flowstudio-power-automate-build

name flowstudio-power-automate-build description Build, scaffold, and deploy Power Automate cloud flows using the FlowStudio MCP server. Your agent constructs flow definitions, wires connections, deploys, and tests — all via MCP without opening the portal. Load this skill when asked to: create a flow, build a new flow, deploy a flow definition, scaffold a Power Automate workflow, construct a flow JSON, update an existing flow's actions, patch a flow definition, add actions to a flow, wire up connections, or generate a workflow definition from scratch. Requires a FlowStudio MCP subscription — see https://mcp.flowstudio.app Build & Deploy Power Automate Flows with FlowStudio MCP Step-by-step guide for constructing and deploying Power Automate cloud flows programmatically through the FlowStudio MCP server. Prerequisite : A FlowStudio MCP server must be reachable with a valid JWT. See the flowstudio-power-automate-mcp skill for connection setup. Subscribe at https://mcp.flowstudio.app Workflow: Load current build tools. Check for an existing flow. Resolve connection references. Build the definition. Deploy. Verify. Test. Source of Truth Always call list_skills / tool_search first to confirm available tool names and parameter schemas. Tool names and parameters may change between server versions. This skill covers response shapes, behavioral notes, and build patterns — things tool schemas cannot tell you. If this document disagrees with tool_search or a real API response, the API wins. Python Helper import json, urllib.request MCP_URL = "https://mcp.flowstudio.app/mcp" MCP_TOKEN = "<YOUR_JWT_TOKEN>" def mcp ( tool, **kwargs ): payload = json.dumps({ "jsonrpc" : "2.0" , "id" : 1 , "method" : "tools/call" , "params" : { "name" : tool, "arguments" : kwargs}}).encode() req = urllib.request.Request(MCP_URL, data=payload, headers={ "x-api-key" : MCP_TOKEN, "Content-Type" : "application/json" , "User-Agent" : "FlowStudio-MCP/1.0" }) try : resp = urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout= 120 ) except urllib.error.HTTPError as e: body = e.read().decode( "utf-8" , errors= "replace" ) raise RuntimeError( f"MCP HTTP {e.code} : {body[: 200 ]} " ) from e raw = json.loads(resp.read()) if "error" in raw: raise RuntimeError( f"MCP error: {json.dumps(raw[ 'error' ])} " ) return json.loads(raw[ "result" ][ "content" ][ 0 ][ "text" ]) ENV = "<environment-id>" # e.g. Default-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 0. Load the Current Build Tools For a brand-new flow, load the server's create-flow bundle. For editing an existing flow, load build-flow . This keeps the agent aligned with the MCP server's current schema before constructing JSON. schemas = mcp( "tool_search" , query= "skill:create-flow" ) # Includes list_live_environments, list_live_connections, # describe_live_connector, get_live_dynamic_options, update_live_flow. If you need a tool outside the bundle, load it explicitly: mcp( "tool_search" , query= "select:get_live_dynamic_properties" ) 1. Safety Check: Does the Flow Already Exist? Always look before you build to avoid duplicates: results = mcp( "list_live_flows" , environmentName=ENV, mode= "owner" , search= "My New Flow" , top= 20 ) # list_live_flows returns { "flows": [...], "mode": "...", ... } matches = [f for f in results[ "flows" ] if "My New Flow" .lower() in f[ "displayName" ].lower()] if len (matches) > 0 : # Flow exists — modify rather than create FLOW_ID = matches[ 0 ][ "id" ] # plain UUID from list_live_flows print ( f"Existing flow: {FLOW_ID} " ) defn = mcp( "get_live_flow" , environmentName=ENV, flowName=FLOW_ID) else : print ( "Flow not found — building from scratch" ) FLOW_ID = None For very large environments, list_live_flows may return a continuation URL. Pass it back as continuationUrl with the same mode to retrieve the next batch. Use mode="admin" only when the user needs all environment flows and the MCP identity has admin rights. 2. Obtain Connection References Every connector action needs a connectionName that points to a key in the flow's connectionReferences map. That key links to an authenticated connection in the environment. MANDATORY : You MUST call list_live_connections first — do NOT ask the user for connection names or GUIDs. The API returns the exact values you need. Only prompt the user if the API confirms that required connections are missing. 2a — Find active connections conns = mcp( "list_live_connections" , environmentName=ENV) active = [c for c in conns[ "connections" ] if c[ "statuses" ][ 0 ][ "status" ] == "Connected" ] conn_map = {c[ "connectorName" ]: c[ "id" ] for c in active} For a known connector, pass search to reduce output and get paste-ready connectionReferenceTemplate and hostTemplate values: sp_conns = mcp( "list_live_connections" , environmentName=ENV, search= "shared_sharepointonline" ) 2b — Determine which connectors the flow needs Common connector API names: SharePoint shared_sharepointonline , Outlook shared_office365 , Teams shared_teams , Approvals shared_approvals , OneDrive shared_onedriveforbusiness , Excel shared_excelonlinebusiness , Dataverse shared_commondataserviceforapps , Forms shared_microsoftforms . Flows that need no connectors, such as Recurrence + Compose + HTTP only, can omit connectionReferences . 2c — If connections are missing, guide the user connectors_needed = [ "shared_sharepointonline" , "shared_office365" ] # adjust per flow missing = [c for c in connectors_needed if c not in conn_map] if missing: # STOP: connections require browser OAuth consent. # Ask the user to create the missing connector connections in the # selected environment, then re-run list_live_connections. raise Exception( f"Missing active connections: {missing} " ) 2d — Build the connectionReferences block connection_references = {} host_templates = {} for connector in connectors_needed: c = next (c for c in active if c[ "connectorName" ] == connector) connection_references[connector] = c.get( "connectionReferenceTemplate" ) or { "connectionName" : c[ "id" ], # the connection id from list_live_connections "source" : "Invoker" , "id" : f"/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/ {connector} " } host_templates[connector] = c.get( "hostTemplate" ) or { "connectionName" : connector } In Step 3 action JSON, inputs.host.connectionName must be the map key such as shared_teams , not the GUID. The GUID belongs only inside the connectionReferences[connector].connectionName value. If an existing flow uses the same connectors, you may also copy its properties.connectionReferences from get_live_flow . 3. Build the Flow Definition Construct the definition object. See flow-schema.md for the full schema and these action pattern references for copy-paste templates: action-patterns-core.md — Variables, control flow, expressions action-patterns-data.md — Array transforms, HTTP, parsing action-patterns-connectors.md — SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, Approvals definition = { "$schema" : "https://schema.management.azure.com/providers/Microsoft.Logic/schemas/2016-06-01/workflowdefinition.json#" , "contentVersion" : "1.0.0.0" , "triggers" : { ... }, # see trigger-types.md / build-patterns.md "actions" : { ... } # see ACTION-PATTERNS-*.md / build-patterns.md } See build-patterns.md for complete, ready-to-use flow definitions covering Recurrence+SharePoint+Teams, HTTP triggers, and more. Discover connector operations before guessing JSON For connector-backed triggers/actions, prefer the live connector describer over hand-written shapes. It can return authored hints, canonical examples, variant keys, inputs/outputs, and dynamic metadata pointers. # Search across connectors when you know the user's intent but not the API. matches = mcp( "describe_live_connector" , environmentName=ENV, search= "send email" , top= 5 ) # Describe a specific operation before copying an exampleDefinition. op = mcp( "describe_live_connector" , environmentName=ENV, connectorName= "shared_office365" , operationId= "SendEmailV2" ) print (op.get( "hint" )) When an operation has multiple authored variants, request the variant the flow needs: teams_chat = mcp( "describe_live_connector" , environmentName=ENV, connectorName= "shared_teams" , operationId= "PostMessageToConversation" , variant= "flowbot_chat" ) When the operation description says a parameter has dynamic options or dynamic properties, call the indicated next tool: sp_op = mcp( "describe_live_connector" , environmentName=ENV, connectorName= "shared_sharepointonline" , operationId= "GetItems" ) sites = mcp( "get_live_dynamic_options" , environmentName=ENV, connectorName= "shared_sharepointonline" , connectionName=conn_map[ "shared_sharepointonline" ], operationId= "GetItems" , parameterName= "dataset" , dynamicMetadata=sp_op[ "dynamicParameters" ][ "dataset" ]) fields = mcp( "get_live_dynamic_properties" , environmentName=ENV, connectorName= "shared_sharepointonline" , connectionName=conn_map[ "shared_sharepointonline" ], operationId= "GetItems" , parameterName= "item" , parameters={ "dataset" : "<site-url>" , "table" : "<list-id>" }, dynamicMetadata=sp_op[ "dynamicProperties" ][ "item" ]) Use dynamic options for dropdown IDs such as SharePoint sites/lists and Teams teams/channels. Use dynamic properties for schema/field shapes such as SharePoint list item columns. 4. Deploy (Create or Update) update_live_flow handles both creation and updates in a single tool. Create a new flow (no existing flow) Omit flowName — the server generates a new GUID and creates via PUT: definition[ "description" ] = "Weekly SharePoint → Teams notification flow, built by agent" result = mcp( "update_live_flow" , environmentName=ENV, # flowName omitted → creates a new flow definition=definition, connectionReferences=connection_references, displayName= "Overdue Invoice Notifications" ) if result.get( "error" ) is not None : print ( "Create failed:" , result[ "error" ]) else : # Capture the new flow ID for subsequent steps FLOW_ID = result[ "created" ] print ( f"✅ Flow created: {FLOW_ID} " ) Update an existing flow Provide flowName to PATCH: definition[ "description" ] = ( "Updated by agent on " + __import__ ( 'datetime' ).datetime.utcnow().isoformat() ) result = mcp( "update_live_flow" , environmentName=ENV, flowName=FLOW_ID, definition=definition, connectionReferences=connection_references, displayName= "My Updated Flow" ) if result.get( "error" ) is not None : print ( "Update failed:" , result[ "error" ]) else : print ( "Update succeeded:" , result) ⚠️ update_live_flow always returns an error key. null (Python None ) means success — do not treat the presence of the key as failure. ⚠️ Flow description lives at definition["description"] . The current server appends #flowstudio-mcp for usage tracking. Do not pass a top-level description argument unless tool_search shows one in the active schema. Common deployment errors Error message (contains) Cause Fix missing from connectionReferences An action's host.connectionName references a key that doesn't exist in the connectionReferences map Ensure host.connectionName uses the key from connectionReferences (e.g. shared_teams ), not the raw GUID ConnectionAuthorizationFailed / 403 The connection GUID belongs to another user or is not authorized Re-run Step 2a and use a connection owned by the current x-api-key user InvalidTemplate / InvalidDefinition Syntax error in the definition JSON Check runAfter chains, expression syntax, and action type spelling ConnectionNotConfigured A connector action exists but the connection GUID is invalid or expired Re-check list_live_connections for a fresh GUID 5. Verify the Deployment check = mcp( "get_live_flow" , environmentName=ENV, flowName=FLOW_ID) # Confirm state print ( "State:" , check[ "properties" ][ "state" ]) # Should be "Started" # If state is "Stopped", use set_live_flow_state — NOT update_live_flow # mcp("set_live_flow_state", environmentName=ENV, flowName=FLOW_ID, state="Started") # Confirm the action we added is there acts = check[ "properties" ][ "definition" ][ "actions" ] print ( "Actions:" , list (acts.keys())) 6. Test the Flow MANDATORY : Before triggering any test run, ask the user for confirmation . Running a flow has real side effects — it may send emails, post Teams messages, write to SharePoint, start approvals, or call external APIs. Explain what the flow will do and wait for explicit approval before calling trigger_live_flow or resubmit_live_flow_run . Updated flows (have prior runs) — ANY trigger type Use resubmit_live_flow_run first. It works for EVERY trigger type — Recurrence, SharePoint, connector webhooks, Button, and HTTP. It replays the original trigger payload. Do NOT ask the user to manually trigger the