Assistance with Accessing Synced Work Items from Azure DevOps Extension Without Additional Authentication

Question

Hi

I am creating an Azure DevOps extension that will integrate my web app into, and I need help accessing the work item data from Azure Boards without any further authentication.

Context:

My extension performs a sync of cards from my web app by creating work items in Azure Boards. The work items have titles, descriptions, and backlinks to my web app.

Users log into my web application with credentials that log them into my Azure DevOps extension.

After the user has logged in, I want to present the result of the synced Azure DevOps work item information back inside my web app, for example, what card has been synced, without asking for extra authentication to pull the work items from Azure Boards.

Goal:

I would like to find a way to access the Azure DevOps work item information created by the extension and display it in my web app without prompting another authentication to the user. Ideally, the extension would:

Fetch the required work item details in the background.

Allow my web app to show which cards have been synced without requiring extra OAuth or authentication flow.

Questions:

After the authentication, is it possible to use the extension to access Azure DevOps work items without having further authentication for each new request?

Based on my case, where I have an independent web app, are there some APIs or services that allow cross-platform data sharing between the Azure DevOps extension and my web app?

Because of this, I am at a loss for how to securely implement it, given the security and authentication standards of Azure DevOps.

Your further guidance on how to implement this solution would be great.

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

Answer 1

To access synced Azure DevOps work items in your web app without requiring additional user authentication, you might consider using a personal access token (PAT) or OAuth app token stored securely in your extension's backend. This allows continuous access to Azure Boards data post-login. Another approach could involve using Azure DevOps REST APIs with delegated permissions, potentially caching access tokens to avoid repeated authentications. Always verify Azure DevOps security guidelines for storing and handling access tokens.