azure-devops-local-mcp — Azure DevOps for Claude

A local MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that connects Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Claude Chat to your Azure DevOps organisation — query work items, review pull requests, trigger pipelines, search code, manage test plans, and update wikis using plain language.

One-file install for Claude Desktop. Runs entirely on your machine.

Why this server?

Microsoft maintains an official azure-devops-mcp server, and if you use VS Code with GitHub Copilot against their hosted remote server, it is a great choice. This project exists for a different scenario:

• Claude-first. One-file MCPB install for Claude Desktop (no Node.js required), a hardened local HTTP mode, and setup scripts and manuals written for Claude Code. The official server is built VS Code-first and ships via npm only.

• Local-first, by design. Microsoft is moving development to their hosted remote server and recommends local users plan a migration. This server is and stays a local process: your PAT and your traffic never route through a third-party MCP endpoint — which matters in regulated and security-conscious environments.

• Simple auth. One PAT in an environment variable or the Claude Desktop config. No Azure CLI, no interactive browser sign-in required.

• Small supply chain. Three runtime dependencies (@modelcontextprotocol/sdk, express, zod) against the official server's thirteen (as of September 2026) — easier to audit, smaller attack surface.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. "Azure DevOps" is a Microsoft trademark; the name is used descriptively. For the official server, see microsoft/azure-devops-mcp.

If you need Advanced Security alerts, team capacity planning, or the hosted remote server, use the official one. If you want a lean local server for Claude, you are in the right place.

Supported areas

Install — Claude Desktop (recommended)

The prebuilt MCP Bundle (.mcpb) is the easiest way in. One file covers macOS, Windows, and Linux, and no Node.js installation is required — Claude Desktop runs the server with its bundled runtime.

1. Download azure-devops-local-mcp-<version>.mcpb from the latest release.

2. Open the file with Claude Desktop — double-click it, or drag it into Settings → Extensions.

3. Fill in the configuration fields:

   • Azure DevOps organization URL (required), e.g. https://dev.azure.com/yourorg

   • Personal Access Token (required) — see Personal Access Token below for scopes. The token is masked and stored securely by Claude Desktop.

   • Default project (optional)

   • Log level (optional, default info)

4. Enable the extension. No restart or manual config file editing is needed.

To build the bundle from source, run bash scripts/make-mcpb.sh — it outputs distribution/azure-devops-local-mcp-<version>.mcpb.

Install — Claude Code (from source)

The package is not yet published to npm (see Roadmap). Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/Laonnda/azure-devops-local-mcp.git
cd azure-devops-local-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm install -g .

Then create a .mcp.json file in your project folder (or a parent folder to share it across projects):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ado": {
      "command": "azure-devops-local-mcp",
      "env": {
        "ADO_ORG_URL": "https://dev.azure.com/your-org",
        "ADO_PAT": "your-pat-here",
        "ADO_DEFAULT_PROJECT": "MyProject"
      }
    }
  }
}

Run /mcp inside Claude Code to confirm the connection.

On Windows, setup.bat / setup.ps1 automate the Claude Desktop JSON-config route if you prefer a scripted install over the MCPB bundle.

HTTP mode (advanced)

The server can also run as a local HTTP endpoint for MCP clients that connect over HTTP:

azure-devops-local-mcp --transport http

It binds to 127.0.0.1:3100 and serves MCP at http://127.0.0.1:3100/mcp. Note that the hosted claude.ai cannot reach a localhost URL: to use this server with Claude Chat on the web you would need to expose it through your own tunnel or reverse proxy. If you do, set ADO_HTTP_TOKEN — the server refuses to bind beyond loopback without it, and with it every /mcp request must carry Authorization: Bearer <token>. Treat that setup as advanced: the token guards a PAT with real permissions.

Personal Access Token

Create a PAT in Azure DevOps (profile icon → Personal access tokens) with only the scopes you need:

Configuration

* PAT is the simplest method. OAuth 2.0 and Azure Managed Identity are also supported — see .env.example for the alternative variables.

Security model

• Your PAT stays local. The server is a local process; credentials live in environment variables or the Claude Desktop extension config and are never logged. API responses are scrubbed for credential-shaped fields before they reach the model.

• Treat Azure DevOps content as untrusted input. Work item text, PR comments, and wiki pages written by others are returned to the model verbatim and can contain adversarial instructions ("prompt injection"). If your PAT has write scopes, a hostile work item can try to steer the model into using them. Give the PAT the narrowest scopes you can, and prefer read-only tokens for browsing workflows.

• Read-only mode. Set ADO_READ_ONLY=true and the server only registers read tools — no writes are possible regardless of what the model is asked to do. Recommended wherever you don't actively need writes.

• HTTP mode is loopback-only by default and requires ADO_HTTP_TOKEN to bind wider. See HTTP mode.

Roadmap

Documentation

• User manual — written for non-developers setting up Claude with Azure DevOps

• Technical manual — architecture, tool reference, and development guide

License

MIT