Your SpecMap stopped loading. Your work items didn't go anywhere.
SpecMap, the free story mapping extension for Azure DevOps, is unpublished from the Visual Studio Marketplace, and its sign-in stopped working in late 2024. Your work items are still in Azure Boards. The map's layout is what went away. CardBoard rebuilds it from the same work items and keeps title, status, acceptance criteria, and three more fields in sync both ways.
SpecMap went quietly, with the company that made it.
SpecMap had more than ten thousand installs. It never got a farewell post. It depended on a SpecFlow account to sign in, and when SpecFlow wound down, the login went with it.
- 2017
SpecMap, from TechTalk, the company behind SpecFlow, appears in Microsoft's March roundup of Visual Studio Team Services extensions.
- 2020
Tricentis buys SpecFlow and makes SpecMap free.
- November 2024
Marketplace reviews report that sign-in no longer works. SpecMap needed a SpecFlow account to log in.
- December 31, 2024
Tricentis ends SpecFlow. Its announcement doesn't mention SpecMap, but the account SpecMap signed in with is gone.
- Today
The Marketplace listing reads "This extension is now unpublished from Marketplace." There was no separate SpecMap announcement.
Sources, checked September 30, 2026: SpecMap Marketplace listing, Marketplace reviews, 2017 extensions roundup, Tricentis acquires SpecFlow, SpecFlow end of life.
What SpecMap did, and where it lives in CardBoard.
| In SpecMap | In CardBoard |
|---|---|
| Map built from your work items | Import work items from the tracker drawer. The first layout follows your Epic, Feature, and User Story tree, then the layout is yours. |
| Break a large item into children | Set a card's parent on the map and the work item gets the parent link in Azure DevOps. |
| Sprint and release planning | Release slices on the map. Iterations stay in Azure DevOps, so recutting a release doesn't move anyone's sprint. Cards you send take the iteration path of the board's saved query. |
| Progress on the map | Status syncs both ways, in your process's own states: Agile, Scrum, CMMI, or custom. |
| Share the map | Guests are free and can edit. Boards export to CSV. |
| Ran inside Azure Boards | A separate web app, linked to your project. Members sign in with their own Microsoft account, so work item history shows who changed what. |
CardBoard also syncs acceptance criteria both ways, with the standard Acceptance Criteria field, alongside status, title, description, assignee, and story points. Every field: Azure DevOps integration docs.
From the same backlog, in an afternoon.
- Create a story map board and connect it to your Azure DevOps project from the tracker drawer. To bring in only the work SpecMap showed, use a saved query.
- Import the work items. The first layout follows your Epic, Feature, and User Story tree.
- Rearrange it into the user's path, and redraw the release lines you had. Nothing in Azure DevOps moves while you do.
- Invite the team. Members connect their own Microsoft account to edit linked cards. Guests join free.
The rest of the Azure DevOps story, including how CardBoard compares with StoriesOnBoard: Azure DevOps story mapping.
Frequently asked questions
- What happened to SpecMap?
- The SpecMap extension is unpublished from the Visual Studio Marketplace. Reviews from November 2024 report that sign-in stopped working, and Tricentis ended SpecFlow, whose account SpecMap used for login, on December 31, 2024. We found no separate announcement about SpecMap itself.
- Did I lose my work items?
- No. SpecMap drew the map from work items that live in Azure DevOps, and those are untouched. What's gone is the map around them: which activity each story sat under, and where the release lines were.
- Does CardBoard run inside Azure DevOps like SpecMap did?
- No. CardBoard is its own web app, linked to your Azure DevOps project. Fields sync both ways within seconds, and position on the map never syncs, so the map can hold a release plan the backlog doesn't have yet.
- Does it work with Azure DevOps Server or TFS?
- No. CardBoard connects to Azure DevOps Services in the cloud only. If you still run Team Foundation Server on-premises, StoriesOnBoard supports it.
- What does it cost?
- Mapping is free for three boards. Syncing with Azure DevOps needs Pro, from $10 a month. Guests never pay. SpecMap was free, so that's a real difference.
Weighing more than one replacement? See the best user story mapping tools.
Put the map back on your backlog.
Mapping is free. Sync with Azure DevOps starts on Pro at $10 a month, and guests never pay.