export-solution
The export-solution skill automates exporting Power Platform Dataverse solutions by triggering an async export, polling for completion, downloading the resulting zip file, and verifying its contents. Use this skill when you need to package and retrieve a solution from your environment, typically as part of application lifecycle management workflows like promoting solutions between environments or preparing them for deployment pipelines.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/power-platform-skills /tmp/export-solution && cp -r /tmp/export-solution/plugins/power-pages/skills/export-solution ~/.claude/skills/export-solutionSKILL.md
> **Plugin check**: Run `node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/check-version.js"` — if it outputs a message, show it to the user before proceeding.
# export-solution
Triggers an async Dataverse solution export, polls until complete, downloads the solution zip, and verifies it. Reads `.solution-manifest.json` to identify the solution; falls back to asking the user.
## Prerequisites
- PAC CLI installed and authenticated
- Azure CLI installed and logged in
- Solution exists in the environment (run `setup-solution` first if needed)
## Phases
### Phase 0 — ALM plan gate
> **`plan-alm` is the front door.** When the user expresses an ALM intent (*promote / ship / deploy / set up CI-CD / move to staging / push to prod*), the orchestrator (`/power-pages:plan-alm`) should run first. This Phase 0 enforces that and is meant to fail closed when there's no plan, not to be a one-time check the user can dismiss forever.
**Skip rule.** If this skill was invoked *as part of an active `plan-alm` orchestration*, skip Phase 0 entirely and proceed to Phase 1. The gate helper exposes this via its `inExecution` block — pass through silently to Phase 1 when:
```
inExecution.status === "active"
```
The helper computes this from `docs/.alm-plan-data.json` — `PLAN_STATUS === "In Execution"` AND `LAST_INVOCATION_AT` within the last 60 minutes. `check-alm-plan.js` refreshes `LAST_INVOCATION_AT` automatically on every invocation that finds the plan in execution, so each in-chain skill keeps the chain alive for the next one — even multi-hour deploys (deploy-pipeline alone can take 60 min per stage) survive the window without the chain incorrectly de-classifying. Stalled chains (no heartbeat for > 60 min) reclassify as `stale-heartbeat` and Phase 0 gates fire normally so an abandoned plan doesn't silently bypass user confirmation.
When `inExecution.status` is anything other than `"active"` (`"not-running"`, `"stale-heartbeat"`, `"no-plan"`), run the Phase 0 gate flow below. Branch on the remaining helper fields:
**Step 1 — Run the gate helper.**
```bash
node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/check-alm-plan.js" \
--projectRoot "." \
--envUrl "{envUrl from .solution-manifest.json or pac env who, if available}" \
--token "{token, if Phase 1 already acquired one}" \
--solutionId "{solutionId from .solution-manifest.json, if available}"
```
The helper returns JSON with `{ exists, deferred, stale, staleness: { reason, detail }, generatedAt, planStatus, ... }`. The freshness check requires env credentials + solutionId; without those the helper does an existence-only check.
**Step 2 — Branch on the result.**
| Result | Behavior |
|---|---|
| `deferred: true` | The user has explicitly deferred ALM for this project (`.alm-deferred` marker present). Pass through silently to Phase 1 — do not nag. |
| `exists: false` | The user hasn't run `plan-alm` yet. See Step 3. |
| `exists: true, stale: false` | Plan is current. Pass through silently to Phase 1. |
| `exists: true, stale: true` (reason: `solution-modified`) | The solution changed after the plan was generated. See Step 4. |
**Step 3 — No plan.** Tell the user:
> "No ALM plan exists for this project. `/power-pages:plan-alm` builds one — it detects the project state, asks about your promotion strategy (PP Pipelines vs Manual export/import), and orchestrates the right skills (including this one) in the right order. Want me to run plan-alm now?"
<!-- gate: export-solution:0.no-plan | category=intent | cancel-leaves=nothing -->
> 🚦 **Gate (intent · export-solution:0.no-plan):** Fail-closed entry gate when `check-alm-plan.js` returns `exists:false`. Helper-script-backed.
`AskUserQuestion`:
| Question | Header | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Run `/power-pages:plan-alm` first? | ALM plan gate | Yes — run /power-pages:plan-alm now (Recommended), Continue without a plan (advanced — I know what I'm doing), Cancel |
- **Yes (Recommended)** → invoke `/power-pages:plan-alm`. plan-alm's Phase 7 dispatches back into this skill at the appropriate stage.
- **Continue without a plan** → set `BYPASSED_PLAN_GATE = true` and proceed to Phase 1.
- **Cancel** → exit cleanly.
**Step 4 — Stale plan.** Tell the user:
> "ALM plan exists from `{generatedAt}` but the source solution has been modified since (at `{solution.modifiedon}`). Components may have changed. Re-running `plan-alm` will refresh the analysis and the rendered HTML."
<!-- gate: export-solution:0.stale-plan | category=intent | cancel-leaves=nothing -->
> 🚦 **Gate (intent · export-solution:0.stale-plan):** Fail-closed entry gate when `check-alm-plan.js` returns `stale:true`. Helper-script-backed.
`AskUserQuestion`:
| Question | Header | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh the plan first? | ALM plan freshness | Refresh — re-run /power-pages:plan-alm (Recommended), Continue with the existing plan, Cancel |
- **Refresh (Recommended)** → invoke `/power-pages:plan-alm`. After completion, re-run the Phase 0 helper once to confirm freshness; if still stale, surface the detail and proceed to Phase 1 anyway (don't infinite-loop).
- **Continue** → set `STALE_PLAN_ACK = true` and proceed to Phase 1.
- **Cancel** → exit cleanly.
**Why this gate exists.** Direct invocation of `export-solution` produces a zip without the orchestrator's pre-export completeness check. Users running this skill standalone often miss components that should have been added to the solution (cloud flows, env var values referenced by site settings, sample data references) and ship a zip that imports cleanly into staging but produces a broken site post-deploy. The pre-plan completeness check surfaces those gaps before any zip is built. The gate ensures `plan-alm` either ran (so completeness was verified and the export was scoped to the right solution lineage) or the user explicitly chose to bypass it.
### Phase 1 — Verify Prerequisites
**Create all tasks upfront at the start of this phase.**
Tasks to create:
1. "Verify prerequisites"
2. "Identify sGuide the user to add a data source, connection, or API connector to a Canvas App via Power Apps Studio, then verify and continue. USE WHEN the user asks to add a data source, add a connection, add an API, add a connector, connect to SharePoint / Dataverse / SQL / Excel / OneDrive / Teams / Office 365, or any similar request to make new data available to the app. DO NOT USE WHEN the user is asking to list or describe existing data sources — call list_data_sources or list_apis directly instead.
Creates or edits a Power Apps Canvas App through the Canvas Authoring MCP coauthoring session. Handles new app generation from requirements, simple inline edits, and complex multi-screen changes with parallel screen builders. Triggers on requests to create, build, generate, modify, update, change, or edit a Canvas App or .pa.yaml files.
Configure the Canvas Authoring MCP server for the current coauthoring session. USE WHEN "configure MCP", "set up MCP server", "MCP not working", "connect Canvas Apps MCP", "canvas-authoring not available", "MCP not configured", "set up canvas apps". DO NOT USE WHEN prerequisites are missing — direct the user to install .NET 10 SDK first.
[DEPRECATED — use canvas-app instead] Generate a complete Power Apps canvas app.
>
Adds Azure DevOps connector to a Power Apps code app. Use when querying work items, creating bugs, managing pipelines, or making ADO API calls.
Adds any Power Platform connector to a Power Apps code app. Generic fallback for connectors not covered by a specific skill.
Adds a data source or connector to a Power Apps code app. Asks what the user wants to accomplish and routes to the appropriate specialized skill.