Your customers’ bugs already live in Azure Boards. Now they arrive with the fix.
The short answer
If your team logs customer problems as Azure Boards work items, you do not need a help desk to use Watari. Mention @watariai, assign the work item to an identity you choose, or let a rule pick up new work items by type, state, tag or area path. Watari reads the work item like a support ticket, works out whether it is a real bug, writes a report an engineer can act on, points to the file and function behind it and, when it is confident, opens a draft pull request, linked to the work item when the pull request is in Azure Repos.
How to hand a work item to Watari
- Mention
- Someone types @watariai in the description or a comment, on any work item, new or old. Mentions cost nothing.
- Assignment
- Someone assigns the work item to an identity you list, such as a dedicated Watari user.
- Every new work item
- Watari picks up each work item created in the projects you choose. Your existing backlog is never pulled in.
- Fields
- Narrow pickup to the work item types, states, tags and area path you choose, for example a watari tag.
Set it up
Connect Azure DevOps
In Watari, open Settings, then Connected tools, and connect Azure DevOps with Microsoft Entra ID.
Connect your code
Connect at least one Azure Repos or GitHub repository. Watari reads it so it can find where a reported bug lives, and never keeps a copy of your source code.
Turn on work item pickup
Open the Azure DevOps settings in Watari, switch on Pick up work items from Azure Boards, and choose the projects to read work items from.
Hand over a test work item
Create one work item, or mention @watariai on an existing one, and watch it appear in Watari within a minute or two.
Step by step, with every setting explained: the Azure Boards setup guide.
What comes back on the work item
- A comment when Watari picks the work item up, and another when it drafts a fix, opened as a draft pull request. If it cannot find the cause in your code, or does not draft a fix, the comment says so with a short summary of what it found and what a developer can do next.
- The draft pull request, linked to the work item so each shows the other when the pull request is in Azure Repos.
- The full report in Watari: the steps to reproduce, severity, and the files and functions most likely behind the bug, ranked. Comments never list file paths.
- Comments appear under the name of the person who connected Azure DevOps, or as Watari if you add its service principal to your organization.
The update for your customer
When the fix ships and your team approves the customer-facing summary in Watari, it is posted on the work item for whoever filed it to pass on. If you turn Watari’s comments off, the summary stays in Watari.
It waits for the deploy that carries the fix, so nobody on your team passes on a fix that is not live yet.
What it does not do
- Azure DevOps Services (cloud) only. Azure DevOps Server is not supported yet.
- The person who connected Azure DevOps needs the Edit subscriptions and View subscriptions permissions in each project you choose. Project administrators have both.
- Mentions cost nothing. Assigning to a dedicated user can take a paid Azure DevOps seat.
- On a project that is not private, Watari’s comments carry the status and a link to Watari only.
- It is off until an owner or admin of your Watari workspace turns it on, and it reads only the places you choose.
- Watari needs your code on GitHub or Azure DevOps (cloud). GitLab and Bitbucket are not supported yet.
Frequently asked questions
Does Watari need a paid Azure DevOps seat?
No. Mentioning @watariai costs nothing. Only if your team prefers assigning work items to a dedicated user does that user take a seat.
Can I use this and still have Watari file work items from our help desk?
Yes. A work item Watari picked up is its own issue, so Watari posts progress on it and never files a second one beside it. Work items Watari files for help-desk tickets are never picked up as new reports.
Will Watari pull in our whole Azure Boards backlog?
No. The rule for every new work item picks up work items created after you switch it on, and work items already in your backlog are never pulled in by it. An older work item is picked up only when someone hands it over.
Is an Azure Boards work item billed differently from a support ticket?
No. A work item Watari picks up is billed exactly like a support ticket, only when it becomes a Mapped Issue. Progress comments on the work item, draft pull requests and the customer update are included.
What happens to a work item that is not a bug?
A question, a setting or a how-to gets a suggested answer for your team and no pull request. A work item that is not about your code is never billed.
When a support ticket reports a bug, your engineers get a drafted fix.
Connect your help desk or your issue tracker, then GitHub or Azure DevOps. Watari maps each bug to the exact file and function in your code and drafts the fix as a pull request your CI checks.
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