Search Azure DevOps Work Items
Search for Azure DevOps work items using text search and various filters. This skill helps find bugs and user stories across the project.
When to Use
- •User asks to find tickets, work items, or issues
- •Searching for items by keyword, feature name, or topic
- •Filtering by state, type, assignment, or tags
- •Finding all items in an area or iteration
Prerequisites
- •Azure DevOps must be initialized with
Initialize-AzureDevOps - •PAT token must be set (via parameter or AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT environment variable)
Examples
Basic text search
powershell
Search-WorkItems -SearchText "PDF export"
Search with filters
powershell
Search-WorkItems -SearchText "authentication" -WorkItemType "Bug" -State "Active"
Search by assignment
powershell
Search-WorkItems -AssignedTo "john.doe@company.com" -State "Active"
Search by area path
powershell
Search-WorkItems -AreaPath "MyProject\Backend" -WorkItemType "User Story"
Search by tags
powershell
Search-WorkItems -Tags "bug-fix" -State "Closed"
Parameters
- •SearchText: Text to search in title and description
- •WorkItemType: Bug, User Story, Task, Feature, etc. NOTE: Only use "Bug" or "User Story" - exclude Enabler and other types
- •State: New, Active, Resolved, Closed, etc.
- •AssignedTo: User email or display name
- •AreaPath: Area path to search under
- •IterationPath: Iteration path to search under
- •Tags: Tags to filter by
- •Top: Maximum results (default 200)
Output
Returns array of work item objects with:
- •Id, Type, Title, State
- •AssignedTo, CreatedBy, Created/Changed dates
- •Description, Acceptance Criteria
- •Priority, Effort, Tags
- •Area/Iteration paths
- •Web URL for viewing in Azure DevOps
Tips for Copilot
- •IMPORTANT: Default to Bug or User Story types only - do not include Enabler or other work item types unless explicitly requested
- •When user mentions a feature or component, search for it
- •Try multiple related search terms if first search yields no results
- •Combine filters to narrow down results
- •Use State filter to focus on active work vs. completed items
- •When filtering results, exclude Enabler type by default