gastownhall/beads · error

no ADO project configured Set via 'bd config set ado.project

Error message

no ADO project configured
Set via 'bd config set ado.project <project>'
Or:  'bd config set ado.projects "proj1,proj2"'
Or: AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT env var

What it means

validateADOConfig requires at least one configured Azure DevOps project. When cfg.Projects is empty, this multi-line error lists all three supported setup channels: the single-project key, the comma-separated projects key, or the AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT env var.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/ado.go:249

	case "ado.projects":
		return "AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECTS"
	case "ado.url":
		return "AZURE_DEVOPS_URL"
	default:
		return ""
	}
}

// validateADOConfig checks that required configuration is present.
func validateADOConfig(cfg ADOConfig) error {
	if cfg.PAT == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("ado.pat not configured: set via 'bd config set ado.pat <token>' or AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT env var")
	}
	if cfg.Org == "" && cfg.URL == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("ado.org not configured: set via 'bd config set ado.org <org>' or AZURE_DEVOPS_ORG env var")
	}
	if len(cfg.Projects) == 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("no ADO project configured\nSet via 'bd config set ado.project <project>'\nOr:  'bd config set ado.projects \"proj1,proj2\"'\nOr: AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT env var")
	}
	return nil
}

// maskADOToken masks a token for safe display.
// Shows only the first 4 characters to aid identification without
// revealing enough to reduce brute-force entropy.
func maskADOToken(token string) string {
	if token == "" {
		return "(not set)"
	}
	if len(token) <= 4 {
		return "****"
	}
	return token[:4] + "****"
}

// getADOClient creates an Azure DevOps client from the current configuration.

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Run `bd config set ado.project <project>` for a single project
2. Run `bd config set ado.projects "proj1,proj2"` for multiple projects
3. Export AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT=<project> in the shell/CI environment

Example fix

// before
bd ado sync
// error: no ADO project configured
// after
bd config set ado.projects "platform,web" && bd ado sync

if os.Getenv("AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT") == "" {
    if projects, _ := config.Get("ado.projects"); projects == "" {
        if p, _ := config.Get("ado.project"); p == "" {
            return errors.New("configure ado.project(s) or AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT before ADO commands")
        }
    }
}

if err := bdAdoSync(); err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no ADO project configured") {
    return configureProjectsThenRetry()
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running an ADO command through validateADOConfig (status, sync, push, pull) with no ado.project/ado.projects entry in bd config and no AZURE_DEVOPS_PROJECT env var.

Common situations: Org and PAT configured but projects step skipped; teams migrating from single-project to multi-project setups unsure which key to use; CI images without the project env var.

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• ado.org not configured: set via 'bd config set ado.org <org>
• ado.pat not configured: set via 'bd config set ado.pat <toke
• cannot use multiple conflict resolution flags
• invalid ADO configuration: %w
• failed to list projects: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bc13832e167fdc2d. Report an issue: GitHub.