| title | titleSuffix | description | ms.subservice | ms.assetid | ms.author | author | ms.topic | monikerRange | ms.date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tools and Clients that Connect to Azure DevOps | Azure DevOps | Review tools that support connecting to Azure DevOps, including browser and command-line tools, tools for developers and Office integration, and more. | azure-devops-new-user | 3836C81D-6E0A-46B5-8D1D-20E973E4F373 | chcomley | chcomley | concept-article | azure-devops-2020 || azure-devops-2022 | 04/25/2025 |
[!INCLUDE version-lt-eq-azure-devops]
The Microsoft platform of software development tools is well established. The Visual Basic and Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) supports teams in their software development, and offers a catalog of plug-ins to extend the product functionality. In particular, the Team Explorer plug-in allows the Visual Studio client to connect to Azure DevOps to support source control, work tracking, build, and test operations. This article describes various tools and clients you can use to connect with Azure DevOps and enhance your development.
Developers have access to many tools through the following versions of Visual Studio and plug-ins. To download any version of Visual Studio, go to the Visual Studio Downloads page. To understand what features you get with the Visual Studio versions, see Compare Visual Studio offerings.
| Visual Studio version | Description |
|---|---|
| Visual Studio Community | Full-featured, extensible IDE for creating modern applications for Android, iOS, and Windows, including web applications and cloud services. (Replaces Visual Studio Express) |
| Visual Studio Professional | Development tools and services to support individual developers or small teams. |
| Visual Studio Enterprise | Integrated, end-to-end development tools and solutions for teams of any size, and with a need to scale. Supports designing, building, and managing complex enterprise applications. |
| Visual Studio Test Professional | Access to Microsoft Test and development tools to support quality and collaboration throughout the development process. |
| Visual Studio Code | Free, open-source code editor with a free extension to support connecting to Git repositories on Azure DevOps. |
| Android Studio with Azure DevOps Services Plug-in | Free plug in to support Android developers and connect to Git repositories on Azure DevOps. |
| IntelliJ with Azure DevOps Services Plugin | Free plug in to support developers who use IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio to connect to Git repositories on Azure DevOps. |
To get started with client libraries, see Client library samples.
Team Explorer, a plug-in to all Visual Studio versions, connects Visual Studio to projects defined in Azure DevOps. You can manage source code, work items, and builds. Team Explorer supports using Git and Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) for source control. For more information, see Work in Team Explorer.
::: moniker range="azure-devops-2022"
:::image type="content" source="../organizations/projects/media/te-home-page-git-repo-visual-studio-2022.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Team Explorer home page showing Git as the form of source control in Visual Studio 2022.":::
::: moniker-end ::: moniker range="azure-devops-2020"
:::row::: :::column span="":::
Home page with Git in Visual Studio 2019
:::image type="content" source="../organizations/projects/media/te-home-page-git-repo.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Team Explorer home page showing Git as the form of source control." lightbox="../organizations/projects/media/te-home-page-git-repo.png":::
:::column-end::: :::column span="":::
Home page with TFVC in Visual Studio 2019
:::image type="content" source="../organizations/projects/media/te-home-page-tfvc-repo.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Team Explorer home page showing TFVC as the form of source control." lightbox="../organizations/projects/media/te-home-page-tfvc-repo.png":::
:::column-end::: :::row-end:::
::: moniker-end
Visual Studio 2019 and later provides the Git menu with quick access to source control and repository tasks.
::: moniker range="azure-devops-2022"
:::image type="content" source="media/tools/visual-studio-git-menu-2022.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio 2022.":::
Visual Studio 2022 also provides the Git Changes and Git Repository windows:
:::image type="content" source="media/tools/visual-studio-git-changes-repository-2022.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Git Changes and Git Repository windows in Visual Studio 2022." lightbox="media/tools/visual-studio-git-changes-repository-2022.png":::
::: moniker-end ::: moniker range="azure-devops-2020"
:::image type="content" source="media/tools/visual-studio-git-menu.png" border="false" alt-text="Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio." lightbox="media/tools/visual-studio-git-menu.png":::
::: moniker-end
For more information, see Git experience in Visual Studio and Side-by-side comparison of Git and Team Explorer.
If you want to add and bulk-modify work items with Azure DevOps, you can integrate Microsoft Office Excel. To support the integration, you need to install the Azure DevOps Office Integration 2019 add-in.
The following clients support specific tasks, such as managing testing efforts, providing feedback, and modifying work items:
- Azure Test Plans: Manage your test efforts, create and run manual tests, and create and track bugs found during test efforts.
- Test & Feedback extension (previously, the Exploratory Testing extension): Access a lightweight plug-in to a web browser. Stakeholders can respond to feedback requests for user stories and features created in Azure DevOps. This extension is free to Stakeholders.
- Microsoft Feedback Client: Enable Stakeholders to use this client to record feedback for your application as video, audio, or type-written comments. This client is installed with all versions of Visual Studio, or it can be installed from the free download. All feedback is stored in the work item data store and requires Stakeholders to have permissions.
Browser-based web tools are available for connecting with Azure DevOps. You can use collaboration tools that are supported through the web portal or extensions built and maintained by the Azure DevOps Services product team.
Collaboration tools supported through the web portal are summarized under Essential services. New features are deployed every three weeks for Azure DevOps Services, and quarterly for Azure DevOps Server.
The following table lists the supported browsers and applicable Azure DevOps versions:
| Browser | Version | Azure DevOps support |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome | Most recent | Azure DevOps Services, Azure DevOps Server 2019 and later |
| Safari (Mac) | 14.1 and later | Azure DevOps Services, Azure DevOps Server 2019 and later |
| Internet Explorer | 11 and later | Azure DevOps Server 2019 and 2020 only |
For more information, see Web portal navigation.
The Azure DevOps Services product team maintains the following built-in extensions:
- Code search: Increase cross-team collaboration and code sharing. Enable developers to quickly locate relevant information within the code base of all projects hosted within an organization or collection. Discover implementation examples, browsing definitions, and error text.
- Work item search: Quickly find relevant work items and search across all work item fields over all projects in an organization. Run full-text searches across all fields to efficiently locate relevant work items. Use inline search filters, on any work item field, and quickly narrow down a list of work items.
You can find more extensions in Azure DevOps under Organization settings > Extensions > Browse marketplace. For more information, see About migrating and integrating work tracking data.
You can complete many code development and administrative tasks by using the following command-line tools:
- Azure DevOps CLI commands (az devops)
- Git commands
- TFVC commands
- Test Case Management (TCM) commands
- Manage permissions with command line tool (az devops security)
- witAdmin (work item tracking)
Several tools provide support for monitoring and interacting with Azure DevOps from a third-party application.
| Service | Integrated tools | References |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Boards | Slack, Microsoft Teams | - Azure Boards with Slack - Azure Boards with Microsoft Teams |
| Azure Repos | Slack, Microsoft Teams | - Azure Repos with Slack - Azure Repos with Microsoft Teams |
| Azure Pipelines | Slack, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, Jenkins | - Azure Pipelines with Slack - Azure Pipelines with Microsoft Teams - Change management with ServiceNow - Continuous deployment from Jenkins |
Visual Studio and Azure DevOps offer various features and functionality, and the ability to extend and share the functionality. Extensions are simple add-ons you can use to customize and extend your Azure DevOps and work tracking experiences. The extensions are written with standard technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. You can also develop your own extensions by using your preferred dev tools:
- Build custom extensions by using the RESTful API library.
- Publish your extensions to the Azure DevOps Marketplace.
- Maintain your extensions for private use, or share your extensions with millions of developers who use Visual Studio and Azure DevOps.
For more information, see the Azure DevOps Marketplace and Overview of extensions.
The Azure DevOps APIs are based on REST, OAuth, JSON, and service hook. These resources are standard web technologies that are broadly supported in the industry. REST APIs are provided to support building extensions to Azure DevOps. For more information, see REST API overview.
