Pull Request Description

Update pull request descriptions during pipeline runs

YAML Snippet

- task: PullRequestDescription@0
  inputs:
    action: append #The action to perform
    content: #The content to append or replace original description with. Required when action is `append` or `replace`. For Markdown syntax, see [Syntax guidance for basic Markdown usage](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=823918) **Supports usage of variables.**
    keepAppendedContent: false #Will keep the content appended from other runs of the task. This will append the current content below the existing content. Applies to action `append`
    useDefined: false #Use the pre-defined id for the pull request. If set, overrides the value from `System.PullRequest.PullRequestId`. Default: `false`
    pullRequestId: $(System.PullRequest.PullRequestId) #If no id is given, the value from `System.PullRequest.PullRequestId` is taken. If a value is given, this overrides the value from `System.PullRequest.PullRequestId`
    outputVariable: PullRequest.DescriptionContent #The name of the output variable to write the description to. Default `PullRequest.DescriptionContent`. Applies to actions `view`
    isOutput: #If set, `outputVariable` is set as output and accessible from other jobs. Applies to actions `view`
    stripIdentifiers: false #Strip internal modifiers before setting variable. Applies to actions `view`

Arguments

Argument	Description
action Action	(Required) The action to perform Options: append, replace, view Default value: append
content Content	(Required) The content to append or replace original description with. Required when action is append or replace. For Markdown syntax, see Syntax guidance for basic Markdown usage Supports usage of variables.
keepAppendedContent Keep appended content	(Optional) Will keep the content appended from other runs of the task. This will append the current content below the existing content. Applies to action append
useDefined Use defined id	(Optional) Use the pre-defined id for the pull request. If set, overrides the value from System.PullRequest.PullRequestId. Default: false
pullRequestId Pull Request Id	(Optional) If no id is given, the value from System.PullRequest.PullRequestId is taken. If a value is given, this overrides the value from System.PullRequest.PullRequestId Default value: $(System.PullRequest.PullRequestId)
outputVariable Output Variable	(Optional) The name of the output variable to write the description to. Default PullRequest.DescriptionContent. Applies to actions view Default value: PullRequest.DescriptionContent
isOutput Is output	(Optional) If set, outputVariable is set as output and accessible from other jobs. Applies to actions view
stripIdentifiers Strip Identifiers	(Optional) Strip internal modifiers before setting variable. Applies to actions view

Examples

Append content

Append will append content to the end of the PR on the first run. On sequential runs the content will be replaced. A markdown comment will be added to the pull request so the task knows where to replace content from.

steps:
  - task: PullRequestDescription@0
    inputs:
      action: 'append'
      content: 'This content will be appended to the bottom of the PR description'

---

Replace content

The following configuration will replace the entire pull request description on each run.

steps:
  - task: PullRequestDescription@0
    inputs:
      action: 'replace'
      content: 'This content will be the only part of the PR description'

---

Set as variable

Write the content of description to a variable.

steps:
  - task: PullRequestDescription@0
    name: setDescriptionVariable
    inputs:
      action: 'view'
      outputVariable: 'PullRequest.DescriptionContent'
      isOutput: true
      stripIdentifiers: false
  - script: echo $(setDescriptionVariable.PullRequest.DescriptionContent)

PullRequestDescription uses some interal modifiers to know where to append content to. If you wish to remove these before setting the variable, set stripIdentifiers to true.

---

Other

Setting the environment variable PRU_DESC_LOG=true will write the old description to the log. This is mostly used during development and testing, but might be nice to know.