Connect Azure DevOps

Connecting Azure DevOps mirrors your project and team boards into Laya as live, editable Connected boards. Work items stay in Azure DevOps, and Laya syncs changes both ways.

Why connect Azure DevOps

• Mirror every work item type in a project. States map to Laya columns using each process's own state categories, so custom processes work.
• Edit from Laya: state changes, fields, tags, iteration and area paths all write back as real work item updates.
• A Backlog tab shows queued items, the closest analogue to a backlog, since Azure DevOps has no first-class one.
• List team iterations (sprints) with dates, and create new iterations from Laya.

Before you start

There are two ways to authenticate:

• Microsoft sign-in (OAuth): the Authorize with Azure DevOps button uses Microsoft Entra ID and requests a single delegated Azure DevOps permission (user impersonation), so Laya acts within your existing Azure DevOps permissions.
• Personal access token (PAT): the "Advanced: connect with a personal access token instead" option. Create one in Azure DevOps under User settings → Personal access tokens → New Token, with the Work Items (Read & write) scope. The connect flow also recommends Project & Team (Read, write & manage), Graph (Read) and Identity (Read). Project & Team write is what allows creating iterations from Laya.

If your organisation limits Azure DevOps by IP address

Some organisations use Microsoft Entra Conditional Access to let Azure DevOps answer only listed IP addresses, with the Azure DevOps organisation policy IP Conditional Access policy validation on non-interactive flows turned on. Calls from any other address are then refused, Laya's included, until Laya's addresses are on the list:

1. Open Named locationsIn the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Entra ID → Conditional Access → Named locations. Changing one takes at least the Conditional Access Administrator role.
2. Add both addressesOpen the IP ranges location your Azure DevOps policy lets through (often one marked as trusted), and add 3.231.80.144/32 and 54.196.180.223/32.
3. Save, then connectSave the location. Nothing changes in Laya: connect, or press Sync now on a board that stopped syncing.

Connect step by step

1. Start the connect flowFrom your workspace, create a new board and choose the connect option, or open the Connected tab and choose Connect Azure DevOps.
2. Pick Azure DevOps as the sourceOn the "Which tool is it in?" screen, choose Azure DevOps.
3. AuthoriseOn "Authorize & choose boards", select Authorize with Azure DevOps and complete the Microsoft consent, or open the PAT disclosure and enter your Organization URL and Personal access token (PAT).
4. Choose an organizationAfter OAuth, pick which of your Azure DevOps organisations to connect on the "Choose an organization" screen.
5. Choose where it lives in LayaPick your personal workspace, an existing shared workspace, or Set up a shared workspace for my team: the same choice the Jira flow offers.
6. Choose boards to mirrorThe "Choose boards to mirror" list shows project × team boards. Tick the ones you want; each row has a 2-way sync toggle.
7. MirrorSelect Mirror N boards → and wait for "You're live in Laya", then Open board.

A workspace can hold connections to several Azure DevOps organisations at once: use "Connect a different Azure DevOps connection" to add more.

What syncs

Work items imported as native Laya rows (via a master board) keep syncing title, state, priority, story points and description in both directions, plus due date outbound. Assignee and work item type do not sync on imported rows. That is a current limitation.

Sync triggers and timing

• Laya → Azure DevOps: immediate. Edits push as work item updates with revision checks, so a stale edit fails safely instead of overwriting someone else's newer change.
• Azure DevOps → Laya: instant push, set up for you. When you connect a board, Laya registers a service hook with Azure DevOps, so changes reach the board in a second or two. Registering one needs administration rights on the Azure DevOps project; the board's badge shows Instant updates when the hook is in place.
• Polling safety net. A background poll also refreshes every mirrored board on an active connection every 60 seconds, even when the service hook is working (on by default; the Polling toggle in Settings controls it per connection). Open boards update live as changes land.
• On demand. Each board has Sync now ("Synced from Azure DevOps"), and opening a work item's detail panel refreshes that item immediately.

Managing the connection

The Manage page (workspace Settings → integrations → Azure DevOps) has Boards, Sync log and Settings tabs: per-board Sync now, Board Studio and Remove, a health card, the read-only sync log, the Polling toggle, Refresh credentials and Disconnect. See Managing connections.

Limitations

• Mirrors are capped at 400 work items per board, and items in the Removed state are excluded.
• Comments are add-only from Laya: no editing or deleting Azure DevOps comments.
• No attachment sync in either direction.
• Instant updates need a service hook, which Laya can register when the connected account administers the Azure DevOps project (a personal access token with work item access only cannot); other boards update on the 60-second poll and Sync now.
• Assignee and work item type do not sync on imported (native) rows.
• Microsoft sign-in cannot serve personal Microsoft accounts. Use a PAT for those organisations.