Export Solution

Plugin check: Run node "${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.

node "${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.

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 (intent · export-solution:0.no-plan): Fail-closed entry gate when check-alm-plan.js returns exists:false. Helper-script-backed.

AskUserQuestion:

• Yes (Recommended) → invoke /power-pages:plan-alm. It builds the plan and returns — plan-alm is a planner and does not deploy. This skill then re-runs the Phase 0 check (now exists:true) and proceeds to Phase 1.
• 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 (intent · export-solution:0.stale-plan): Fail-closed entry gate when check-alm-plan.js returns stale:true. Helper-script-backed.

AskUserQuestion:

• 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 solution"
3. "Configure export"
4. "Trigger async export"
5. "Download solution zip"
6. "Verify export"
7. "Present summary"

Steps:

1. Run verify-alm-prerequisites.js with --require-manifest to confirm PAC CLI auth, acquire a token, verify API access, and validate that .solution-manifest.json exists:

   node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/verify-alm-prerequisites.js" --require-manifest
   

   Capture output as JSON; extract .envUrl (store as envUrl) and .token (store as token). If the script exits non-zero, stop and explain what is missing (reference ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/dataverse-prerequisites.md).

Phase 1.5 — Ground in current ALM documentation

Reference: ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/alm-docs-grounding.md

Cap this step at ~30 seconds. If MCP search / fetch errors out, log a one-line note and continue — this skill must remain runnable offline.

1. Run microsoft_docs_search with the query: Power Pages solution export managed unmanaged ExportSolutionAsync ALM.
2. Fetch https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/solution-concepts-alm (and at most one sister page on managed vs unmanaged or solution layering) in parallel via microsoft_docs_fetch.
3. Extract a one-paragraph summary of what Microsoft Learn currently says about export semantics, managed vs unmanaged implications, and async export polling. Compare against ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/solution-api-patterns.md and flag any divergence in ExportSolutionAsync / DownloadSolutionExportData signatures.
4. Use the summary to inform Phase 2+ decisions. Do not silently change skill behavior — surface any divergence to the user as a soft warning before Phase 3.

Phase 2 — Identify Solution

🚦 Gate (plan · export-solution:2.identify): No .solution-manifest.json in project root — user must pick or paste a solution unique name before export proceeds. Fires only on the "not found" branch (step 3 below).

Trigger: Phase 2 step 1 didn't find a manifest. Why we ask: Auto-picking the wrong solution exports a managed zip that ships the wrong table/site/flow set to staging. Cancel leaves: Nothing — no ExportSolutionAsync call yet.

1. Look for .solution-manifest.json in project root (use findProjectRoot or glob('**/.solution-manifest.json'))
2. If found: read solution.uniqueName, solution.solutionId, environmentUrl
   • Verify environment URLs match (warn if different — may be cross-environment export)
3. If not found, use AskUserQuestion to pick the solution:
   • Query Dataverse for available unmanaged solutions and present them as options
   • Free-text fallback ("Other") for pasting the unique name directly
4. Confirm solution exists in environment:

   GET {envUrl}/api/data/v9.2/solutions?$filter=uniquename eq '{solutionName}'&$select=solutionid,uniquename,friendlyname,version,ismanaged
   

5. Present solution details and confirm with user.

Phase 2.5 — Pre-export Completeness Check

Before exporting, run the shared site-inventory helper to detect any components that exist on the site but are not in the solution. Catching this here avoids shipping an incomplete package to staging/prod.

node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/discover-site-components.js" \
  --envUrl "{envUrl}" --token "{token}" \
  --siteId "{websiteRecordId}" \
  --publisherPrefix "{publisherPrefix from .solution-manifest.json}" \
  --solutionId "{solutionId}" \
  --projectRoot "."

Parse stdout and evaluate missing. Before doing anything else, capture the pre-sync state so a post-sync re-confirmation gate can show what changed:

PRE_SYNC_VERSION = solutionManifest.solution.version   // from .solution-manifest.json read in Phase 2
PRE_SYNC_MISSING = { siteComponents, siteLanguages, cloudFlows, envVarDefinitions, customTables, ... }   // from the discovery stdout above

Then:

• All missing.* arrays empty → report "Solution contents match the site — no gaps detected." Proceed to Phase 3.

• Any non-empty missing.* array → present a concise summary:

  "The solution is missing {N} component(s) that exist on the site:

  • {X} site components (e.g. {first 3 names}, …)
  • {Y} cloud flows
  • {Z} environment variable definitions with your publisher prefix
  • {W} custom tables"

  🚦 Gate (progress · export-solution:2.5.completeness): Source solution incomplete vs live site. Sync first, export as-is (gap recorded), or abort.

  Then ask via AskUserQuestion:

  "How would you like to proceed?

  1. Run /power-pages:setup-solution in sync mode now — adopts missing components, bumps the solution version, then re-confirms with you before exporting (Recommended)
  2. Export as-is — ship what's currently in the solution; missing components won't travel
  3. Abort — I want to investigate before exporting"

  • Option 1 — Sync first, then re-confirm before export:

    1. Invoke /power-pages:setup-solution (auto-detects the existing manifest, enters sync mode, adopts missing components, bumps the version). Wait for completion. setup-solution's final refresh step writes LAST_SYNC_AT into docs/.alm-plan-data.json so subsequent check-alm-plan.js calls do NOT falsely flag the plan as stale just because the sync bumped solutions.modifiedon past GENERATED_AT — the freshness reference becomes max(GENERATED_AT, LAST_SYNC_AT).
    2. Re-read .solution-manifest.json and capture POST_SYNC_VERSION = solutionManifest.solution.version.
    3. Re-run the discovery helper. If any missing.* remain non-empty, repeat the Phase 2.5 prompt above.
    4. Otherwise compute NEWLY_ADOPTED as a per-category set difference between PRE_SYNC_MISSING and the second discovery run's missing.* (the items that disappeared are what setup-solution just adopted into the solution). Total count = sum of all category lengths.

    🚦 Gate (progress · export-solution:2.5.post-sync): Post-sync re-confirm. Solution version bumped + components adopted — user inspects delta before export proceeds.

    5. Re-confirm with the user before proceeding to Phase 3 — the solution about to be exported is now different from what the user originally saw when they started the export. Use AskUserQuestion:

       "Sync complete.

       {solutionUniqueName} is now v{POST_SYNC_VERSION} (was v{PRE_SYNC_VERSION}) with {NEWLY_ADOPTED.total} newly-adopted components:

       • {first 3-5 names by category — prefer high-signal categories: cloud flows, server logic, env var definitions, then site components}
       • {if more remain: + {N} more across {category list}}

       About to export this updated solution to a zip file.

       Continue with the export?"

       Question	Header	Options
       Continue with the export?	Post-sync approval	Yes — export v{POST_SYNC_VERSION} (Recommended), Pause — I want to review the new solution contents first, Cancel — abort the export

       • Yes → proceed to Phase 3 with the post-sync solution.
       • Pause → exit export-solution cleanly with a short note ("Paused after sync. Re-run /power-pages:export-solution when you're ready to export v{POST_SYNC_VERSION}.") so the user can inspect the synced manifest / Dataverse state and resume manually. Do not write any export artifacts — no export happened. Skip the skill-tracking call too.
       • Cancel → stop the skill. Same no-artifact / no-tracking rule applies.

  • Option 2 — record the gap in the export manifest (see Phase 7 summary) so the user has an audit trail of what was intentionally left out.

  • Option 3 — stop the skill.

Why the post-sync gate exists: when sync mode runs mid-export, it produces a different solution version than the one the user had in mind when they invoked the skill. Re-confirming after sync gives the user an explicit chance to inspect the version bump and the list of newly-adopted components before the zip is produced and (typically) shipped onward via import-solution. The Phase 2.5 trigger is intentional; the post-sync re-confirmation is the safety on top of it. This mirrors the same gate in deploy-pipeline Phase 3.5 — same shape, same options, same audit-trail rules — so users see consistent behavior whether they take the PP Pipelines path or the Manual export/import path.

Why Phase 2.5 exists in the first place: historically, components created after setup-solution (server logic from add-server-logic, flows from add-cloud-flow, env vars from configure-env-variables / setup-auth) were silently left out of the export zip and didn't travel to target environments. The ALM-aware-by-default principle in AGENTS.md requires this check at every gate where a solution leaves its source environment.

Phase 3 — Configure Export

🚦 Gate (consent · export-solution:3.export-type): Managed vs Unmanaged — irreversible for the produced zip. Managed cannot be edited in target; Unmanaged can. Mismatch with stage strategy ships the wrong artifact downstream.

Invoke AskUserQuestion immediately — do NOT describe this choice as chat text. The user must answer live before export proceeds.

Use the answer to set "Managed": true or "Managed": false in the ExportSolutionAsync request body.

🚦 Gate (plan · export-solution:3.overwrite): Output directory and overwrite-vs-new-name decision for the produced zip. If an existing zip is detected at the target path, the prompt offers Overwrite / pick new name / cancel.

Trigger: Phase 3 after Managed/Unmanaged is picked. Why we ask: Auto-overwriting replaces a previous export that may have been hand-tested already. Cancel leaves: Nothing — no zip written.

Also ask via AskUserQuestion:

• Output directory (default: current project root)
• If a zip already exists at the resolved output path: "Overwrite / Pick new name / Cancel"

Phase 4 — Trigger Async Export

Step 4.0 — Bump source solution version (always-on).

Before exporting, bump the patch segment (4th segment) of the source solution's version. Without this, two consecutive exports without intervening setup-solution sync produce zips that carry the same version string — and importing the second zip into a target that already has the first installed is unreliable for managed solutions (no clean upgrade path) and depends on OverwriteUnmanagedCustomizations: true for unmanaged.

Why always-on, not "only when sync mode added components": setup-solution only bumps when it has new components to add. A user who modifies content of an already-in-solution component (a web template, a site setting value, a web file) and then re-exports must still get a strictly-increasing version label — otherwise the manual export/import path quietly ships stale-version zips. See the Why this step exists callout in setup-solution Phase 4.

node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/bump-solution-version.js" \
  --envUrl "{envUrl}" \
  --token "{token}" \
  --uniqueName "{solutionUniqueName}" \
  --projectRoot "."

Capture output as JSON; store .previous as PRE_EXPORT_VERSION, .next as EXPORT_VERSION, and inspect .manifestUpdated / .manifestUpdateReason to confirm the manifest sync succeeded. Report: "Bumped solution {solutionUniqueName} from v{PRE_EXPORT_VERSION} to v{EXPORT_VERSION} for export."

--projectRoot "." makes the helper update .solution-manifest.json's solution.version (single-solution) or matching solutions[].version (multi-solution) field atomically as part of the bump operation — no separate Edit step needed. If the manifest doesn't exist or has no matching entry, manifestUpdated: false and manifestUpdateReason tells you why (no-manifest, no-matching-entry, etc.); the bump itself still succeeded.

If the bump already happened earlier in this session (e.g. setup-solution sync mode ran with adopted components in Phase 2.5 and bumped the version, then handed back here): the helper still runs and bumps again. This is intentional — sync's bump is paired with new components; export's bump is paired with the produced zip. They're independent concerns and double-bumping is cheap (just an extra patch segment). The skill-skipping logic for "the manifest version already matches the live source version" is intentionally NOT added here; it would create a class of "I edited content but no sync was needed and no bump happened, so the export shipped a stale version" failures.

Step 4.1 — Trigger async export.

Run scripts/lib/export-solution-async.js to POST ExportSolutionAsync, poll until terminal state, and return the AsyncOperationId:

node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/export-solution-async.js" \
  --envUrl "{envUrl}" \
  --token "{token}" \
  --solutionName "{solutionUniqueName}" \
  --managed {true|false}

Capture stdout as JSON; extract .asyncOperationId (store as asyncOperationId).

Report: "Export job started. Polling for completion..."

Handle script exit code:

• Exit 0: job succeeded — proceed to Phase 5 with asyncOperationId
• Exit 1: stderr contains the failure message — report it and stop
• Timeout / polling exhausted: inform user the export is still running, advise checking admin center

Phase 5 — Download Solution Zip

Run scripts/lib/download-export-data.js to POST DownloadSolutionExportData, decode the base64 zip, and write it to disk:

node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/download-export-data.js" \
  --envUrl "{envUrl}" \
  --token "{token}" \
  --asyncOperationId "{asyncOperationId}" \
  --outputPath "{outputDir}/{SolutionUniqueName}_{managed|unmanaged}.zip"

Capture stdout as JSON; extract .zipPath (store as zipPath) and .fileSizeBytes.

Report: "Downloading solution zip..."

Handle script exit code:

• Exit 0: zip written — proceed to Phase 6 with zipPath and fileSizeBytes
• Exit 1: stderr contains the failure message — report it and stop

Phase 6 — Verify Export

1. Confirm zip file exists on disk: check fs.existsSync(zipPath)
2. Confirm file size > 1000 bytes
3. Verify Solution.xml is inside the zip:
   • Run unzip -l "{zipPath}" | grep -i solution.xml or read zip TOC via Node.js (use Bash with unzip)
   • If solution.xml not found: report error — the zip may be corrupt or the download was truncated

Phase 7 — Present Summary

Step 7.1 — Write docs/alm/last-export.json marker.

Ensure docs/alm/ exists, then write the marker so downstream skills (import-solution skew advisory, refresh-alm-plan-data.js rendering the Manual-path tab, future "modified-since-last-export" gates, audit trail) can reason about what was last shipped from this source.

node -e "require('fs').mkdirSync('docs/alm',{recursive:true})"

Then write docs/alm/last-export.json:

{
  "exportedAt": "<ISO timestamp>",
  "solutionUniqueName": "<solutionUniqueName>",
  "solutionId": "<solutionId from .solution-manifest.json or Phase 2 query>",
  "previousVersion": "<PRE_EXPORT_VERSION from Step 4.0>",
  "version": "<EXPORT_VERSION from Step 4.0>",
  "managed": <true|false>,
  "sourceEnvironmentUrl": "<envUrl>",
  "zipPath": "<zipPath>",
  "fileSizeBytes": <fileSizeBytes>,
  "asyncOperationId": "<asyncOperationId>"
}

The path is registered in scripts/lib/alm-paths.js under the key lastExport — programmatic consumers should resolve via almPath(projectRoot, 'lastExport') rather than re-inlining the path string. (Skill prose inlines the path verbatim for readability, matching the convention used for last-deploy.json, last-import.json, and the other ALM markers.)

Step 7.2 — Display the summary.

Suggested next steps:

• Run /power-pages:import-solution to deploy this zip to another environment
• Run /power-pages:setup-pipeline to automate this process in CI/CD

Record Skill Usage

Reference: ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/skill-tracking-reference.md

Follow the skill tracking instructions in the reference to record this skill's usage. Use --skillName "ExportSolution".

Refresh the ALM plan (if one exists)

node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lib/refresh-alm-plan-data.js" \
  --projectRoot "." \
  --phase export-solution \
  --render

Re-renders docs/alm-plan.html so any step-status updates the agent made during this skill (Export solution → status-completed) flow through. When docs/.alm-plan-data.json is absent (standalone invocation, not part of an ALM plan), the helper returns ok:false as a soft no-op — safe to run unconditionally.

Point the user at the next step (user-driven sequencing). The helper's stdout JSON includes nextStep: { name, skill: string | null } | null. When non-null, branch on skill: when skill is non-null, tell the user "Plan updated. Next in your plan: {nextStep.name} → run {nextStep.skill} when you're ready."; when skill is null (an internal step such as Finalize, no user command), name the step only — *"Plan updated. Next in your plan: {nextStep.name}."* — and never print run null. (Typically: review the exported zip, then run /power-pages:import-solution for the first target.) When null or the helper returned ok:false, say nothing about a next step. Never auto-invoke the next skill — the user drives execution.

Key Decision Points (Wait for User)

1. Phase 2: Solution identification — confirm before triggering export
2. Phase 2.5: Completeness-gap prompt (sync-first / export-as-is / abort) when the live site has components missing from the solution
3. Phase 2.5: Post-sync approval gate — only fires after a mid-export sync (Option 1). Shows the new solution version + newly-adopted components and asks the user to confirm the post-sync solution before exporting the zip. Pause exits cleanly; Cancel aborts.
4. Phase 3: Managed vs unmanaged — affects downstream importability (irreversible choice for this export)
5. Phase 4 Step 4.0: No user prompt — version bump runs automatically before ExportSolutionAsync. The bumped version (PRE_EXPORT_VERSION → EXPORT_VERSION) is surfaced in the Phase 7 summary so the user can see what version landed in the zip.

Error Handling

• If export job fails: show message and friendlyMessage from the async operation
• If download returns empty ExportSolutionFile: report error, suggest re-exporting
• Never retry automatically — report failure and let user decide

Progress Tracking Table