Domain parsing fails when -d flag is provided once with comma-separated values (as proposed by VSCode template)

[pwes-interlan]

The Azure DevOps MCP server fails to properly parse domains when the -d flag is provided once with comma-separated domain names, which is a common pattern when using VS Code input variables.

Reproduction

In .vscode/mcp.json, which was mostly generated for me automatically after installing the MCP Server:

{
  "servers": {
    "microsoft/azure-devops-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@azure-devops/mcp@latest",
        "myorg",
        "-p", "mmyproject",
        "-d", "${input:ado_domain}"
      ]
    }
  },
  "inputs": [{
    "id": "ado_domain",
    "type": "promptString",
    "default": "core,work,work-items,search,repositories",
    "description": "Repeat to enable specific domains: core, work, work-items, search, test-plans, repositories, wiki, pipelines, advanced-security."
  }
}

Expected behavior

All domains from ado_domain (by default: core, work, work-items, search, and repositories) should be enabled.

Actual behavior

No specific domain is recognized, treating the entire comma-separated string as a single domain name:

2025-12-18 12:52:43.607 [warning] [server stderr] Error: Specified invalid domain 'core, work, work-items, search, repositories'. Please specify exactly as available domains: advanced-security, pipelines, core, repositories, search, test-plans, wiki, work, work-items
2025-12-18 12:52:43.630 [info] Discovered 77 tools

Root cause

The issue occurs due to how yargs handles the -d option combined with the DomainsManager logic:

1. The -d option is configured with array: true (index.ts#L43)
2. When -d "core,work,work-items" is passed, yargs creates: ["core,work,work-items"] (one-element array)
3. The DomainsManager constructor receives an array and calls handleArrayInput() (domains.ts#L47)
4. handleArrayInput() doesn't split on commas, only handleStringInput() does (domains.ts#L60-L61)

Suggested fix

Modify handleArrayInput() to split comma-separated values in array elements:

private handleArrayInput(domainsInput: string[]): void {
  if (domainsInput.length === 0 || domainsInput.includes(ALL_DOMAINS)) {
    this.enableAllDomains();
    return;
  }
  
  const domains = domainsInput.flatMap(dd => dd.split(',').map(d => d.trim().toLowerCase()));
  this.validateAndAddDomains(domains);
}

This would support both usage patterns:

• Multiple flags: -d core -d work -d repositories
• Single flag with comma-separated values: -d "core,work,repositories"

Workaround

Currently, users must repeat the -d flag for each domain, which is verbose for VS Code input variables. There is also no option to use input variables.

[danhellem]

Sorry, I don't think is accurate.

here is how I am defining domains in my mcp.json and it works as expected. If you don't use -d, then we just load them all

"args": ["${input:ado_org}", "azcli", "-d", "core", "work", "work-items", "test-plans"],

[pwes-interlan]

@danhellem This is what I do as well, because of this issue. You cannot define domains with an input, that is the subject of this issue. This:

"args": ["${input:ado_org}", "azcli", "-d", "${input:ado_domains}"],

doesn't work, as described in original comment.

Please reopen. Can provide a PR if this is acceptable.