The Extensions Marketplace gives you a comprehensive range of apps and services that you can integrate into your Azure DevOps environment with ease. Each of these apps and services can add value to areas such as collaboration, scheduling, building, time management, and testing. The apps have been built by the community, and the majority can be used free of charge. In this article, we will show you the apps most frequently used by our clients.
Microsoft Teams
Do you use Microsoft Teams? If so, then you’re probably interested in linking Azure DevOps to your Microsoft Teams environment, so that all of your activities within Azure DevOps (code check-ins, pull requests, work item updates, builds, and releases) are pushed to your Microsoft Teams channel.
If you use a Kanban board in Azure DevOps, you can transfer it directly to Microsoft Teams under a separate tab, so that everyone can stay up to date on scheduling and activities.
Slack Integration
Slack is a well-known and popular tool for more productive collaboration. It keeps all communication in one place and makes it easier to retrieve shared information.
We recommend integrating Slack into your Azure DevOps environment, as it helps to keep your team up to date on activities taking place in Azure DevOps projects. Code check-ins, pull requests, work item updates, builds, and releases are automatically displayed in the correct Slack channel for a better overview, at the same time helping to stimulate the right people to act.
Test & Feedback
This "exploratory testing" tool from Microsoft makes it easier to test web applications and collect feedback. You can open the web application in your browser and take screenshots and make notes that are then pushed to your Azure DevOps environment. You can create a task for the error and push it to the correct person, allowing everyone in the team to carry out testing and provide feedback. The more eyes that look at something, the better the results.
Jenkins
There’s good news for Jenkins fans – Azure Pipelines supports integration with Jenkins, enabling you to configure your CI/CD pipeline as you wish. This way, you can take advantage of the Continuous Integration benefits offered by Jenkins while continuing to use Azure Pipelines for deployment to Azure.
If you're evaluating multiple tools for your development needs, it might be helpful to read GitHub vs. Azure DevOps: which Microsoft tool should you choose? to understand how each platform might fit your project workflows.
Timetracker
Companies the world over are working hard to accelerate work processes. When it comes to time management, 7pace Timetracker is your best friend in the Azure DevOps environment. A time recording tool, it runs in the background and tracks the length of time it takes to complete tasks. But that’s not all: Timetracker also provides feedback in Azure DevOps to help your team to learn how to work with greater speed and efficiency.
Docker
It’s not only DevOps that helps bring Development and Operations closer together. Docker does it too, giving you twice the benefit if you integrate Docker into your Azure DevOps environment. In a nutshell, Docker allows you to rapidly move applications back and forth in "lightweight" containers, enabling different departments to take action much more quickly within the same project. It's ideal!
Kubernetes
Building on Docker, Kubernetes also integrates with Azure DevOps Service. Kubernetes is a "container orchestration system" for Docker containers, allowing apps to be sent on a much wider scale for a faster and more flexible software development process.
A Kubernetes Extension also offers support for the Helm Package Manager. Helm enables you to manage simple and more complex containers with ease – it is the ultimate scalability solution within your container DevOps process.
Read also about the Azure DevOps Marketplace to explore extensions that can enhance your DevOps setup with added functionalities.
