get_work_item_templates

Retrieve work item templates for a team in Azure DevOps to find available templates, get template IDs, or filter by work item type.

Instructions

    Gets a list of all work item templates for a team.
    
    Use this tool when you need to:
    - Find available templates for creating work items
    - Get template IDs for use in other operations
    - Filter templates by work item type
    
    Args:
        team_context: Dictionary containing team information with keys:
            project: Project name (Optional if project_id is provided)
            project_id: Project ID (Optional if project is provided)
            team: Team name (Optional if team_id is provided)
            team_id: Team ID (Optional if team is provided)
        work_item_type: Optional work item type name to filter templates
        
    Returns:
        A formatted table of all templates with names, work item types,
        and descriptions

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`team_context`	Yes
`work_item_type`	Yes

Implementation Reference

src/mcp_azure_devops/features/work_items/tools/templates.py:117-148 (handler)

The main handler function for the 'get_work_item_templates' tool, decorated with @mcp.tool(). It handles input parameters, retrieves the work item tracking client, and delegates to the implementation helper.

@mcp.tool()
def get_work_item_templates(
    team_context: dict, 
    work_item_type: Optional[str]
) -> str:
    """
    Gets a list of all work item templates for a team.
    
    Use this tool when you need to:
    - Find available templates for creating work items
    - Get template IDs for use in other operations
    - Filter templates by work item type
    
    Args:
        team_context: Dictionary containing team information with keys:
            project: Project name (Optional if project_id is provided)
            project_id: Project ID (Optional if project is provided)
            team: Team name (Optional if team_id is provided)
            team_id: Team ID (Optional if team is provided)
        work_item_type: Optional work item type name to filter templates
        
    Returns:
        A formatted table of all templates with names, work item types,
        and descriptions
    """
    try:
        wit_client = get_work_item_client()
        return _get_work_item_templates_impl(
            team_context, work_item_type, wit_client)
    except AzureDevOpsClientError as e:
        return f"Error: {str(e)}"

src/mcp_azure_devops/features/work_items/tools/templates.py:54-92 (helper)

Core helper function that performs the actual retrieval of work item templates using the Azure DevOps client, formats them into a markdown table, and handles errors.

def _get_work_item_templates_impl(
    team_context: dict, 
    work_item_type: Optional[str],
    wit_client: WorkItemTrackingClient
) -> str:
    """Implementation of work item templates retrieval."""
    try:
        team_ctx = _create_team_context(team_context)
        templates = wit_client.get_templates(team_ctx, work_item_type)
        
        team_display = team_context.get('team') or team_context.get('team_id')
        
        if not templates:
            scope = (f"work item type '{work_item_type}' in " 
                    if work_item_type else "")
            return f"No templates found for {scope}team {team_display}."
        
        # Create header
        project_display = (team_context.get('project') or 
                          team_context.get('project_id'))
        header = (f"# Work Item Templates for Team: {team_display} "
                 f"(Project: {project_display})")
        if work_item_type:
            header += f" (Filtered by type: {work_item_type})"
        
        headers = ["Name", "Work Item Type", "Description"]
        
        # Use list comprehension for table rows
        rows = [
            f"| {template.name} | " 
            f"{getattr(template, 'work_item_type_name', 'N/A')} | " +
            f"{getattr(template, 'description', 'N/A')} |"
            for template in templates
        ]
        
        return f"{header}\n\n" + _format_table(headers, rows)
    except Exception as e:
        return f"Error retrieving templates: {str(e)}"

src/mcp_azure_devops/features/work_items/tools/__init__.py:27-27 (registration)
The registration call within the work items tools package init that registers the templates tools, including 'get_work_item_templates'.
```
templates.register_tools(mcp)
```

src/mcp_azure_devops/features/work_items/tools/templates.py:43-52 (helper)

Helper function to create the TeamContext object required by the Azure DevOps API from the input team_context dictionary.

def _create_team_context(team_context_dict):
    """Create a TeamContext object from a dictionary."""
    from azure.devops.v7_1.work_item_tracking.models import TeamContext
    return TeamContext(
        project=team_context_dict.get('project'),
        project_id=team_context_dict.get('project_id'),
        team=team_context_dict.get('team'),
        team_id=team_context_dict.get('team_id')
    )

src/mcp_azure_devops/features/work_items/tools/templates.py:16-22 (helper)

Utility helper to format lists into markdown tables used for displaying template lists.

def _format_table(headers, rows):
    """Format data as a markdown table."""
    result = []
    result.append("| " + " | ".join(headers) + " |")
    result.append("| " + " | ".join(["----"] * len(headers)) + " |")
    result.extend(rows)
    return "\n".join(result)

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