Search Less, Build More: Inner Sourcing with GitHub CoPilot and ADO MCP Server
Developers burn cycles context‑switching: opening five repos to find a logging example, searching a wiki for a data masking rule, scrolling chat history for the latest pipeline pattern. Organisations that I speak to are often on the path of transformational platform engineering projects but always have the fear or doubt of "what if my engineers don't use these resources". While projects like Backstage still play a pivotal role in inner sourcing and discoverability I also empathise with developers who would argue "How would I even know in the first place, which modules have or haven't been created for reuse". In this blog we explore how we can ensure organisational standards and developer satisfaction without any heavy lifting on either side, no custom model training, no rewriting or relocating of repositories and no stagnant local data. Using GitHub CoPilot + Azure DevOps MCP server (with the free `code_search` extension) we turn the IDE into an organizational knowledge interface. Instead of guessing or re‑implementing, engineers can start scaffolding projects or solving issues as they would normally (hopefully using CoPilot) and without extra prompting. GitHub CoPilot can lean into organisational standards and ensure recommendations are made with code snippets directly generated from existing examples. What Is the Azure DevOps MCP Server + code_search Extension? MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets agents (like GitHub Copilot) pull in structured, on-demand context from external systems. MCP servers contain natural language explanations of the tools that the agent can utilise allowing dynamic decision making of when to implement certain toolsets over others. The Azure DevOps MCP Server is the ADO Product Team's implementation of that standard. It exposes your ADO environment in a way CoPilot can consume. Out of the box it gives you access to: Projects – list and navigate across projects in your organization. Repositories – browse repos, branches, and files. Work items – surface user stories, bugs, or acceptance criteria. Wiki's – pull policies, standards, and documentation. This means CoPilot can ground its answers in live ADO content, instead of hallucinating or relying only on what’s in the current editor window. The ADO server runs locally from your own machine to ensure that all sensitive project information remains within your secure network boundary. This also means that existing permissions on ADO objects such as Projects or Repositories are respected. Wiki search tooling available out of the box with ADO MCP server is very useful however if I am honest I have seen these wiki's go unused with documentation being stored elsewhere either inside the repository or in a project management tool. This means any tool that needs to implement code requires the ability to accurately search the code stored in the repositories themself. That is where the code_search extension enablement in ADO is so important. Most organisations have this enabled already however it is worth noting that this pre-requisite is the real unlock of cross-repo search. This allows for CoPilot to: Query for symbols, snippets, or keywords across all repos. Retrieve usage examples from code, not just docs. Locate standards (like logging wrappers or retry policies) wherever they live. Back every recommendation with specific source lines. In short: MCP connects CoPilot to Azure DevOps. code_search makes that connection powerful by turning it into a discovery engine. What is the relevance of CoPilot Instructions? One of the less obvious but most powerful features of GitHub CoPilot is its ability to follow instructions files. CoPilot automatically looks for these files and uses them as a “playbook” for how it should behave. There are different types of instructions you can provide: Organisational instructions – apply across your entire workspace, regardless of which repo you’re in. Repo-specific instructions – scoped to a particular repository, useful when one project has unique standards or patterns. Personal instructions – smaller overrides layered on top of global rules when a local exception applies. (Stored in .github/copilot-instructions.md) In this solution, I’m using a single personal instructions file. It tells CoPilot: When to search (e.g., always query repos and wikis before answering a standards question). Where to look (Azure DevOps repos, wikis, and with code_search, the code itself). How to answer (responses must cite the repo/file/line or wiki page; if no source is found, say so). How to resolve conflicts (prefer dated wiki entries over older README fragments). As a small example, a section of a CoPilot instruction file could look like this: # GitHub Copilot Instructions for Azure DevOps MCP Integration This project uses Azure DevOps with MCP server integration to provide organizational context awareness. Always check to see if the Azure DevOps MCP server has a tool relevant to the user's request. ## Core Principles ### 1. Azure DevOps Integration - **Always prioritize Azure DevOps MCP tools** when users ask about: - Work items, stories, bugs, tasks - Pull requests and code reviews - Build pipelines and deployments - Repository operations and branch management - Wiki pages and documentation - Test plans and test cases - Project and team information ### 2. Organizational Context Awareness - Before suggesting solutions, **check existing organizational patterns** by: - Searching code across repositories for similar implementations - Referencing established coding standards and frameworks - Looking for existing shared libraries and utilities - Checking architectural decision records (ADRs) in wikis ### 3. Cross-Repository Intelligence - When providing code suggestions: - **Search for existing patterns** in other repositories first - **Reference shared libraries** and common utilities - **Maintain consistency** with organizational standards - **Suggest reusable components** when appropriate ## Tool Usage Guidelines ### Work Items and Project Management When users mention bugs, features, tasks, or project planning: ``` ✅ Use: wit_my_work_items, wit_create_work_item, wit_update_work_item ✅ Use: wit_list_backlogs, wit_get_work_items_for_iteration ✅ Use: work_list_team_iterations, core_list_projects The result... To test this I created 3 ADO Projects each with between 1-2 repositories. The repositories were light with only ReadMe's inside containing descriptions of the "repo" and some code snippets examples for usage. I have then created a brand-new workspace with no context apart from a CoPilot instructions document (which could be part of a repo scaffold or organisation wide) which tells CoPilot to search code and the wikis across all ADO projects in my demo environment. It returns guidance and standards from all available repo's and starts to use it to formulate its response. In the screenshot I have highlighted some key parts with red boxes. The first being a section of the readme that CoPilot has identified in its response, that part also highlighted within CoPilot chat response. I have highlighted the rather generic prompt I used to get this response at the bottom of that window too. Above I have highlighted CoPilot using the MCP server tooling searching through projects, repo's and code. Finally the largest box highlights the instructions given to CoPilot on how to search and how easily these could be optimised or changed depending on the requirements and organisational coding standards. How did I implement this? Implementation is actually incredibly simple. As mentioned I created multiple projects and repositories within my ADO Organisation in order to test cross-project & cross-repo discovery. I then did the following: Enable code_search - in your Azure DevOps organization (Marketplace → install extension). Login to Azure - Use the AZ CLI to authenticate to Azure with "az login". Create vscode/mcp.json file - Snippet is provided below, the organisation name should be changed to your organisations name. Start and enable your MCP server - In the mcp.json file you should see a "Start" button. Using the snippet below you will be prompted to add your organisation name. Ensure your CoPilot agent has access to the server under "tools" too. View this setup guide for full setup instructions (azure-devops-mcp/docs/GETTINGSTARTED.md at main · microsoft/azure-devops-mcp) Create a CoPilot Instructions file - with a search-first directive. I have inserted the full version used in this demo at the bottom of the article. Experiment with Prompts – Start generic (“How do we secure APIs?”). Review the output and tools used and then tailor your instructions. Considerations While this is a great approach I do still have some considerations when going to production. Latency - Using MCP tooling on every request will add some latency to developer requests. We can look at optimizing usage through copilot instructions to better identify when CoPilot should or shouldn't use the ADO MCP server. Complex Projects and Repositories - While I have demonstrated cross project and cross repository retrieval my demo environment does not truly simulate an enterprise ADO environment. Performance should be tested and closely monitored as organisational complexity increases. Public Preview - The ADO MCP server is moving quickly but is currently still public preview. We have demonstrated in this article how quickly we can make our Azure DevOps content discoverable. While their are considerations moving forward this showcases a direction towards agentic inner sourcing. Feel free to comment below how you think this approach could be extended or augmented for other use cases! Resources MCP Server Config (/.vscode/mcp.json) { "inputs": [ { "id": "ado_org", "type": "promptString", "description": "Azure DevOps organization name (e.g. 'contoso')" } ], "servers": { "ado": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@azure-devops/mcp", "${input:ado_org}"] } } } CoPilot Instructions (/.github/copilot-instructions.md) # GitHub Copilot Instructions for Azure DevOps MCP Integration This project uses Azure DevOps with MCP server integration to provide organizational context awareness. Always check to see if the Azure DevOps MCP server has a tool relevant to the user's request. ## Core Principles ### 1. Azure DevOps Integration - **Always prioritize Azure DevOps MCP tools** when users ask about: - Work items, stories, bugs, tasks - Pull requests and code reviews - Build pipelines and deployments - Repository operations and branch management - Wiki pages and documentation - Test plans and test cases - Project and team information ### 2. Organizational Context Awareness - Before suggesting solutions, **check existing organizational patterns** by: - Searching code across repositories for similar implementations - Referencing established coding standards and frameworks - Looking for existing shared libraries and utilities - Checking architectural decision records (ADRs) in wikis ### 3. Cross-Repository Intelligence - When providing code suggestions: - **Search for existing patterns** in other repositories first - **Reference shared libraries** and common utilities - **Maintain consistency** with organizational standards - **Suggest reusable components** when appropriate ## Tool Usage Guidelines ### Work Items and Project Management When users mention bugs, features, tasks, or project planning: ``` ✅ Use: wit_my_work_items, wit_create_work_item, wit_update_work_item ✅ Use: wit_list_backlogs, wit_get_work_items_for_iteration ✅ Use: work_list_team_iterations, core_list_projects ``` ### Code and Repository Operations When users ask about code, branches, or pull requests: ``` ✅ Use: repo_list_repos_by_project, repo_list_pull_requests_by_repo ✅ Use: repo_list_branches_by_repo, repo_search_commits ✅ Use: search_code for finding patterns across repositories ``` ### Documentation and Knowledge Sharing When users need documentation or want to create/update docs: ``` ✅ Use: wiki_list_wikis, wiki_get_page_content, wiki_create_or_update_page ✅ Use: search_wiki for finding existing documentation ``` ### Build and Deployment When users ask about builds, deployments, or CI/CD: ``` ✅ Use: pipelines_get_builds, pipelines_get_build_definitions ✅ Use: pipelines_run_pipeline, pipelines_get_build_status ``` ## Response Patterns ### 1. Discovery First Before providing solutions, always discover organizational context: ``` "Let me first check what patterns exist in your organization..." → Search code, check repositories, review existing work items ``` ### 2. Reference Organizational Standards When suggesting code or approaches: ``` "Based on patterns I found in your [RepositoryName] repository..." "Following your organization's standard approach seen in..." "This aligns with the pattern established in [TeamName]'s implementation..." ``` ### 3. Actionable Integration Always offer to create or update Azure DevOps artifacts: ``` "I can create a work item for this enhancement..." "Should I update the wiki page with this new pattern?" "Let me link this to the current iteration..." ``` ## Specific Scenarios ### New Feature Development 1. **Search existing repositories** for similar features 2. **Check architectural patterns** and shared libraries 3. **Review related work items** and planning documents 4. **Suggest implementation** based on organizational standards 5. **Offer to create work items** and documentation ### Bug Investigation 1. **Search for similar issues** across repositories and work items 2. **Check related builds** and recent changes 3. **Review test results** and failure patterns 4. **Provide solution** based on organizational practices 5. **Offer to create/update** bug work items and documentation ### Code Review and Standards 1. **Compare against organizational patterns** found in other repositories 2. **Reference coding standards** from wiki documentation 3. **Suggest improvements** based on established practices 4. **Check for reusable components** that could be leveraged ### Documentation Requests 1. **Search existing wikis** for related content 2. **Check for ADRs** and technical documentation 3. **Reference patterns** from similar projects 4. **Offer to create/update** wiki pages with findings ## Error Handling If Azure DevOps MCP tools are not available or fail: 1. **Inform the user** about the limitation 2. **Provide alternative approaches** using available information 3. **Suggest manual steps** for Azure DevOps integration 4. **Offer to help** with configuration if needed ## Best Practices ### Always Do: - ✅ Search organizational context before suggesting solutions - ✅ Reference existing patterns and standards - ✅ Offer to create/update Azure DevOps artifacts - ✅ Maintain consistency with organizational practices - ✅ Provide actionable next steps ### Never Do: - ❌ Suggest solutions without checking organizational context - ❌ Ignore existing patterns and implementations - ❌ Provide generic advice when specific organizational context is available - ❌ Forget to offer Azure DevOps integration opportunities --- **Remember: The goal is to provide intelligent, context-aware assistance that leverages the full organizational knowledge base available through Azure DevOps while maintaining development efficiency and consistency.**
Highlights from Microsoft Build 2025
Microsoft just held its annual Microsoft Build event for developers. The live event might be over, but we have highlights and other content that will keep the excitement going. Explore on-demand sessions, learn about recent product announcements, watch deep technical demos, and discover fresh resources for learning cutting-edge developer skills. Microsoft Build opening keynote The world of development—its tools and its possibilities—is rapidly evolving. In the Microsoft Build keynote, Satya Nadella discusses the agentic web, current dev tools, the dev landscape right now, and where it’s headed. GitHub Copilot: Meet the new coding agent Check out the exciting new coding agent for GitHub Copilot. Just assign a task or issue to Copilot and it will run in the background, pushing commits to a draft pull request as it works. Read the blog for details. Scott and Mark Learn to… In this session from Microsoft Build, Mark Russinovich and Scott Hanselman combine tools and topics into one epic demo of AI-driven robotics. No pre-recorded videos. Just live code, dev tools, a robot, and a can of cola. "Another Highly Technical Talk" with Hanselman and Toub Level up your debugging, performance, and optimization skills. In this highly technical session from Microsoft Build, Scott Hanselman and Stephen Toub discuss the internals of. NET as they look for performance issues and fix them live on stage. Building agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot From Copilot Studio to Visual Studio and Azure AI Foundry, explore your options for building agents for Microsoft 365. This Microsoft Build session looks at what's new with tools for creating powerful agents. Unleash developer potential with AI and Dev Box Microsoft is transforming next-gen dev environments. See how Microsoft Dev Box accelerates AI development with a customizable, project-centric platform and integration with various dev tools. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Tuning, multi-agent orchestration, and more Tune AI models using your company’s data, workflows, and processes. Microsoft 365 Copilot Tuning is a new, low-code solution in Microsoft Copilot Studio. Advancing Windows for AI development: New platform capabilities and tools What’s new for Windows? Read an overview of the latest advancements that make Windows an even better platform for developers in the era of AI. Learn about Windows AI Foundry, Windows ML, App Actions, and more. Announcing General Availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service At Microsoft Build, Microsoft announced the general availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service. Find out how this empowers developers to create multi-agent systems for mission-critical workloads. Start learning: .NET Workshops and Presentations on GitHub Get hands-on experience with .NET workshops and labs, including new labs from Microsoft Build. Head over to the .NET Workshops and Presentations repo on GitHub. Unlock developer potential with Microsoft Dev Box Find out how Microsoft Dev Box can accelerate AI development. Get AI-powered, ready-to-code environments with the tools your team needs—for fast, flexible, and secure experiences. Learn about new features, like serverless GPU access and the Dev Box MCP server. Use VS Code to build AI apps and agents Want to bring your AI-powered solutions to life faster? Find out how to streamline your dev workflow by exploring models, iterating on prompts, running evaluations, and deploying agents—all within Visual Studio Code. Join the Azure AI Foundry Developer Community Need quick answers? Looking for all the latest news and changes? The Azure AI Foundry Developer Community is here to support you in building your next great project. VS Code: Open Source AI Editor The GitHub Copilot Chat extension is being open sourced under the MIT license and key components are being refactored into Visual Studio Code core. Read the blog and find out why we believe the future of code editors should be open and AI-poweredGet ready for Microsoft Build 2025
Microsoft Build is just a few weeks away. To celebrate, we’re highlighting resources that will help you get ready for the big event. Explore some of the exciting sessions you can join in-person or online, learn new skills before jumping into live deep-dive sessions, brush up on best practices, and get up to speed on the latest developer tools so you can hit the event ready to take your knowledge (and your applications) to the next level. Connect, code, and grow at Build It’s almost time for Microsoft Build! Can’t join the event live in-person? No problem. You can still experience the event streaming live online for free (May 19-22). Watch the keynote, join live sessions, learn new skills, and watch in-depth demos. Join the .NET & C# teams at Microsoft Build 2025 Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with the .NET and C# teams at Microsoft Build. There are more than 75 .NET sessions planned for this year’s event. Check out this blog post for highlights of some of the .NET sessions to watch for. How Microsoft developers use AI in real-world coding Tired of the AI hype? Watch this Microsoft Build session to see how real developers at Microsoft use GitHub Copilot in their own coding workflows, with live coding demos. Leave with practical tips for applying AI to your coding. What's next in C# This Microsoft Build session will provide a demo-rich tour of upcoming features in C# 14 and beyond. See what’s next in C# and discover how C# keeps making your code clearer, cleaner, and more expressive. Python meets .NET: Building AI solutions with combined strengths Python and .NET are a great combination! Join this Microsoft Build session where Scott Hanselman and Anthony Shaw will discuss and demo how Python can help spice up your .NET applications. Under the hood and into the magic of GitHub Copilot Have you ever wondered how GitHub Copilot turns prompts into code suggestions? In this Microsoft Build session, the GitHub Copilot team will look at how they built this tool, how it works, and how it keeps up in a quickly evolving landscape. VS Code, Live! at Microsoft Build VS Code, Live! is doing a special in-person session—and you’re invited. Join the session at Microsoft Build (or stream it online) to watch interactive demos, see some sneak peeks, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest announcements. Which AI model should I use with GitHub Copilot? If you’ve ever wondered which AI model is the best fit for your GitHub Copilot project, you’re not alone. Each model has its own strengths and picking the right one can feel mysterious. This blog post outlines things to consider when deciding. Elevate your AI skills today Unlock the power of AI and prepare for the upcoming Microsoft Build event. Visit the AI learning hub on Microsoft Learn to explore innovative technologies, learn new skills, and improve your developer productivity. Top 12 scenarios to streamline Azure tasks in VS Code using GitHub Copilot GitHub Copilot for Azure can help streamline your Azure workflows. This collection of videos explores 12 scenarios where GitHub Copilot can accelerate your cloud projects and developer tasks. VS Code agent mode just changed everything Can Visual Studio Code agent mode build an entire app for you complete with a database? Burke Holland demonstrates how. But will it work? You’ll have to watch the video to find out. .NET Conf: Focus on Modernization Missed the .NET Conf: Focus on Modernization event? Catch up on all the sessions with the on-demand playlist. Inside Microsoft Dev Box: Scalable cloud development Microsoft Dev Box provides secure, ready-to-code cloud development environments that help teams move faster and stay secure. Watch a demo of how a company would set up Microsoft Dev Box for their developers in Seattle and Berlin. AI Skills Fest Challenge: Extend Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Teams with agents and apps Join the challenge and learn how to extend Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Microsoft Teams with custom apps and agents. This challenge will guide you through modules that help you learn along the way. Developer focused how-tos, use cases, and solutions on Microsoft Azure Want a dive into developer focused “How To” content, explore use cases, and learn about solutions? Check out the All Things Azure blog. Learn how to build multi-agent AI apps, understand how GitHub Copilot works under the hood, and more. Sip & Sync with Azure Watch the Sip & Sync with Azure video series to get up to speed on the latest Azure and AI information. Episodes explore topics like GenAI on Azure and quickly building AI agents with Azure AI Foundry. Season of Agents: Find an event near you Find a local event to dive into agents and learn new skills. Watch JDConf 2025 on demand JDConf 2025 is over but you can still watch the sessions on demand. Learn about building modern apps in the cloud, integrating AI, using AI-assisted dev tools, and other critical skills for Java developers. From prompt to production: Build a landing page with Copilot agent mode See how you can build a developer-focused landing page in under 30 minutes using GitHub Copilot agent mode and Claude 3.5 Sonnet—with just screenshots and prompts.
Printing from RDP session not working on macOS Sequoia 15.4
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that printing from a Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta session using a redirected printer does not appear to work on macOS Sequoia. The issue has been present since version 15.1.1 and continues in the latest 15.4 update. I’ve tested several versions of Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta, including 10.9.3, 10.7.5, 10.6.8, and others. In all of them, the printer appears inside the RDP session, and the print job briefly enters the queue before disappearing without printing. Additionally, in the new Windows App, as well as in Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta starting with version 10.9.4 (2160), no printers appear at all inside the RDP session — printer redirection seems to be completely absent. For comparison, on a MacBook Pro 13" (2017) running macOS Ventura 13.7.2 with Microsoft Remote Desktop 10.9.10 (2327), everything works as expected. Please let me know if this is a known issue or if a workaround is available.Boost Your Development with Azure Tools for Visual Studio Code
As the cloud becomes essential for modern software development, integrating cloud solutions into your development process can significantly boost productivity. Microsoft Azure offers a comprehensive suite of services and tools to help developers create, deploy, and manage cloud applications. Using Azure extensions for Visual Studio Code is one of the simplest ways to utilize Azure’s features. This blog post will discuss using the Azure Tools extension pack for Visual Studio Code and the best extensions for various development roles.
Flagged email opens in web app
Hello! Is there a way to get the flagged emails to open in the desktop app vs opening via the web app? The web app I have not found a way to mark flagged items as "done" vs just unflagging them. Also I've noticed that when I mark something as "Done" in my outlook and it changes the flag it doesn't update the to do. Is there something I'm missing here?It's time to 🍂 #FallForIntelligentApps 🍂
Today, we kick off the Fall season with content and activities to skill you up on all things Intelligent Apps or AI Apps on Azure with content, events, and community interactions. It is time to combine the power of AI, cloud-native application development, and, cloud-scale data to create highly differentiated digital experiences by building and modernizing intelligent applications with Azure for your users. Check out the blog below for some learning resources: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/it-s-time-to-fallforintelligentapps/ba-p/3931266 What new skills or technologies are you focused on learning this fall?
personal account authentication in Azure Active directory
AADSTS500200: User account 'email address removed for privacy reasons' is a personal Microsoft account. Personal Microsoft accounts are not supported for this application unless explicitly invited to an organization. Try signing out and signing back in with an organizational account. i checked the signInAudience: "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount" in manifest but it also give the same error
