mcp-ado-browser

Azure DevOps for MCP — via your browser, not a PAT.

An MCP (stdio) server that gives read-only access to Azure DevOps using only your existing browser session — no PAT, no Azure CLI, no official ADO MCP, no credential provider. The only source of authentication is the session of a real browser, driven by Playwright on an isolated, dedicated profile.

It is org-wide by default: only the organization is required, and it browses every project, repo and feed you can access.

Requests reuse whatever credential your signed-in browser session already carries. Where Azure DevOps authenticates the web app with a bearer token rather than cookies, the server loads the app shell once, observes the Authorization: Bearer header on the app's own API traffic, and replays that token for every host (dev.azure.com, feeds, pkgs, almsearch). You get JSON back — never DOM scraping for data the REST API provides. No PAT is ever created, and no token is written to disk.

Why these choices (restricted-environment friendly)

| Concern | Decision | |---|---| | No Playwright browser download | playwright-core + channel: 'chrome'/'msedge' uses an already-installed browser; nothing is downloaded. | | SQLite without a native build | node:sqlite (built into Node ≥ 22.5) — zero compilation. | | One package, one binary | The MCP server and the authenticate mechanism ship in the same package and the same npx binary. | | No hardcoded values | org/project/ids come from flags/env or discovery; api-versions live only in src/ado/versions.ts. |

How it works

flowchart TD
    A["authenticate<br/>(visible, chromeless window)"] -->|"sign in once · MFA"| P[("browser session<br/>persisted on an isolated profile")]
    P -. restored .-> W["headless work session"]
    W -->|"loads the app shell once"| T{{"session access token<br/>(observed, in memory only)"}}

    MC["MCP client<br/>(Claude / Cursor / …)"] -->|"tools/call"| SRV["mcp-ado-browser<br/>(stdio MCP server)"]
    SRV --> W
    T --> ADO["dev.azure.com · feeds · pkgs · almsearch<br/>(your real session)"]
    ADO -->|"JSON"| W
    W --> SRV
    SRV <-->|"TTL + Rev freshness"| DB[("SQLite cache")]

1. Authentication is your browser, not a PAT. authenticate opens a real, visible browser window on a dedicated, isolated profile (never your daily browser). You sign in normally (MFA included). The tool detects success by polling an authenticated endpoint, then snapshots the browser session to disk. No PAT is ever created.

2. Work runs headless. Subsequent runs launch the same profile headless and restore that snapshot — no window, no re-login until the session expires. The snapshot is needed because the cookie that keeps the Azure DevOps app shell loaded is a session cookie, which Chrome drops when it exits.

3. Requests reuse the web app's own credential. On the tenants this was tested against, the Azure DevOps web app authenticates its API with Authorization: Bearer (MSAL) and a cookie-only request gets 401 on every host — the sign-in URL even carries protocol=cookieless. (This is observed behaviour; we found no Microsoft announcement of such a change, so treat it as something that varies rather than a rule.) The server therefore loads the app shell once, observes the token on the app's own API calls, and replays it. One token covers dev.azure.com, feeds, pkgs and almsearch alike.

   The token is held in memory only and refreshed automatically on a 401. It is deliberately never written to disk: a bearer token reachable from JS is more exposed than an httpOnly cookie — Microsoft's own MSAL guidance states browser storage is only safe absent XSS, and that its cache encryption "reduce[s] the persistence of auth artifacts, not to provide additional security". This server does not widen that exposure.

4. 401 and 403 are kept distinct. 401 means the session is dead → AUTH_REQUIRED, re-run authenticate. 403 means you are signed in but lack permission on that resource (a private feed, say) → a 403 error saying so. Re-authenticating cannot fix a permission problem.

5. Responses are cached in a local SQLite DB (node:sqlite) with a configurable TTL. On a stale hit, a cheap freshness check (System.Rev for work items) avoids re-downloading unchanged data.

6. When the session dies, tools fail fast with AUTH_REQUIRED — just re-run authenticate and continue.

Getting started

Prerequisites: Node ≥ 22.5 and Google Chrome (or Microsoft Edge) installed. You do not need a PAT, the Azure CLI, or any admin setup.

Setup is two steps:

1. Register the server in your MCP client (one config entry — see your client below).
2. Sign in once — just ask your assistant: “authenticate to Azure DevOps”. The built-in authenticate tool opens a visible browser window; you log in (MFA), and the session is persisted. (No separate terminal command needed.) From then on everything runs headless until the session expires — then just ask it to authenticate again.

The command every client runs is the same:

npx -y mcp-ado-browser --org <your-org>

Config is passed as CLI flags (--org, --project, …) or env vars (ADO_ORG, …); flags win. Then ask things like “list my active pull requests”, “show work item 1234 and its linked PR”, or “what feeds and packages are in this org?”.

Tip: prefer per-user/local config (not committed) so your org name doesn't land in a shared repo. Or omit --org from a committed config and set ADO_ORG in your env.

Use it from your MCP client

claude mcp add ado --scope local -- npx -y mcp-ado-browser --org <your-org>

Then ask Claude to “authenticate to Azure DevOps”.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ado": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-ado-browser", "--org", "<your-org>"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "ado": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-ado-browser", "--org", "<your-org>"]
    }
  }
}

Open Copilot Chat in Agent mode and pick the ado tools. (Avoid committing your org — use ${env:ADO_ORG} or a personal config.)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ado": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-ado-browser", "--org", "<your-org>"]
    }
  }
}

[mcp_servers.ado]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-ado-browser", "--org", "<your-org>"]

After registering, trigger sign-in from the chat (“authenticate to Azure DevOps”), which runs the authenticate tool. Prefer a terminal instead? npx -y mcp-ado-browser authenticate --org <your-org> does the same thing. Tools return a structured AUTH_REQUIRED error when the session expires — re-authenticate and continue.

Tools (tools/list)

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | list_projects | All projects you can access (org-wide). | | list_repositories | All Git repos across the org (or one project). | | search_work_items | WIQL (org-wide by default) or full-text (almsearch); project to scope. | | get_work_item | Work item with $expand=all + relations (hierarchy, Related, PR ArtifactLink resolved). | | get_work_item_comments | The separate comments endpoint (project derived automatically). | | get_comment_details | A comment plus its downloaded attachments (size, sha256). | | search_pull_requests | PRs org-wide, by repo, or by project; filter by status/author/target. | | get_pull_request | Metadata, branches, reviewers, linked work items (repo by id or name). | | get_pull_request_comments | Threads, distinguishing system vs human. | | search_feeds | Artifacts feeds → packages → versions. | | download_artifact | .nupkg/.tgz from a feed (cross-host pkgs.dev.azure.com), with archive-integrity validation. | | authenticate | Opens a visible browser for interactive sign-in (MFA); persists the session. Run it once, or whenever a tool returns AUTH_REQUIRED. |

Commands

The single npx mcp-ado-browser binary has a few subcommands:

| Command | What it does | |---|---| | npx mcp-ado-browser --org <org> | Start the MCP stdio server (default). | | … authenticate --org <org> | Interactive sign-in (visible browser). Same as the authenticate tool. | | … status --org <org> | Show the profile/cache paths, the org, and whether the session is signed in (and as who). | | … logout | Clear the persisted session and the cache (a local sign-out). No org needed. |

Switching org with the same account needs nothing special — just change --org; one sign-in covers every org that account can access. A different account → logout first, then authenticate against the other org.

Where it stores things

Everything is local to your machine, under a single dedicated folder (mode 700, never committed). Nothing is hosted remotely — the server is a local process spawned by your MCP client over stdio.

| What | Path (default) | |---|---| | Browser session (profile) | macOS/Linux: ~/.mcp-ado-browser/profile/ · Windows: C:\Users\<you>\.mcp-ado-browser\profile\ | | Session snapshot (mode 600) | …/.mcp-ado-browser/session-state.json — the session cookies Chrome will not keep on its own. Treat it like a credential; logout deletes it. | | SQLite cache | …/.mcp-ado-browser/cache.sqlite | | Package code (npx cache) | macOS/Linux: ~/.npm/_npx/<hash>/…/mcp-ado-browser · Windows: …\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_npx\<hash>\… (see npm config get cache) |

Reset everything (forces re-login): logout, or rm -rf ~/.mcp-ado-browser.

Configuration

| Flag | Env | Default | Meaning | |---|---|---|---| | --org | ADO_ORG | — | Organization (required). | | --project | ADO_PROJECT | — | Default project scope (optional; org-wide otherwise). | | --user-data-dir | ADO_USER_DATA_DIR | ~/.mcp-ado-browser/profile | Isolated persistent browser profile. | | — | ADO_SESSION_STATE | ~/.mcp-ado-browser/session-state.json | Session snapshot (mode 600) that keeps you signed in across browser restarts. | | --channel | ADO_BROWSER_CHANNEL | chrome | chrome or msedge. | | --cache-ttl | ADO_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS | 900 | Global cache TTL. Per-resource: ADO_CACHE_TTL_WORKITEM=60. | | --api-version | ADO_API_VERSION | discovery/defaults | Force an api-version for all areas. | | --no-app-window | ADO_APP_WINDOW=0 | app mode | Use a normal browser window for sign-in. | | --headed | ADO_HEADLESS=0 | headless | Run work with a visible window. |

Development & verification

npm install
npm run build
npm run verify           # all offline gates (browser stack, MCP, tools, cache, artifacts, no-hardcoding)
npm run verify:live      # adds the live acceptance pass against real Azure DevOps
npm run scan:secrets     # pre-push secret / sensitive-data scan
npm run demo:live        # drive the real stdio server as an MCP client (env-driven)

npm run verify prints a detailed report, gate by gate, assertion by assertion. BLOCKED_ON_AUTH is transitory: the run is not done until the live pass is green; the only tolerated terminal exclusion is EMPIRICALLY_BLOCKED (with evidence), for the cross-host artifact download only.

Security & privacy

• Authentication is only your real browser session on a dedicated, isolated profile — no PAT or token is ever created, stored, or transmitted by this tool.
• The session lives in ~/.mcp-ado-browser/profile (machine-local, gitignored).
• Fixtures and reports are anonymized; npm run scan:secrets blocks pushes that would leak personal/org data or secrets (also enforced in CI).

License

MIT © VMargan