Power Automate

Skill: Power Automate Cloud Flows

When to Use

Trigger when designing, building, reviewing, or debugging Power Automate cloud flows.

Flow Design Principles

1. Idempotent flows: Re-running the same trigger should produce the same result
2. Error handling first: Add try/catch scope before writing the happy path
3. Minimal permissions: Use service principal connections for production
4. No hardcoded IDs: Use environment variables or dynamic lookups
5. Name every action: Descriptive action names are your documentation
6. Solution-aware: Every production flow must be inside a solution

When to Use Power Automate vs Alternatives

Solution-Aware Flow Checklist

• Flow is inside a solution (not "My Flows")
• All connections use Connection References
• All hardcoded URLs/IDs use Environment Variables
• Flow has error handling scope (try/catch)
• Flow name follows convention: [Solution] - [Trigger] - [Action]
• Run-only permissions configured if shared
• Trigger conditions set to avoid unnecessary runs
• Concurrency controls set on Apply to Each loops
• Action retry policies configured for external calls

⚠️ Verify Flow Patterns Against MS Learn

Before writing flow definitions programmatically, verify patterns using the MS Learn MCP tools:

1. microsoft_docs_search("power automate [your pattern]") — quick overview
2. microsoft_docs_fetch(url) — full page detail
3. microsoft_code_sample_search("power automate [pattern]") — working examples

Skill files are battle-tested but can contain errors. If MS docs contradict what's in the skill file, trust MS docs and flag the discrepancy.

⚠️ REQUIRED: Load Sub-Files Before Implementation

SKILL.md is a summary only — it is NOT sufficient for implementation.

The detailed content (complete payloads, XML templates, working examples, edge-case handling) lives in sub-files in the same directory as this SKILL.md. Before writing any code, you MUST use read_file on the sub-files relevant to your task:

• Error Handling — Scope-based try/catch/finally pattern, error notification, cleanup actions
• Triggers — Trigger selection, Dataverse filtering columns, trigger conditions (OData expressions)
• Dataverse Actions & Performance — Native connector actions, OData filters, Apply to Each concurrency, child flows, pagination pattern, performance profiles
• Expressions & HTTP Connector — Null-safe access, date formatting, JSON parsing, HTTP resilient pattern with retry policies
• Approvals & Teams Adaptive Cards — Approval flow pattern, Teams card posting, email notification sync, approval types
• Desktop Flows (RPA) — When to use RPA, execution modes, cloud-to-desktop integration, best practices
• Agent Flows — Agent Flows (AI-native automation), generative actions, Automation Center governance, autonomous agent patterns
• Flow Creation via Web API — Programmatic flow creation, activation, and monitoring via Dataverse Web API: clientdata structure, trigger types, connection reference wiring, activation latency, run monitoring via flowruns entity

Anti-Patterns

• Flows outside of solutions ("My Flows") — can't be promoted via ALM
• Dataverse calls inside unbounded Apply to Each (no concurrency limit)
• Personal connections instead of connection references
• Missing error handling (no try/catch scope)
• No retry policy on HTTP actions
• Hardcoded GUIDs, URLs, or environment-specific values
• Using "Send an HTTP request to Dataverse" when a native action exists
• Apply to Each with >1000 items and no pagination strategy
• Approval flows with Teams cards AND email notifications enabled simultaneously (card won't sync)
• Using desktop flows when a cloud connector exists for the same system

Related Skills

• dataverse — Schema design for tables that flows operate on
• code-apps — Triggering flows from Code Apps via Custom API or Dataverse record triggers
• custom-connectors — Building connectors for external APIs used in flows
• alm — Solution packaging, connection references, environment variables for flow deployment
• plugins — Alternative to flows for synchronous, transactional Dataverse logic