Azure / Azure/azure-cli

Problem with the description length on using `az boards work-item create`

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#33,513 4 comments 1 reaction 2 assignees Claimed by @azclibot View on GitHub
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Description

### Describe the bug

I was trying to use **azure-cli** to create issues on an Azure Board. Although, the `[azure-devops-cli](https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/tree/main/skills/azure-devops-cli)` skill was used from the coding agent, it took the coding agent multiple tries to create features.

At the end, the coding agent created this note:

## When a skill says "publish to the issue tracker"

Create an Azure DevOps work item using `az boards work-item create`. Use `Issue` type for features and PRDs (Basic template), `Task` for implementation sub-tasks.

**Note on large descriptions:** The `--description` flag hits Windows command line length limits for content over ~7 000 characters. For large descriptions, use `Invoke-RestMethod` in PowerShell with a bearer token:

```powershell
$token = az account get-access-token --resource "499b84ac-1321-427f-aa17-267ca6975798" --query accessToken --output tsv
$desc = ""
$body = @(@{ op="add"; path="/fields/System.Description"; value=$desc }) | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5
Invoke-RestMethod -Method Patch `
-Uri "https://dev.azure.com/{org}/{project}/_apis/wit/workitems/{id}?api-version=7.0" `
-Headers @{ Authorization="Bearer $token"; "Content-Type"="application/json-patch+json" } `
-Body $body
```

I think this "large description" issue isn’t going away anytime soon. It should be addressed by the **azure-cli** tool, possibly with an extra parameter (eg. --descriptionfile) to point to an external file containing the description. Another option could be for **azure-cli** to support JSON payloads from files or environment variables, which would help integrate with coding agent tools.

### Related command

az boards work-item create

### Errors

Described above.

### Issue script & Debug output

Described above.

### Expected behavior

Described above.

### Environment Summary

azure-cli 2.87.0

core 2.87.0
telemetry 1.1.0

Extensions:
azure-devops 1.0.3

Dependencies:
msal 1.36.0
azure-mgmt-resource 24.0.0

Python location 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\python.exe'
Config directory 'C:\Users\georg\.azure'
Extensions directory 'C:\Users\georg\.azure\cliextensions'

Python (Windows) 3.13.13 (tags/v3.13.13:01104ce, Apr 7 2026, 19:25:48) [MSC v.1944 64 bit (AMD64)]

### Additional context

_No response_

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