Era 4 DevOps

An Azure DevOps extension to make logging hours easier.

Development

Local hot reload

1. Publish the dev extension once:

   pnpm run publish:dev -- --token [token]
   

   [token] must be an Azure DevOps PAT with Marketplace (Publish) scope and access to All accessible organizations.

2. Share the extension with your Azure DevOps organization and install it.

3. Start the dev server:

   pnpm run start:dev
   

4. Open https://localhost:3000 and accept the local certificate.

Debug in VS Code

1. Keep npm run start:dev running.
2. Press F5 in VS Code (Firefox launch profile).
3. Open the extension in Azure DevOps and debug as usual.

Build & publish scripts

Script overview

publish:dev publishes the TEST extension with baseUri pointing to https://localhost:3000. Run start:dev or start:local alongside it to serve assets locally.

Build/package by environment

• pnpm run package:test
• pnpm run package:acc
• pnpm run package:prod

Publish by environment

• pnpm run publish:test
• pnpm run publish:acc
• pnpm run publish:prod

These publish scripts use scripts/create-publish-overrides.js to generate configs/runtime.publish.json from:

• environment defaults (configs/test.json, configs/acc.json, configs/prod.json)
• optional runtime overrides:
  • ExtensionId
  • ExtensionName
  • PublishExtensionPublic
  • ExtensionVersion

When publishing locally without ExtensionVersion set, scripts/bump-patch-version.js is not called automatically — you need to bump the version in vss-extension.json manually before running a publish script.

CI/CD pipeline

Pipeline files:

• .azure/azure-pipelines.yml
• .azure/templates/environment-deployment.yml

Automatic version numbering

The pipeline determines the next version by querying the VS Marketplace REST API for the extension's currently published version, then incrementing the patch number. This keeps versioning in sync with what is actually live — no pipeline counter drift, no manual seed adjustments, and no commit-back to the repo required.

The logic lives in scripts/bump-patch-version.js:

1. On startup it resolves the extension ID from the ExtensionId environment variable (set per environment by the variable group) or falls back to the id in vss-extension.json.
2. It calls GET https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/_apis/public/gallery/publishers/{publisher}/extensions/{extensionId}?api-version=7.2-preview.1 — authenticated with AzureDevOps_Publish_PAT for private extensions.
3. If the extension is already published, it takes major.minor from vss-extension.json and computes patch = currentPublishedPatch + 1.
4. If the extension has never been published (HTTP 404), it uses the version in vss-extension.json as-is.
5. It emits the resolved version as an Azure Pipelines job variable (ExtensionVersion) consumed by the publish step.

In local mode (when TF_BUILD is not set), the script writes the bumped version back to vss-extension.json. If the Marketplace is unreachable locally, it falls back to incrementing the patch from the manifest.

The version field in vss-extension.json tracks major.minor and is the source of truth for any major or minor bumps — those must be updated manually.

Required variable group variables per environment

• AzureDevOps_Publish_PAT (secret)
• ExtensionId
• ExtensionName
• PublishExtensionPublic

⚠️ Version bump before local publish

When publishing locally (outside the pipeline), scripts/bump-patch-version.js queries the Marketplace and writes the bumped version back to vss-extension.json automatically. Run it before the publish script:

node scripts/bump-patch-version.js

If the Marketplace is unreachable, it falls back to incrementing the patch in vss-extension.json directly. Either way, ensure the version has been updated before publishing — the Marketplace will reject a publish if that version already exists.

Common publish failure

If you see a Marketplace error about an existing extension version, the resolved version was already published. This can happen if:

• Pipeline: the Marketplace API call returned a stale or unexpected version. Check the "Determine extension version" step logs.
• Local: run node scripts/bump-patch-version.js again, or manually increment vss-extension.json version.