Approve a model change without reading its JSON

Pywr for Azure DevOps shows each pull request that changes a Pywr model as added, changed and removed components, and on the schematic. Reviewers comment and vote in the browser, without Git and with nothing to install.

Try it for 30 days Request a demo Read the guide

For Azure DevOps Services, with Pywr v2 and Pywr v1 models. How the licence works.

The review of a pull request in Azure DevOps: the list of changes on the left, the schematic with the added Drought transfer node and the removed Total supply node in the centre, and the Minimum residual flow parameter on the right, changed from 15 to 18.

Every model review in one list

The Model reviews page under Repos lists the pull requests of every repository in the project that change a Pywr model, with what each one adds, changes and removes.

List the ones assigned to you, the ones you created or all the active ones
See your decision on each, and narrow the list to one repository
Put the reviews waiting for you on a dashboard with a widget

Find the pull requests to review

The Model reviews page under Repos, with four pull requests. The first one, Raise the Blackwater drought curve for the 2026 plan, adds 3 components, changes 2 and removes 1, and has no decision yet.

Each value before and after the change

Pick a component to see each value it changes, in the target branch and in the pull request, the components that use it and the comments on it.

Changes are grouped by model file and by type of component
A dot marks the changes you have opened, on any computer
Long values, such as a list of control curves, open side by side

Review a pull request

The Drought curve parameter in the right pane: its changed values, the parameter that uses it, the commit that changed it, and a reviewer's question on the August value with the modeller's answer, then the Reply and Resolve buttons.

See the problems a change adds

Each model the pull request changes is checked. The problems it adds are listed above the changes, and the ones the target branch already has are left out.

A parameter used by a node but missing from the model
Two components with the same name
The changes with a problem carry a warning in the list

Problems the pull request adds

A pull request whose Blackwater WTW capacity parameter now uses the Drought curve 2027 parameter, which is not in the model. The problem is listed above the changes and in the right pane, with the Blackwater WTW node that uses the parameter.

Comment, suggest a value, then decide

Comment on a component, or propose another value for the author to apply. Your decision is your vote in Azure DevOps, so the branch policies apply as usual.

Comments are attached to the lines of the model file
Before you save, you are warned about the changes you have not opened
Post a summary of the changes for the people who read the pull request by email

Record your decision

The dialog Your decision on the pull request, with Approve selected, a warning that 3 changes have not been opened, the policies the pull request waits for, a box to comment on the pull request and the Save my decision button.

Compare any two versions

Compare two branches, tags or commits of a repository, such as last year's plan and the main model, in the same three panes as a pull request.

Every difference between the two, as changed components
Browse a model without a pull request from the Preview tab of Azure Repos

Compare two versions

The twelve monthly values of the Drought curve, in the target branch on the left and in the pull request on the right.

Try it for 30 days, then pay by the year

The licence belongs to the organisation, so there is no key to enter and nothing to set up for each reviewer.

The trial: Each organisation can use the extension free for 30 days from the first time anyone opens it.
The price: A yearly licence for the whole organisation, priced by the number of seats. Email [email protected] for the prices or a demo.
Seats: Each user who opens the extension takes a seat. A seat is freed when its user has not opened the extension for 30 days.
Paying: Select Buy a licence on the Model reviews page to pay by card. To pay by invoice, quote the organisation ID shown next to it on your purchase order.

Request a demo and the prices

Help setting up Azure DevOps

We can help you set up the rest of Azure DevOps for your models, such as the pipelines and the branch policies.

Ask for help with the setup

The changes come from VS Code

Modellers make the changes in Pywr for VS Code, a free extension, and open the pull request from there. Comments are attached to the lines of the model file, so a question asked in Azure DevOps is answered in the editor, and the answer is back in the review. Reviewers do not need VS Code.

How a change is approved

Install it for your organisation

An administrator installs Pywr for Azure DevOps from the Marketplace, once for the whole organisation.
Set the branch policies of the main model, so that a change reaches it only once it is approved.
Send the reviewers to Model reviews under Repos. They need no personal access token: the extension reads the files with their own permissions.

Try it for 30 days Set up Azure DevOps

Works with Azure DevOps Services, the cloud version of Azure DevOps, and with Pywr v2 and Pywr v1 models.