Status check reference

Lifecycle, states, and branch-policy wiring for the adopilot/ai-pr-review status check.

Last updated 2026-07-09

ADO Pilot posts a single PR status check on every reviewed pull request. You can require it as a branch policy to gate PR completion on the AI verdict.

This page documents the check's identifier, every state it can take, and how to wire it up in Azure DevOps.

Identifier

The status check uses a fixed two-part context. Type both fields exactly as shown — the search box in branch policies is case-sensitive.

Field	Value
`genre`	`adopilot`
`name`	`ai-pr-review`

The combined display label in the Azure DevOps UI is adopilot/ai-pr-review.

States

ADO Pilot writes one of four states to every PR it observes. The state always reflects the latest iteration — a new push to the source branch resets the check to pending.

State	Meaning	Description text shown in ADO
`pending`	Review queued or in progress.	"AI review queued" or "AI review in progress"
`succeeded`	Review complete with a `PASS` or `ADVISORY` verdict, or skipped with no review.	"AI review complete - X blockers, Y warnings, Z suggestions" (completed, zero-count categories omitted) / "AI review skipped — no reviewable changes" or "AI review skipped — all files excluded by configuration" (skip path)
`failed`	Review complete with a `FAIL` verdict (one or more blockers), or quota exhausted.	"AI review complete - X blockers, Y warnings, Z suggestions" (verdict) / "AI review blocked — review credit quota exhausted. Upgrade your plan or wait for the next billing period." (quota)
`error`	Review encountered an unrecoverable error and could not complete.	"AI review failed to complete"

State transitions

pending ──► in-progress ──► succeeded
                        ├─► failed
                        └─► error

(skip path: succeeded posted directly — ADO Pilot never posts pending or in-progress)
(quota exhausted: failed posted directly — ADO Pilot never posts pending or in-progress)

Empty-diff or fully-excluded PRs are detected before review starts and post succeeded directly with a skip description — no in-progress step.

Wiring as a required branch policy

Any user with Edit policies on the target branch can make the check a hard or soft gate.

In Azure DevOps, open Project settings → Repos → Repositories, pick the repository, then open the Policies tab.
Under Branch Policies, select the branch (for example main).
Scroll to Status Checks and click + (add status check).
In the Status to check picker, search for adopilot/ai-pr-review and select it.
Choose how strict you want the gate to be:
- Required — the PR cannot complete until the check is succeeded. pending blocks completion; failed or error blocks until either a new push triggers a fresh review or an admin overrides the policy.
- Optional — the check is visible on the PR but does not block completion.
Click Save.

Behavior under a required policy

Posted state	Effect on PR completion
`pending`	Blocked — branch policy waits for a terminal state.
`succeeded`	Satisfied — PR can complete (subject to other policies).
`failed`	Blocked — push a fix to re-run the review, or have an admin override.
`error`	Blocked — push a new commit to trigger a fresh review, or have an admin override.

Description text

ADO Pilot writes a description to every status post; you can read it on the PR Overview page next to the check name.

When	Description
Initial post	"AI review queued"
Active	"AI review in progress"
Complete (PASS/ADVISORY/FAIL)	"AI review complete - X blockers, Y warnings, Z suggestions" (zero-count categories are omitted)
Quota exhausted	"AI review blocked — review credit quota exhausted. Upgrade your plan or wait for the next billing period."
Error	"AI review failed to complete"
Skipped (empty diff)	"AI review skipped — no reviewable changes"
Skipped (all excluded)	"AI review skipped — all files excluded by configuration"

Description format for completed reviews

The description uses a hyphen - as separator and omits categories with zero findings. For example:

A review with 2 blockers and 1 warning but no suggestions: "AI review complete - 2 blockers, 1 warning"
A review with only 1 suggestion: "AI review complete - 1 suggestion"
A review with no findings at all (PASS): "AI review complete"

Troubleshooting

Check stays on pending for more than 15 minutes. Most reviews complete in 2–5 minutes, and a few legitimately take 10 minutes or more; delays beyond that usually indicate a system-side processing delay. See Stuck review.
Old verdict still showing after a push. Azure DevOps caches the previous status until the new iteration's review finishes. Refresh the PR Overview after 1–2 minutes.
The check doesn't appear in the branch policy picker. Confirm you typed the context exactly as adopilot/ai-pr-review. The picker only lists statuses that have been posted at least once on a PR in that repository — open and close a test PR first if necessary.
Reviews aren't running because you've exhausted your plan. When your tenant has no review credits available, ADO Pilot posts a failed status check with the quota-exhausted message above. See Quota exceeded.