Difference between Azure Devops Builds - Queue vs run pipeline REST APIs

2
votes

I do see two options to run a Azure devops pipeline

  1. run pipeline - > https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/pipelines/runs/run%20pipeline?view=azure-devops-rest-6.0
  2. Build queue - > https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/build/builds/queue?view=azure-devops-rest-6.1

I would like to understand differences of both APIs and when to use what?

1
azure-devopsazure-pipelinesazure-rest-api

1 Answers

3
votes

I would like to understand differences of both APIs.

Azure Devops provides Classic UI builds and Yaml build pipelines. These two APIs can both start a pipeline run (No matter Classic UI Build pipeline or Yaml Build pipeline). The biggest difference between the two APIs exists in their Request Body:

1.You should know that Yaml pipeline has introduced an important function Runtime parameters. We can pass variables and parameters when using Run pipeline API, but we can only pass variables when using Builds-Queue API.

The new Run pipeline API coming after api-version 6.0 supports passing parameters/variables which are important for Yaml pipelines. But the old Queue-build doesn't support parameters, it only support variables (The parameters here is actually variables, it's not real parameters for YAML).

2.What's more, we can use normal yaml pipeline for both CI and CD. It's multi-stage Yaml pipeline. To run such pipeline, it's strong recommended to use Run pipeline.

Check the Request Body of Run pipeline carefully and you'll find the Run pipeline is more related to Yaml pipeline. The StagesToSkip element and yamlOverride are unique functions for YAML pipeline.

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When to use what?

Chose Run pipeline for YAML pipeline and chose Builds-Queue for Classic UI Build pipeline. It's not necessary (both these two APIs can start Classic Build run and Yaml Build run) but it's more recommended.