MCPInstall

boards-backlog-summary

by microsoftDevOps & Cloud

Get the team's Requirements-level backlog (Product Backlog Items and Bugs) filtered to Active items assigned to the current user. Shows parent/child hierarchy and sorts by priority. Use this skill when the user wants to see their backlog items, sprint assignments, or work they own on a team board.

Installs
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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/azure-devops-skills --skill boards-backlog-summary
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads boards-backlog-summary automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Get team backlog summary

This skill retrieves the team's Requirements-level backlog, filters to Active items assigned to the current user, enriches them with parent and child work item details, and displays them sorted by priority.

Project selection

  • If the user provides a project name in their request (for example, "for Contoso"), use that project directly and do not call core_list_projects.
  • If the project name is not provided, ask the user once to provide it.
  • If the project name is still not provided after asking once, call core_list_projects to return a list of projects the user can choose from.
  • Do not continue if no project has been provided or selected.

Team selection

  • If the user provides a team name, use it directly and do not call core_list_project_teams.
  • If the team name is not provided, ask the user once to provide it.
  • If the team name is still not provided after asking once, call core_list_project_teams for the selected project so the user can pick a team.
  • Do not continue if no team has been provided or selected.

Tools

Use Azure DevOps MCP Server tools for all interactions with Azure DevOps.

  • core_list_projects: Get the list of projects the user can choose from.
  • core_list_project_teams: Get the list of teams for a project.
  • wit_backlog (action: list_work_items): Get the work items on the team's backlog at a specific backlog level.
  • wit_work_item (action: get_batch): Get work item details in batch by their IDs. Use this to fetch fields and relations for backlog items, their parents, and their children in as few calls as possible.

Steps

  1. Resolve project and team using the rules above.

  2. Call wit_backlog with action list_work_items for the resolved project and team, using backlog level Microsoft.RequirementCategory (the Requirements / Product Backlog Items level).

  3. From the returned work items, filter to items that meet all of the following criteria:

    • System.State = Active
    • System.AssignedTo matches the current user
    • System.WorkItemType is one of: Product Backlog Item, Bug

  4. If no items match the filter, display a message stating there are no active backlog items assigned to the current user for this team and stop.

  5. Call wit_work_item with action get_batch for all filtered item IDs with expand=relations and the following fields:

    • System.Id
    • System.Title
    • System.State
    • System.AssignedTo
    • System.WorkItemType
    • System.ChangedDate
    • System.IterationPath
    • Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Priority
    • System.Parent

  6. From the relations of each item, collect all parent IDs (System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Reverse) and child IDs (System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Forward). Call wit_work_item with action get_batch once with the combined set of those IDs (excluding any IDs already fetched) to get their System.Id, System.Title, and System.State.

  7. Display the results as described in the Display results section below.

Display results

Sort all items by Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Priority ascending (Priority 1 first). For each item, display:

{ID} — {Title}

FieldValue
State{System.State}
Priority{Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Priority}
Changed Date{System.ChangedDate formatted as MM/DD/YYYY}
Iteration{last segment of System.IterationPath}
Work Item Type{System.WorkItemType}

Parent:

  • If a parent exists: {ParentID} {Parent Title}
  • If no parent exists: (none)

Child Items:

If there are child items, display them in a table:

IDTitleState
{ChildID}{Child Title}{Child State}

If there are no child items, display: (none)

After all items are listed, display a summary line:

Showing {N} active backlog item(s) assigned to you on team {team name} in project {project name}.

FAQ

What does the boards-backlog-summary skill do?

Get the team's Requirements-level backlog (Product Backlog Items and Bugs) filtered to Active items assigned to the current user. Shows parent/child hierarchy and sorts by priority. Use this skill when the user wants to see their backlog items, sprint assignments, or work they own on a team board.

How do I install boards-backlog-summary?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/azure-devops-skills --skill boards-backlog-summary in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/boards-backlog-summary/ (personal) or .claude/skills/boards-backlog-summary/ (project).

Which AI agents can use boards-backlog-summary?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is boards-backlog-summary safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains boards-backlog-summary?

It is published by microsoft in microsoft/azure-devops-skills. It has 55 recorded installs.

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