manage_work_items

Manage Azure DevOps work items including tasks, bugs, user stories, epics, and features. Supports 18 actions covering CRUD operations, comments, linking, batch operations, and querying.

Actions

Action	Description	Required Params	Optional Params	Write
get	Get a work item by ID	work_item_id	project_key	No
batch_get	Get multiple work items by IDs	work_item_ids	project_key, fields	No
create	Create a new work item	project_key, work_item_type, title	description, state, assigned_to, area_path, iteration_path, priority, parent_id, tags	Yes
update	Update an existing work item	work_item_id	project_key, title, description, state, assigned_to, area_path, iteration_path, priority, tags	Yes
delete	Delete a work item	work_item_id	project_key	Yes
add_comment	Add a comment to a work item	work_item_id, comment	project_key	Yes
update_comment	Update an existing comment	work_item_id, comment_id, comment	project_key	Yes
list_comments	List comments on a work item	work_item_id	project_key	No
get_links	Get work item relations/links	work_item_id	project_key	No
list_types	List available work item types	project_key		No
get_history	Get work item update history	work_item_id	project_key	No
batch_update	Update multiple work items at once	work_item_ids	project_key, title, description, state, assigned_to, area_path, iteration_path, priority, tags	Yes
add_children	Create child work items under a parent	parent_id, work_item_type, titles	project_key	Yes
link	Link two work items	work_item_id, target_id, link_type	project_key	Yes
unlink	Remove a relation from a work item	work_item_id, relation_index	project_key	Yes
add_artifact_link	Add an artifact link (e.g. commit)	work_item_id, artifact_uri, link_type	project_key, comment	Yes
my_items	List work items assigned to the current user	project_key	work_item_type, include_completed, top	No
iteration_items	List work items in an iteration	project_key, iteration_id	team	No

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
action	string	Required. The action to perform
project_key	string	Project name (required for most actions)
work_item_id	integer	Work item ID (required for get, update, delete, add_comment, list_comments, get_links, get_history)
work_item_ids	integer[]	Work item IDs for batch operations (max 200)
work_item_type	string	Work item type: Task, Bug, User Story, Epic, Feature, Issue (required for create)
title	string	Work item title (required for create)
description	string	Work item description in HTML (for create, update)
state	string	Work item state: New, Active, Closed, etc. (for update)
assigned_to	string	Assignee display name or email (for create, update)
area_path	string	Area path, e.g. Project\Team (for create, update)
iteration_path	string	Iteration path, e.g. Project\Sprint 1 (for create, update)
priority	integer	Priority: 1=Critical, 2=High, 3=Medium, 4=Low (for create, update)
parent_id	integer	Parent work item ID to link (for create, add_children)
tags	string	Semicolon-separated tags (for create, update)
comment	string	Comment text in HTML (for add_comment, update_comment, add_artifact_link)
comment_id	integer	Comment ID (required for update_comment)
query	string	WIQL query string
fields	string[]	Fields to return for batch_get. Default: System.Title, System.State, System.AssignedTo
top	integer	Max results to return (default 25 for my_items)
target_id	integer	Target work item ID (required for link)
link_type	string	Link type name, e.g. System.LinkTypes.Related, System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Forward
relation_index	integer	Relation index to remove (required for unlink)
artifact_uri	string	Artifact URI, e.g. vstfs:///Git/Commit/{projectId}%2F{repoId}%2F{commitId}
titles	string[]	List of titles for child work items (required for add_children)
team	string	Team name (optional, scopes iteration_items)
iteration_id	string	Iteration ID (required for iteration_items)
include_completed	boolean	Include completed/closed items (for my_items, default false)

Examples

Get a work item

{
  "action": "get",
  "work_item_id": 42
}

Create a bug

{
  "action": "create",
  "project_key": "MyProject",
  "work_item_type": "Bug",
  "title": "Login page returns 500 error",
  "description": "<p>Steps to reproduce...</p>",
  "priority": 2,
  "assigned_to": "jane@example.com"
}

Batch get work items with specific fields

{
  "action": "batch_get",
  "work_item_ids": [42, 43, 44],
  "fields": ["System.Title", "System.State", "System.AssignedTo"]
}

Link two work items

{
  "action": "link",
  "work_item_id": 42,
  "target_id": 100,
  "link_type": "System.LinkTypes.Related"
}

Get my active work items

{
  "action": "my_items",
  "project_key": "MyProject",
  "top": 50
}