ado-create-story

Create Azure DevOps User Story

Interactively create a new User Story work item as a child of an existing Feature in Azure DevOps using the organization's configured conventions and guidelines.

Instructions

CRITICAL: This command MUST NOT accept any arguments. If the user provided any text, story titles, descriptions, IDs, or other arguments after this command (e.g., /ado-create-story "My Story" or /ado-create-story 123), you MUST COMPLETELY IGNORE them. Do NOT use any story titles, descriptions, IDs, or other arguments that appear in the user's message. You MUST ONLY gather requirements through the interactive prompts as specified below.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE: Validate Azure DevOps configuration in CLAUDE.md, then begin gathering user story information. DO NOT skip these steps even if the user provided arguments after the command.

This command creates a User Story work item following the organization's Azure DevOps conventions defined in CLAUDE.md.

Phase 1: Validate Azure DevOps Configuration

Before proceeding with user story creation, verify that Azure DevOps configuration exists:

1. Use the Read tool to read CLAUDE.md from the project root

2. If the file doesn't exist OR doesn't contain an "## Azure DevOps" section:

   • Display the following error message:

     ❌ Azure DevOps configuration not found
     
     CLAUDE.md does not contain Azure DevOps configuration.
     
     Please run /ado-init first to configure Azure DevOps settings for this project.
     
     The /ado-init command will:
     - Configure your organization, project, and team
     - Set up Area Path and Iteration Path defaults
     - Define naming conventions and work item guidelines
     - Optionally configure the Azure DevOps MCP server
     

   • STOP and do not proceed further

3. If Azure DevOps section exists:

   • Parse the CLAUDE.md content to extract configuration values:
     • Organization name (look for text after 'specify the organization as "')
     • Project name (look for text after 'the project as "')
     • Team name (look for text after 'the team as "')
     • Area Path (look for text after 'Area Path" set to "')
     • Iteration Path (look for text after 'Iteration Path" set to "')
     • Naming convention preference (check if decimal notation is used)
   • Store these values for use in story creation
   • Proceed to Phase 2

IMPORTANT:

• Use Read tool to check CLAUDE.md - DO NOT use bash commands
• The entire command should STOP if Azure DevOps configuration is not found
• Do not prompt the user for configuration values - they must run /ado-init first

Phase 2: Gather User Story Information

Collect user story details from the user. The user can choose between AI-powered generation or manual input.

Step 0 - Choose Input Method:

Simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"Would you like to use AI to generate the User Story details, or provide them manually?

Options:

1. AI-powered: Provide a description and let AI generate the title, persona statement, background, and acceptance criteria
2. Manual: Provide each field yourself

Please respond with 'AI' or 'Manual'."

Wait for the user's response before proceeding.

If user chooses 'AI' (or similar affirmative response):

Step AI-0 - Get Parent Feature ID:

Simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What is the ID of the parent Feature for this User Story?

(This is the numeric ID of the Feature work item that will contain this story. You can find this in Azure DevOps or from the output of /ado-create-feature)"

Wait for the user's next message with the parent feature ID before proceeding.

Step AI-1 - Get Description Prompt:

Simply output the following text as your response message and STOP:

"Please provide a description or overview of what this User Story should accomplish. I'll use this to generate a professional title, persona statement, background information, and acceptance criteria.

(Provide as much context as you'd like - the more detail you provide, the better the generated content will be.)"

Wait for the user's description, then:

1. Analyze the naming convention from Phase 1 configuration
2. Generate a professional User Story title following the naming convention (e.g., "1.1: Story Name" for decimal notation)
3. Generate a user persona statement in the format: "As a [role], I want to [action] so that [benefit]"
4. Generate relevant background information with technical details and constraints (formatted as bullet points)
5. Generate comprehensive acceptance criteria using "Given, When, Then" format with multiple scenarios if appropriate

Step AI-2 - Confirm Generated Title:

Display the generated title and ask for confirmation:

"I've generated the following title based on your description:

Title: [GENERATED_TITLE]

Would you like to use this title, or would you prefer to provide your own? (Type 'yes' to use this title, or provide an alternative title)"

Wait for response:

• If user approves (says "yes", "ok", "looks good", etc.), store the generated title
• If user provides alternative text, use that as the title instead

Step AI-3 - Confirm Generated Persona Statement:

Display the generated persona statement and ask for confirmation:

"I've generated the following user persona statement:

Persona Statement: [GENERATED_PERSONA]

Would you like to use this persona statement, or would you prefer to provide your own? (Type 'yes' to use this statement, or provide an alternative)"

Wait for response:

• If user approves, store the generated persona statement
• If user provides alternative text, use that instead

Step AI-4 - Confirm Generated Background:

Display the generated background and ask for confirmation:

"I've generated the following background information:

Background: [GENERATED_BACKGROUND]

Would you like to use this background information, or would you prefer to provide your own? (Type 'yes' to use this background, 'none' to skip background, or provide alternative background information)"

Wait for response:

• If user approves, store the generated background
• If user says 'none', mark background as skipped
• If user provides alternative text, use that instead

Step AI-5 - Confirm Generated Acceptance Criteria:

Display the generated acceptance criteria and ask for confirmation:

"I've generated the following acceptance criteria:

Acceptance Criteria: [GENERATED_CRITERIA]

Would you like to use these acceptance criteria, or would you prefer to provide your own? (Type 'yes' to use these criteria, or provide alternative acceptance criteria)"

Wait for response:

• If user approves, store the generated acceptance criteria
• If user provides alternative text, use that instead

Step AI-6 - Story Points:

Simply output the following text as your response message and STOP:

"What is the Story Points estimate for this User Story?

(Use Fibonacci sequence values: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.)"

Wait for the user's next message with story points before proceeding to Phase 3.

If user chooses 'Manual':

Step 1 - Parent Feature ID:

Simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What is the ID of the parent Feature for this User Story?

(This is the numeric ID of the Feature work item that will contain this story. You can find this in Azure DevOps or from the output of /ado-create-feature)"

Wait for the user's next message with the parent feature ID before proceeding.

Step 2 - Story Title:

After receiving the parent feature ID, simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What is the title for this User Story?

(Based on your naming convention, use an appropriate format. For decimal notation, use: '1.1: Story Name', '2.1: Story Name', etc.)"

Wait for the user's next message with the story title before proceeding.

Step 3 - User Persona Statement:

After receiving the story title, simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What is the user persona statement for this story?

(Format: 'As a [role], I want to [action] so that [benefit]' Example: 'As a website visitor, I want to log in with my email and password so that I can access my personalized dashboard.')"

Wait for the user's next message with the persona statement before proceeding.

Step 4 - Background Information:

After receiving the persona statement, simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What background information should be included for this story?

(Provide relevant context, technical details, or constraints. Use bullet points for clarity. Type 'none' to skip.)"

Wait for the user's next message with background information (or 'none') before proceeding.

Step 5 - Acceptance Criteria:

After receiving the background information, simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What are the acceptance criteria for this story?

(Use 'Given, When, Then' format. Provide multiple scenarios if needed. Keep criteria concise for QA testers. Example: Given a registered user with valid credentials When they enter email and password on the login page Then they should be authenticated and redirected to dashboard)"

Wait for the user's next message with acceptance criteria before proceeding.

Step 6 - Story Points:

After receiving the acceptance criteria, simply output the following text as your response message and STOP (DO NOT call any tools):

"What is the Story Points estimate for this User Story?

(Use Fibonacci sequence values: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.)"

Wait for the user's next message with story points before proceeding.

IMPORTANT:

• Simply output the question text in your response message and STOP - do NOT call ANY tools (except when generating AI content)
• DO NOT use the AskUserQuestion tool for any of these steps
• After outputting each question, wait for the user's next message before proceeding
• For AI mode: Generate content intelligently based on user's description and naming conventions
• For AI mode: Always confirm generated content and allow user to override
• For AI mode: Parent Feature ID is still required before generating other content
• Validate that required fields are provided (not empty)
• Parent Feature ID must be a valid number

Phase 3: Create User Story Work Item

Using the configuration from Phase 1 and the information from Phase 2, create the user story work item:

1. Build the description in HTML format (WITHOUT acceptance criteria):

   • Start with the persona statement wrapped in <p> tags
   • If background information was provided (not 'none'):
     • Add a blank line and <p><strong>Background:</strong></p>
     • Format background as bullet list with <ul> and <li> tags
   • DO NOT include acceptance criteria in the description - they go in a separate field

2. Format the acceptance criteria in HTML format:

   • Use proper line breaks with <br/> tags or bullet list format with <ul> and <li> tags
   • This will be set in the separate Acceptance Criteria field

3. Use the wit_add_child_work_items MCP tool with the following parameters:

   • parentId: The parent feature ID provided by user (as number, not string)
   • project: Use the project name from Phase 1 configuration
   • workItemType: "User Story"
   • items: Array containing a single item object with:
     • title: User-provided title
     • description: HTML-formatted description from step 1 (persona + background only)
     • format: "Html"
     • areaPath: Area Path from configuration
     • iterationPath: Iteration Path from configuration

4. After the user story is created, use the wit_update_work_item MCP tool to set both Story Points AND Acceptance Criteria:

   • id: The ID of the newly created user story (from the response of wit_add_child_work_items)
   • updates: Array containing two update operations:
     • {"op": "add", "path": "/fields/Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.StoryPoints", "value": "[STORY_POINTS_VALUE]"}
     • {"op": "add", "path": "/fields/Microsoft.VSTS.Common.AcceptanceCriteria", "value": "[HTML_FORMATTED_ACCEPTANCE_CRITERIA]"}

5. Wait for both MCP tool responses

IMPORTANT:

• Use the exact field names and paths shown above
• Ensure HTML formatting is applied to both description and acceptance criteria
• DO NOT include acceptance criteria in the description field - use the separate AcceptanceCriteria field
• Parent ID must be converted to a number (not a string)
• Use configuration values from Phase 1, not hardcoded values
• Story Points and Acceptance Criteria must be set in a separate update operation after creation
• Both Story Points and Acceptance Criteria can be set in a single wit_update_work_item call with multiple update operations

Phase 4: Display Success Message

After successful user story creation, display a comprehensive success message:

✓ User Story created successfully!

User Story Details:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎯 ID: [STORY_ID]
📋 Title: [STORY_TITLE]
👤 Parent Feature: [PARENT_FEATURE_ID]
📂 Project: [PROJECT_NAME]
📍 Area Path: [AREA_PATH]
🔄 Iteration Path: [ITERATION_PATH]
⭐ Story Points: [STORY_POINTS]
✨ State: New
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Next Steps:
1. Create Task work items under this User Story using /ado-create-task
2. Review the story in Azure DevOps web interface
3. Assign team members and refine estimates as needed

💡 To create a task for this story:
   /ado-create-task
   (You'll be prompted for parent User Story ID: [STORY_ID])

🔗 View in Azure DevOps:
   https://dev.azure.com/[ORGANIZATION]/[PROJECT]/_workitems/edit/[STORY_ID]

Replace placeholders with actual values from the created story and configuration.

Important Constraints

DO NOT:

• Proceed without Azure DevOps configuration in CLAUDE.md
• Use bash commands for file operations
• Create the story without user-provided information
• Use placeholder or empty values
• Call tools during Steps 1-6 (questions should be simple text output)
• Include Description or Acceptance Criteria in the work item title
• Include Acceptance Criteria in the Description field

DO:

• Use Read tool to check CLAUDE.md for Azure DevOps configuration
• Simply output question text and STOP for Steps 1-6 (no tool calls)
• Wait for user's response after each question before proceeding
• Use wit_add_child_work_items MCP tool to create the story as a child of the feature
• Use wit_update_work_item MCP tool to set both Story Points and Acceptance Criteria after creation
• Apply proper HTML formatting to both description and acceptance criteria fields
• Set Acceptance Criteria in the Microsoft.VSTS.Common.AcceptanceCriteria field (NOT in Description)
• Use configuration values from CLAUDE.md
• Show clear success message with story details
• Provide helpful next steps and links

Error Handling

If the MCP tool returns an error:

• Display the error message to the user
• Suggest possible solutions:
  • Verify the parent Feature ID exists and is valid
  • Verify Azure DevOps MCP server is configured and running
  • Check that project and team names are correct
  • Ensure user has permissions to create work items
  • Verify Node.js 20+ is installed for MCP server
• Recommend running /ado-init if configuration seems incorrect
• If parent ID is invalid, suggest using /ado-create-feature first