Introduction to agent pools
Instead of managing each agent individually, you organize agents into agent pools. An agent pool defines the sharing boundary for all agents in that pool.
Agent pool scope
In Azure Pipelines, pools are scoped to the entire organization, allowing you to share agent machines across projects.
Organization-level pools: Can be shared across multiple projects Project-level pools: Limited to a single project unless explicitly added to other projects
Creating and sharing pools
When you create a build or release pipeline, you specify which pool it uses at either the organization or project scope.
To share an agent pool across multiple projects:
- Create an organization-scoped agent pool
- Add the pool to each project that needs access
- Choose the organization agent pool when adding an existing pool
Automatic permissions: When creating a new agent pool, you can automatically grant access permission to all pipelines, simplifying management for teams.