Enhanced GitHub integration and Azure Pipelines security

With this update, we have two new GitHub integration improvements to share. First, you can now create a new GitHub branch directly from a work item. Secondly, we have improved the connection experience to GitHub Repositories, reducing the risk of timeout errors and long wait times for customers with thousands of repositories.

In addition, we’re excited to announce that in Azure Pipelines, you can enhance pipeline security by making any YAML stage unskippable using a new property setting.

Check out the release notes for details.

Azure Boards

• Connect to GitHub repository search improvements
• Create GitHub branch from work item

Azure Pipelines

• Unskippable stages

Azure Boards

Connect to GitHub repository search improvements

We're excited to announce an improved process for connecting an Azure DevOps project to a GitHub organization, especially beneficial for those with thousands of repositories. Previously, you might have faced challenges like timeout errors and long wait times. Our latest update optimizes the search and selection experience, eliminating the risk of timeout errors and making the connection process smoother and more efficient.

Create GitHub branch from work item

Now, you can create a GitHub branch directly from a work item within Azure DevOps. The "New GitHub Branch" link is available whenever a GitHub connection is configured for your project. This link is available in all work item context menus, including the work item form, card, backlog, and queries. To create a new branch, enter the branch name and select the desired repository and base branch.

Azure Pipelines

Unskippable stages

You can use YAML templates as a security mechanism, for example, to inject a stage that performs malware detection in all pipelines. However, Pipeline end users can choose which stages to run, potentially skipping the malware detection stage.

With this sprint, you can mark a YAML stage as unskippable using the new isSkippable property. By default, the value of this property is true. To prevent skipping a stage, set it to false, as shown in the example below:

- stage: sdl_check_stage
  displayName: SDL Stage
  isSkippable: false
  jobs:
  - job: sdl_check_job
    ...

These stages will always execute and can't be deselected in the Stages to run configuration panel.

Next steps

Head over to Azure DevOps and take a look.

How to provide feedback

We would love to hear what you think about these features. Use the help menu to report a problem or provide a suggestion.

You can also get advice and your questions answered by the community on Stack Overflow.