to queue upcoming builds until the current build and release is completed on azure

Question

I have a build pipeline and a release process set up, with a version increment at the end of the release to ensure everything updates correctly. However, when new builds start while the current build/release process hasn’t finished, they use the old version.

What I want is to pause or queue any new builds until the ongoing build and release processes are complete.

Answer 1

Hello Mohammed Sadiq,

To prevent new builds from starting while a build and release process is ongoing in Azure DevOps, ensuring the version increment is applied correctly, use one of these approaches:

Approach 1: For YAML Pipelines (Recommended)

Add this concurrency control block at the top of your YAML pipeline file to limit runs to one at a time:

concurrency:

  group: version-control-group

  cancelInProgress: false

Alternatively, for CI triggers, enable batch triggers:

trigger:

  batch: true

  branches:

    include:

    - main

Approach 2: For Classic Build and Release Pipelines

• Build Pipeline:
  • Go to your build pipeline > Edit > Triggers > Continuous Integration.
  • Enable Batch changes ("Batch changes while a build is in progress").
  • Save.
• Release Pipeline:
  • Go to your release pipeline > select environment (e.g., Dev, QA).
  • Click gear/settings icon > Enable Deployments do not run concurrently.
  • Save.

Approach 3: Advanced Control with REST API

Add a PowerShell task at the start of your pipeline to check for in-progress builds/releases:

$token = "$(System.AccessToken)"

$headers = @{ Authorization = "Bearer $token" }

$org = "your-organization"

$project = "your-project"

# Check in-progress builds

$buildUrl = "https://dev.azure.com/$org/$project/_apis/build/builds?statusFilter=inProgress&api-version=6.0"

$buildResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $buildUrl -Headers $headers -Method Get

# Check in-progress releases

$releaseUrl = "https://vsrm.dev.azure.com/$org/$project/_apis/release/releases?statusFilter=inProgress&api-version=6.0"

$releaseResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $releaseUrl -Headers $headers -Method Get

if ($buildResponse.count -gt 0 -or $releaseResponse.count -gt 0) {

    Write-Host "Another build or release is in progress. Waiting..."

    Start-Sleep -Seconds 60

} else {

    Write-Host "No active builds or releases. Proceeding..."

}

• Replace your-organization and your-project with your Azure DevOps details.
• Add as a PowerShell task at the pipeline’s start.

Note: Test in a non-production environment first.

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Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

Use the batch triggers https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/repos/azure-repos-git?view=azure-devops&tabs=yaml#batching-ci-runs

Any new commit will be skipped until the current pipeline run completes. At which point the pipeline will run again for the latest commit after the completed run