Image Courtesy: Microsoft

October 13, 2025 – Microsoft has officially announced the general availability (GA) of its local MCP Server for Azure DevOps, marking a major step forward in enabling secure, intelligent, and context-rich AI integrations for DevOps teams.

The news, shared by Dan Hellem, Product Manager for Azure Boards, follows months of active community engagement and feedback during the public preview phase.

A Smarter Bridge Between AI and Azure DevOps

The local Model Context Provider (MCP) Server acts as a powerful intermediary between AI assistants — such as GitHub Copilot — and a user’s Azure DevOps environment. It provides real-time, project-specific context including work items, pull requests, repositories, wikis, and test plans.

Unlike cloud-hosted MCP Servers, the local deployment runs securely within an organization’s network, ensuring that sensitive project data never leaves the local environment. This design is ideal for enterprises that prioritize data security and compliance while still benefiting from AI-driven insights and automation.

Hellem explained that the team worked closely with early adopters to refine the experience:

“Since the initial preview, we’ve improved login and authorization, enhanced tooling, and introduced domains that help scope active tools under client limits,” he noted.

General Availability Means Greater Stability

While open-source projects often blur the line between preview and GA, Microsoft emphasized that the shift to general availability brings stronger stability guarantees. Updates will now follow a more deliberate release cadence to reduce breaking changes and ensure reliability across environments.

“You can still expect active engagement, community collaboration, and continuous improvements,” Hellem added. “The GA milestone simply means we’re locking in a more stable foundation for everyone building on top of the MCP Server.”

Getting Started

Developers eager to try out the local MCP Server can follow a straightforward setup process:

1. Clone or navigate to the Azure DevOps MCP Server repository.

2. Open Visual Studio Code and configure the .vscode/mcp.json file.

3. Start the local MCP Server and connect tools to your Azure DevOps instance.

Microsoft recommends following the full installation and troubleshooting guides in the repository for detailed steps and configuration examples.

What’s Next

With GA now achieved, the Azure DevOps team plans to expand tool coverage, revisit community backlog requests, and invest in new integrations. The project remains open-source, and contributions are actively encouraged through the GitHub repository.

Users encountering issues or offering suggestions are invited to submit feedback directly through GitHub Issues.

For more information and to get started, visit the Azure DevOps MCP Server repository.

About Microsoft Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps provides developer services to support teams in planning work, collaborating on code development, and building and deploying applications. With the introduction of local MCP Servers, Microsoft continues to empower development teams to blend AI assistance with enterprise-grade security and control.