Regarding automation of Variable Groups using Powershell

Take this:

Using PowerShell
1. Install Azure DevOps CLI:

• Make sure you have the Azure DevOps CLI extension installed:

az extension add --name azure-devops

2. Authenticate:

• Log in to Azure DevOps using a service principal or personal access token (PAT):

az login --service-principal --username "<SPN_APP_ID>" --password "<SPN_SECRET>" --tenant "<TENANT_ID>"

3. Create a Variable Group:

• Use the following command to create a variable group and add variables:

az pipelines variable-group create --name "<GroupName>" --authorize true --variables key1=value1 key2=value2

Using REST API
1. Generate a PAT:

• Create a personal access token (PAT) in Azure DevOps with the necessary permissions.

2. Make API Calls:

• Use the following API endpoint to create a variable group:

POST https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/{project}/_apis/distributedtask/variablegroups?api-version=6.0-preview.2

• Include the variable group details in the request body:

{
  "name": "MyVariableGroup",
  "variables": {
    "key1": {
      "value": "value1",
      "isSecret": false
    },
    "key2": {
      "value": "value2",
      "isSecret": false
    }
  }
}

3. Automate with PowerShell:

• Use PowerShell to send the API request:

$url = "https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/{project}/_apis/distributedtask/variablegroups?api-version=6.0-preview.2"
$body = @{
  name = "MyVariableGroup"
  variables = @{
    key1 = @{ value = "value1"; isSecret = $false }
    key2 = @{ value = "value2"; isSecret = $false }
  }
} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $url -Method Post -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer <PAT>"} -Body $body -ContentType "application/json"