Part of the ado-aw documentation.
Global flags (apply to all subcommands): --verbose, -v (enable info-level logging), --debug, -d (enable debug-level logging, implies verbose), --log-output-dir <path> (write ado-aw logs to a specific directory; overrides ADO_AW_LOG_DIR)
-
init- Initialize a repository for AI-first agentic pipeline authoring--path <path>- Target directory (defaults to current directory)--force- Bypass the GitHub-remote guard (use when running inside a GitHub-hosted repository likegithubnext/ado-awitself)- Creates
.github/agents/ado-aw.agent.md— a Copilot dispatcher agent that routes to specialized prompts for creating, updating, and debugging agentic pipelines - The agent auto-downloads the ado-aw compiler and handles the full lifecycle (create → compile → check)
-
compile [<path>]- Compile a markdown file to Azure DevOps pipeline YAML. If no path is given, auto-discovers and recompiles all detected agentic pipelines in the current directory.--output, -o <path>- Optional output path for the generated YAML (only valid when a path is provided). If the path is an existing directory, the compiled YAML is written inside that directory using the default filename derived from the markdown source (e.g.foo.md→<dir>/foo.lock.yml).--skip-integrity- (debug builds only) Omit the "Verify pipeline integrity" step from the generated pipeline. Useful during local development when the compiled output won't match a released compiler version. This flag is not available in release builds. OR-ed withado-aw-debug.skip-integrity:in front matter — either is sufficient. Seedocs/ado-aw-debug.md.--debug-pipeline- (debug builds only) Include MCPG debug diagnostics in the generated pipeline:DEBUG=*environment variable for verbose MCPG logging, stderr streaming to log files, and a "Verify MCP backends" step that probes each backend with MCP initialize + tools/list before the agent runs. This flag is not available in release builds.- For
target: jobandtarget: stage, the output is an ADO YAML template (not a complete pipeline). Job names are prefixed with the agent name for uniqueness. Triggers configured viaon:are ignored with a warning.
-
check <pipeline>- Verify that a compiled pipeline matches its source markdown<pipeline>- Path to the pipeline YAML file to verify- The source markdown path is auto-detected from the
@ado-awheader in the pipeline file - Useful for CI checks to ensure pipelines are regenerated after source changes
-
mcp <output_directory> <bounding_directory>- Run SafeOutputs as a stdio MCP server--enabled-tools <name>- Restrict available tools to those named (repeatable)
-
mcp-http <output_directory> <bounding_directory>- Run SafeOutputs as an HTTP MCP server (for MCPG integration)--port <port>- Port to listen on (default: 8100)--api-key <key>- API key for authentication (auto-generated if not provided)--enabled-tools <name>- Restrict available tools to those named (repeatable)
-
execute- Execute safe outputs from Stage 1 (Stage 3 of pipeline)--source, -s <path>- Path to source markdown file--safe-output-dir <path>- Directory containing safe output NDJSON (default: current directory)--output-dir <path>- Output directory for processed artifacts (e.g., agent memory)--ado-org-url <url>- Azure DevOps organization URL override--ado-project <name>- Azure DevOps project name override--dry-run- Validate inputs but skip ADO API calls (useful for local testing and QA review)
-
configure- Detect agentic pipelines in a local repository and update theGITHUB_TOKENpipeline variable on their Azure DevOps build definitions--token <token>/GITHUB_TOKENenv var - The new GITHUB_TOKEN value (prompted if omitted)--org <url>- Override: Azure DevOps organization URL (inferred from git remote by default)--project <name>- Override: Azure DevOps project name (inferred from git remote by default)--pat <pat>/AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PATenv var - PAT for ADO API authentication (prompted if omitted)--path <path>- Path to the repository root (defaults to current directory)--dry-run- Preview changes without applying them--definition-ids <ids>- Explicit pipeline definition IDs to update (comma-separated, skips auto-detection)