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Learn how to streamline your Azure DevOps releases by automating the triggering process with REST API, removing manual interventions, and ensuring sequential execution of releases.
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Automating Azure DevOps Release Triggers: Eliminating Manual Interventions with REST API

In the world of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD), managing releases efficiently is crucial for maintaining the pace of development. If you've been using Azure DevOps to automate your delivery pipeline, you may have encountered the need to trigger multiple releases in a sequence—making sure that one finishes before the next begins. However, sometimes these processes require manual intervention, which can slow things down unnecessarily. In this guide, we'll explore how to automate release triggering in Azure DevOps using the REST API, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

The Problem: Manual Intervention in Release Triggers

Imagine this scenario: you have three releases (Release1, Release2, and Release3) that you want to execute sequentially. Currently, you're starting each release one by one, but once you trigger a release, you must manually resume the next one. This process wastes time and increases the chances of human error, leading to delays in your deployment cycle.

Current process:

Trigger Release1

Manually resume Release2 after Release1 completes

Manually resume Release3 after Release2 completes

What you need is a way to ensure that Release2 only starts after Release1 finishes, and Release3 starts only after Release2 completes, all without needing to step in manually.

The Solution: Using Azure DevOps REST API

To automate this sequence, we can leverage Azure DevOps REST API capabilities. Here’s how to set it up:

Step 1: Understand the REST API Capabilities

Azure DevOps provides a REST API that allows you to manage and invoke releases programmatically. This means you can trigger a new release right after the previous one has completed. We'll create a flow where each subsequent release is kicked off by the completion of the previous release.

Step 2: Trigger Releases Sequentially

To achieve sequential triggering, you can follow this methodology:

Start your first release (Release1):
Call the REST API to kick off the first release. Once this release starts, the process continues automatically without manual intervention.

Set Up Release Completion Event for Release1:
You can use webhooks or Azure DevOps service hooks to notify your CI process when Release1 is completed.

Trigger Release2 on Completion of Release1:
After receiving the notification of the completion of Release1, call the REST API to trigger Release2.

Repeat for Release3:
Use the same approach to ensure Release3 starts only after Release2 has finished.

Step 3: Variables Consistency

Since all of your releases share the same set of variables, you can streamline setting those variables as follows:

When invoking Release2, pass the necessary variables collected from Release1.

Likewise, pass Release2's variables to Release3.

This creates an efficient process where the releases are linked with dependencies without needing manual adjustments. Here’s a quick pseudocode representation of the API calls you'd need:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Summary

By utilizing Azure DevOps REST API effectively, you can streamline your release processes, ensuring they occur sequentially without the need for manual intervention. This not only simplifies your workflow but also promotes a more efficient and error-resilient deployment pipeline.

Conclusion

Automating your release process in Azure DevOps through the REST API can significantly accelerate your development and deployment cycle. By following the steps outlined above, you can create an environment where releases trigger seamlessly and automatically, paving the way for a more robust CI/CD practice wit