Support

Help with Cobalt

Something not working, or got an idea? Email cobalt@mattoddie.dev and you'll get a reply, usually within a couple of days. It helps to include your iOS version and a screenshot. Please never send your access token.

Creating a personal access token

Sign in to Azure DevOps, open User settings (the person icon at the top right) and choose Personal access tokens.
Choose New Token and give it a name such as Cobalt.
For Organization, pick yours, or All accessible organizations to add several at once.
Choose an expiry, then Custom defined scopes, and tick the ones below. Leave out anything you don't want Cobalt to touch.
Create the token, copy it, open Cobalt, tap Connect Azure DevOps and paste it in. Azure DevOps only shows it once.

Scope	Permission	Used for
Code	Read & write	Repos, pull requests, votes, comments, completing, branches and code search
Work Items	Read & write	Work items, sprints, queries, comments and edits
Build	Read & execute	Pipelines, runs, logs, running, cancelling and retrying
Environment	Read & manage	Approving and rejecting deployments
Project and Team	Read	Projects, teams and sprints (required)
Identity	Read	Finding reviewers and assignees

Want Cobalt to only look, never change? Choose Read for each one.

Common problems

"Azure DevOps didn't accept this personal access token": the token was mistyped, has expired, was revoked, or was made for a different organisation. Create a new one and update it from Cobalt's settings (swipe the organisation, then Token).
"There's no organisation called …": check the name after dev.azure.com/ in your browser. For old name.visualstudio.com addresses, the organisation is name.
"Your access token doesn't have permission": edit the token in Azure DevOps and add the scope from the table above. You don't need to paste it into Cobalt again.
Leaving the organisation blank doesn't find anything: that only works for tokens made for All accessible organizations. Type the organisation's name instead.
Search says it isn't available: code and work item search need the Code Search extension, which Azure DevOps installs by default. An administrator may have removed it.
Sign-in fails in a company organisation: administrators can turn off personal access tokens or limit them with Conditional Access policies. Ask them whether tokens are allowed.
Notifications arrive late: without a server, Cobalt can only check when iOS gives it time in the background, usually every 15 to 30 minutes, and less often in Low Power Mode.

Opening links in Cobalt

Paste a pull request, work item, run or repository link from dev.azure.com into Search to open it, or open cobalt://open?url= followed by the link, for example from a Shortcut.

Face ID

In Cobalt's settings, set Require Face ID to For Changes to confirm votes, completing pull requests, work item edits, approvals and pipeline runs, or to To Open Cobalt to lock the whole app whenever you leave it.

Try it without an account

Tap Explore the demo organisation on the welcome screen to load a simulated organisation. Nothing you do in the demo touches a real one.