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Restore a deleted wiki

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Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

If a user deleted a provisioned (project) or published (code) wiki by mistake, you can restore it. We don't provide options via the UI to delete a wiki, but a user could have used the REST API to delete the repository associated with the wiki.

Note

Deleted repositories remain in the recycle bin for 30 days, after which they are permanently deleted and can't be restored.

Prerequisites

  • You must have at least Basic access to restore a wiki.
  • You must have the permission Create Repository to publish code as wiki. By default, this permission is set for members of the Project Administrators group.
  • Anyone who is a member of the Contributors security group can add or edit wiki pages. Anyone with access to the team project, including stakeholders, can view the wiki.
  • You must have the permission Create Repository to publish code as wiki. By default, this permission is set for members of the Project Administrators group.
  • Anyone who is a member of the Contributors security group can add or edit wiki pages. Anyone with access to the team project, including stakeholders, can view the wiki.

Restore a complete wiki

Wikis, both project and code, are stored as repositories in your project in Azure DevOps. Complete the following steps to restore a complete wiki with REST API.

  1. Retrieve git repositories: List repositories.

    Use THE includeHidden=true parameter to see the wiki repositories.

GET https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_apis/git/repositories?includeHidden=true&api-version=7.1-preview.1

        {
            "id": "978e3886-64a8-4b6f-96da-6afc2936b04b",
            "name": "fabrikamfiber.wiki",
            "url": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786/_apis/git/repositories/978e3886-64a8-4b6f-96da-6afc2936b04b,
            "project": {
                "id": "052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786",
                "name": "fabrikamfiber",
                "url": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/_apis/projects/052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786,
                "state": "wellFormed",
                "revision": 421800049,
                "visibility": "organization",
                "lastUpdateTime": "2023-07-18T12:25:29.3Z"
            },
            "defaultBranch": "refs/heads/wikiMaster",
            "size": 193,
            "remoteUrl": https://christiechurch@dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_git/fabrikamfiber.wiki,
            "sshUrl": git@ssh.dev.azure.com:v3/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/fabrikamfiber.wiki,
            "webUrl": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_git/fabrikamfiber.wiki,
            "isDisabled": false,
            "isInMaintenance": false
        }
  1. Search the recycle bin for your repository.
GET https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_apis/git/recycleBin/repositories?api-version=7.1-preview.1

When you find your repository, often named as .wiki, take note of the repo ID.

{
    "value": [
        {
            "id": "978e3886-64a8-4b6f-96da-6afc2936b04b",
            "name": "fabrikamfiber.wiki",
            "project": {
                "id": "052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786",
                "name": "fabrikamfiber",
                "url": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/_apis/projects/052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786,
                "state": "wellFormed",
                "revision": 421800049,
                "visibility": "organization",
                "lastUpdateTime": "2023-07-18T12:25:29.3Z"
            },
            "deletedBy": {
                "displayName": "Christie Church",
                "url": https://spsprodeus23.vssps.visualstudio.com/A1df9d653-bdfb-459b-a0c7-725052b2f944/_apis/Identities/0a0a4b55-9671-440d-87bf-26644f200d8a,
                "_links": {
                    "avatar": {
                        "href": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/_apis/GraphProfile/MemberAvatars/aad.MDY4MDk2OGQtYWU5OS03Y2M5LTgxZTEtNTBjMDk4ZTllZTlh
                    }
                },
                "id": "0a0a4b55-9671-440d-87bf-26644f200d8a",
                "uniqueName": christiechurch@fabrikam.com,
                "imageUrl": https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/_api/_common/identityImage?id=0a0a4b55-9671-440d-87bf-26644f200d8a,
                "descriptor": "aad.MDY4MDk2OGQtYWU5OS03Y2M5LTgxZTEtNTBjMDk4ZTllZTlh"
            },
            "createdDate": "2023-07-18T12:23:55.64Z",
            "deletedDate": "2023-07-18T12:41:38.737Z"
        }
    ],
    "count": 1
}
  1. Restore the wiki from the repository recycle bin.
PATCH https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_apis/git/recycleBin/repositories/978e3886-64a8-4b6f-96da-6afc2936b04b?api-version=7.1-preview.1

{
    "deleted": false
}

The wiki is restored.

Restore a wiki page

  1. Go to the URL for your repo: https://dev.azure.com/<OrgName>/<ProjectName>/_git/classicreleaseoption.wiki.

  2. Search for the history for the main branch, wikiMain.

  3. Find and select the commit that has the deleted files.

  4. Select More actions, and then Revert.

  5. Create and complete a pull request.

Your wiki page is restored.

Restore a wiki page with CLI

If you prefer command line options, do the following steps.

  1. Clone the wiki to your local machine.
  2. Search for the commit which has the deleted the page.
  3. Checkout that commit.
  4. Copy the page to make a new commit.

Your wiki page is restored.

Delete a repository

DELETE https://dev.azure.com/christiechurch/fabrikamfiber/_apis/git/repositories/052a83ac-af70-4194-b53f-df073e5f1786?api-version=7.1-preview.1

Next steps

Add and edit wiki pages