Trigger a deployment based on a tag

To trigger a deployment based on a tag, you can use the "Tag" trigger in your pipeline YAML file. This allows you to specify a tag pattern that will trigger the pipeline when a new tag is pushed to the repository.

Here is an example of how to set up a tag trigger in your pipeline YAML file:

trigger:
  tags:
    include:
      - 'approved*'

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
  - task: UseDotNet@2
    inputs:
      packageType: 'sdk'
      version: '8.x' # Adjust to your .NET version

  - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
    inputs:
      command: 'publish'
      publishWebProjects: true
      arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration) --output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'

  - task: AzureWebApp@1
    inputs:
      azureSubscription: 'ControlledReleaseConnection' # Replace with your Azure service connection name
      appType: 'webApp' # Use 'webApp' for Windows, 'webAppLinux' for Linux
      appName: 'controlled-release' # Replace with your Azure Web App name
      package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/*.zip'

Standard workflow

Make changes to the code

> git status (shows changed files)

> git add . (stages all files ready for commit)

> git commit -m “Commit message here”

The changes are committed to the local git repository

> git push origin master (pushes changes to the remote ‘master’ branch)

Using tags

Use git log to list the commits

Find the commit to be tagged and copy its hash

> git tag “candidate-release-v1" -m “This commit is ready for approval” [hash]

> git push origin “candidate-release-v1" (the tag is now applied to the remote commit)

Make any further changes and commit to the remote. They will not affect the tagged version

> git tag “approved-cab-20250425" -m “Approved at CAB” [hash]

> git push origin “approved-cab-20250425"

The build pipeline will see the tag and start a deployment