ado-auth-helper Not Installing or Timing Out in Codespaces

Start with the artifacts-helper and external-repository features and the post_create script that runs external-git config. Reproduce Codespaces creation and a later git pull while checking why /home/vscode/ado-auth-helper is not ready within 180 seconds. Done means the helper installs or initializes reliably and authentication commands no longer time out.

Hey

We have observed multiple occurrences where ado-auth-helper is not installed correctly in GitHub Codespaces. However, when we explicitly run the command ado-auth-helper get-access-token, it successfully generates an access token, which suggests that there is an underlying issue with how the helper is being installed or initialized.

Our devcontainer.json includes the following features:

• "ghcr.io/microsoft/codespace-features/artifacts-helper:latest": {}
• "ghcr.io/microsoft/codespace-features/external-repository:latest": {}

Scenarios Where Errors Occur

1. During Codespaces Creation

When a Codespace is created using external Git configuration, we run external-git config in the post_create script. During initialization, we see the following log:

2026-01-21 21:19:46.581Z: Configuring ADO Authorization Helper

After waiting for 180 seconds, the process times out and logs the following warning:

2026-01-21 21:22:46.793Z: ::warning::AzDO Authentication Helper not found after 180 seconds Expected location: /home/vscode/ado-auth-helper Continuing without Azure Artifacts authentication... .

2. After Codespaces Is Created
   In some cases, the Codespace is created successfully, but ado-auth-helper is either not installed correctly or times out later during usage.

• For example, running git pull results in the following error:

@node:internal/process/promises:394
    triggerUncaughtException(err, true /* fromPromise */);
    ^
 
[AggregateError: All promises were rejected] {
  [errors]: [
    Error: timed-out waiting for auth
        at Timeout._onTimeout (/home/vscode/.vscode-remote/extensions/ms-codespaces-tools.ado-codespaces-auth-1.2.1/out/auth-helper.js:1368:14)
        at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:588:17)
        at process.processTimers (node:internal/timers:523:7)
  ]
}
 
Node.js v22.21.1


- In some cases, even after Codespaces is created successfully, ado-auth-helper is not installed correctly.

`::warning::AzDO Authentication Helper not found after 180 seconds
Expected location: /home/vscode/ado-auth-helper
Continuing without Azure Artifacts authentication...
info Lage task runner - let's make it`