𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝘇𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗔𝗠𝗟 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

Have you ever wondered how Azure DevOps knows whether to proceed with deployment in a YAML pipeline?

In real-world projects, especially when deploying to a 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, approvals play a crucial role in maintaining control and preventing accidental releases.

Here’s what I learned and implemented:

✔ 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽-𝗯𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴:

1. Define an environment (e.g., Production) in your YAML pipeline using the environment keyword.
2. Go to 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 → 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 → 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in Azure DevOps.
3. Set 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀 by adding the required approvers.
4. When the pipeline reaches that stage, Azure DevOps automatically 𝗽𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲s and sends an approval request.
5. If the request is 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱, the pipeline continues and deploys to Production.
6. If the request is 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱, the deployment stops — no manual intervention needed in YAML.

🔧 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗬𝗔𝗠𝗟 𝘀𝗻𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝘁:

stages:

• stage: ProductionDeployment displayName: 'Deploy to Production' dependsOn: Build environment: 'Production' jobs:
  • deployment: DeployToProd environment: 'Production' strategy: runOnce: deploy: steps: - script: echo "Deploying to Production after approval"

Azure DevOps takes care of checking whether the approver has approved or rejected — you don’t need to write extra logic for this in the YAML file.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗜/𝗖𝗗 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀? 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘇𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀?