Initialize Azure DevOps Connection

Set up connection to Azure DevOps organization and project. This must be called before using any other Azure DevOps commands.

When to Use

• At the start of any Azure DevOps work
• After importing the AzureDevOpsTools module
• When switching between organizations or projects
• When you get errors about Azure DevOps not being initialized

Prerequisites

• AzureDevOpsTools module must be imported
• Personal Access Token (PAT) must be available via:
  • Parameter: -PAT "your-token"
  • Environment variable: $env:AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT

Examples

Initialize with environment variable

# PAT is in $env:AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT
Initialize-AzureDevOps -Organization "myorg" -Project "myproject"

Initialize with PAT parameter

Initialize-AzureDevOps -Organization "myorg" -Project "myproject" -PAT "your-pat-token"

Common setup in profile

Import-Module AzureDevOpsTools
Initialize-AzureDevOps -Organization "Legislative" -Project "LegBone"

Function

Initialize-AzureDevOps

Configures the module with organization and project details and validates PAT.

Parameters

• Organization: Azure DevOps organization name (required)
• Project: Project name within the organization (required)
• PAT: Personal Access Token (optional if set in environment)

Output

Displays confirmation message when successfully initialized. Throws error if PAT is missing or invalid.

Tips for Copilot

• Always call this first in a new session
• Organization and Project are usually consistent for a user
• PAT should come from environment variable for security
• Can be called multiple times to switch contexts
• Check for initialization errors before proceeding