Once triggered, a pipeline behaves as a staged series of jobs. You can have multiple stages in a pipeline, for example, building code, then running tests, and finally deploying it. Each stage has multiple jobs, which are handed over to external applications, for example, using Microsoft’s build tools to compile Windows code. The pipeline collates the job results, checking to see if they have succeeded or failed before either aborting the run or starting the next stage. Jobs can be run in sequence or in parallel, so if you’re building a cross-platform application, it can run Windows, macOS, and Linux builds in parallel.
Building YAML pipelines
Pipelines are defined using YAML and can be managed using the same repository as the code they build. The new YAML pipeline editor replaces the original visual designer. Microsoft hasn’t yet deprecated this Classic Pipeline’s tool, but the writing is clearly on the wall, and the newer YAML editor is now recommended. Tools are provided to migrate existing Classic build pipelines to YAML; there’s no support for migrating release pipelines, so you’ll have to do this manually.
Azure DevOps Server provides its own browser-based editor to help build YAML pipelines, based on the same engine as Visual Studio Code. This has the necessary IntelliSense for code completion, as well as a task assistant that adds building blocks and code for specific tasks, such as calling out to the .NET CLI. You can quickly add commands in the task assistant edit box, and when ready, they are formatted in YAML and added to your pipeline.
