BuildDuty

A .NET toolkit for build-duty workflows — collects signals from Azure DevOps and GitHub, and provides Copilot skills and an MCP server for AI-powered triage.

BuildDuty is split into deterministic libraries (signal collection, config) and AI integration (MCP server, Copilot skills):

flowchart TB
    subgraph copilot["Copilot Surface (CLI, VS Code, Workspace)"]
        skills["/triage, /analyze-*, /reconcile skills"]
        calls["MCP Tool Calls"]
        skills --> calls
    end

    calls --> buildDutyMcp["BuildDuty MCP<br/>(build-duty-mcp)<br/><br/>- collect signals<br/>- read config"]
    calls --> azdoMcp["AzDO MCP Server<br/><br/>- logs<br/>- builds"]
    calls --> githubMcp["GitHub MCP Server<br/><br/>- issues<br/>- PRs"]

    buildDutyMcp --> libraries["BuildDuty Libraries (no AI)<br/>BuildDuty.Configuration + BuildDuty.Signals"]

• .NET 10 SDK (see global.json)
• Azure CLI (az) — for Azure DevOps access
• GitHub CLI (gh) — for GitHub access

az login
gh auth login

git clone https://github.com/ellahathaway/build-duty.git
cd build-duty

# Build, test, pack, and install the MCP server
./eng/build.sh --install

# Verify
build-duty-mcp --help

The MCP server package (ellahathaway.buildduty.mcp) is hosted on GitHub Packages. One-time setup:

# Ensure your GitHub CLI token has read:packages scope
gh auth refresh --scopes read:packages

Linux / macOS (bash)

# Add the GitHub Packages NuGet source (one-time)
dotnet nuget add source \
  --username "$(gh api user --jq .login)" \
  --password "$(gh auth token)" \
  --store-password-in-clear-text \
  --name github-ellahathaway \
  "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/ellahathaway/index.json"

Windows (PowerShell)

# Add the GitHub Packages NuGet source (one-time)
dotnet nuget add source `
  --username (gh api user --jq .login) `
  --password (gh auth token) `
  --store-password-in-clear-text `
  --name github-ellahathaway `
  "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/ellahathaway/index.json"

# Install the MCP server tool globally
dotnet tool install --global ellahathaway.buildduty.mcp --version 0.0.1

Marketplace plugins now run this setup automatically during sessionStart. Manual setup is still useful for standalone MCP usage.

Add the build-duty marketplace and install plugins:

# Add the marketplace
copilot plugin marketplace add ellahathaway/build-duty

# Install the triage plugin
copilot plugin install triage@build-duty

On first session start, the plugin auto-installs BuildDuty.Mcp if needed. The setup hook checks:

• gh CLI version is 2.66.0+
• gh auth is logged in
• az is logged in
• GitHub Packages NuGet source is configured

Then you're ready to use the skills:

triage my pipelines
investigate the timeout in dotnet-source-build

Available plugins:

Browse all available plugins with:

copilot plugin marketplace browse build-duty

Reference the BuildDuty.Tasks package for deterministic signal collection:

<Project>
  <UsingTask TaskName="BuildDuty.Tasks.CollectSignals"
             AssemblyFile="path/to/BuildDuty.Tasks.dll" />

  <Target Name="CollectBuildDutySignals">
    <CollectSignals ConfigPath=".build-duty.yml"
                    OutputPath="$(ArtifactsDir)/signals.xml" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Prerequisite: Install the MCP server tool first. See Install the MCP server tool above.

For standalone MCP server usage (e.g., custom clients or development), add the following to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "build-duty-mcp-server": {
      "command": "BuildDuty.Mcp"
    }
  }
}

If working in this repo, the MCP server is already configured in .github/mcp.json and will be picked up automatically by GitHub Copilot.

Available tools:

• build_duty_collect_signals — collect signals from configured sources (requires configPath)
• build_duty_get_config — read and resolve a .build-duty.yml config

Create a .build-duty.yml:

name: my-repo-monitor

azureDevOps:
  organizations:
    - url: https://dev.azure.com/dnceng
      projects:
        - name: internal
          pipelines:
            - id: 1234
              name: my-pipeline
              branches:
                - main

github:
  organizations:
    - name: dotnet
      repositories:
        - name: my-repo
          issues:
            - name: ".*"
              labels:
                - "Build Break"
              state: open

See the configs/ directory for full examples.

Each entry under pipelines defines a pipeline to monitor. All fields except id and name are optional.

Each entry under issues or prs is a pattern. All fields except name are optional.

When a pipeline includes a release section, active .NET release branches are automatically discovered from the dotnet/core releases index.

./eng/build.sh              # restore → build → test
./eng/build.sh --pack       # … + pack as NuGet
./eng/build.sh --install    # … + pack + install MCP server

.\eng\build.ps1              # restore → build → test
.\eng\build.ps1 -Pack        # … + pack as NuGet
.\eng\build.ps1 -Install     # … + pack + install MCP server

Or with the dotnet CLI directly:

dotnet restore BuildDuty.slnx
dotnet build   BuildDuty.slnx -c Release
dotnet test    BuildDuty.slnx -c Release

Skills are in .github/skills/ and available to anyone who clones the repo:

The /triage skill supports a JSON output mode. Append "output as JSON" to the prompt to receive structured data instead of a markdown report:

/triage with config path: configs/.source-build-monitor.yml — output as JSON

Returns a { signals: [...], incidents: [...] } object with typed signal/incident arrays. Useful for programmatic consumers like the triage dashboard canvas.

A canvas extension (.github/extensions/triage-dashboard/) that provides a live dashboard UI for triage results. Features:

• Multi-config tabs — monitor multiple .build-duty.yml configs simultaneously
• Signal & incident display — shows pipeline failures, GitHub issues, and grouped incidents
• Investigate buttons — spawns a new autonomous session to investigate any signal or incident
• Run Triage — kicks off a triage session that collects signals and pushes JSON results to the dashboard
• Persistent state — config selections and triage results survive across sessions

The canvas is auto-discovered when cloning this repo. To install it standalone:

# From a GitHub repo folder URL
copilot extension install https://github.com/ellahathaway/build-duty/tree/main/.github/extensions/triage-dashboard

Open the dashboard from any session:

open the triage-dashboard canvas with configPath "configs/.source-build-monitor.yml"

Or add configs interactively via the "+" button in the dashboard UI.

1. Fork and clone the repository.
2. Use ./eng/build.sh (or .\eng\build.ps1) to build and test.
3. Open a pull request.