:                                            |
| ---------                                           |
| Consider adding a nil check here - `config.Retry`   |
| could be nil if the config file doesn't have a      |
| retry section.                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Post this comment?

For Reply

code

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| PREVIEW: Reply to Thread                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Target: PR #12345, Thread #67890                    |
|                                                     |
| Reply:                                              |
| -------                                             |
| Good catch! I've added the nil check in commit      |
| `a1b2c3d`.                                          |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Post this reply?

For Resolve

code

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| PREVIEW: Resolve Thread                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Target: PR #12345, Thread #67890                    |
| Status: fixed                                        |
|                                                     |
| Comment (optional):                                 |
| ------------------                                  |
| Addressed in latest commit.                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Resolve this thread?

MCP Execution

New Comment (Line-Specific)

code

mcp__azure-devops__repo_create_pull_request_thread:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryId: "{repository_guid}"
  pullRequestId: {pull_request_id}
  threadContext:
    filePath: "{file_path}"
    rightFileStart:
      line: {line_number}
      offset: 1
    rightFileEnd:
      line: {line_number}
      offset: 1
  comments:
    - content: "{comment_body}"
      commentType: 1
  status: "active"

New Comment (General)

code

mcp__azure-devops__repo_create_pull_request_thread:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryId: "{repository_guid}"
  pullRequestId: {pull_request_id}
  comments:
    - content: "{comment_body}"
      commentType: 1
  status: "active"

Reply to Thread

code

mcp__azure-devops__repo_reply_to_comment:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryId: "{repository_guid}"
  pullRequestId: {pull_request_id}
  threadId: {thread_id}
  content: "{reply_body}"

Resolve Thread

First add optional comment (if body present), then update status:

code

# Optional: Add closing comment
mcp__azure-devops__repo_reply_to_comment:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryId: "{repository_guid}"
  pullRequestId: {pull_request_id}
  threadId: {thread_id}
  content: "{resolve_comment}"

# Update thread status
mcp__azure-devops__repo_update_pull_request_thread:
  project: "{project}"
  repositoryId: "{repository_guid}"
  pullRequestId: {pull_request_id}
  threadId: {thread_id}
  status: "{resolve_status}"

Post-Publish Updates

After successful publish, update the draft file:

•Change status: draft to status: published
•For new comments: Add published_thread_id: {thread_id} from response
•Write updated file back

Example update:

yaml

# Before
status: draft
published_thread_id: null

# After
status: published
published_thread_id: 98765

Output

Success

code

Posted successfully!

PR: https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/repo/pullrequest/12345
Thread: #98765

Draft updated: .ado-drafts/20250210-143022-pr-comment-nil-check.md

Failure

code

Failed to post comment:

Error: [error message from MCP]

Draft NOT modified. Fix the issue and try again.

Example Session

User: /dataops-assistant:ado-pr-comment-publish .ado-drafts/20250210-143022-pr-comment-nil-check.md

Response:

code

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| PREVIEW: Add Comment                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Target: PR #12345 in clinical-matching/cms-service  |
| Location: /src/retry.go:42                          |
|                                                     |
| Comment:                                            |
| ---------                                           |
| Consider adding a nil check here - `config.Retry`   |
| could be nil if the config file doesn't have a      |
| retry section.                                      |
|                                                     |
| ```go                                               |
| if config.Retry == nil {                            |
|     return defaultRetryConfig()                     |
| }                                                   |
| ```                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Post this comment?

User: Yes

Response:

code

Posted successfully!

PR: https://dev.azure.com/mcgsead/clinical-matching/_git/cms-service/pullrequest/12345
Thread: #98765

Draft updated: .ado-drafts/20250210-143022-pr-comment-nil-check.md

Rules

•ALWAYS preview before execution - No exceptions
•ALWAYS ask for approval - User must explicitly confirm
•ALWAYS resolve repository GUID - MCP requires GUIDs, not names
•ALWAYS include project - Required for all MCP calls
•Validate before preview - Don't show preview if fields missing
•Update draft after publish - Mark as published with thread ID
•Don't modify draft on failure - Only update on success