⚡ Power Automate Developer Skills

The most comprehensive GitHub Copilot skill for Power Automate development

Give your AI assistant expert-level Power Automate knowledge — from trigger conditions to enterprise Saga patterns.

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Quick Start · Why This Skill? · Knowledge Base · Examples · Contributing

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Why This Skill?

Building Power Automate flows with Copilot? You'll hit these walls:

Problem	Without This Skill	With This Skill
Trigger syntax	❌ Generic UI advice	✅ Generates @equals(triggerBody()?['Status']?['Value'],'Approved')
Infinite loops	❌ No awareness of self-triggering	✅ Adds guard conditions + flag columns automatically
DLP compliance	❌ Suggests blocked HTTP connectors	✅ Uses only Business-group connectors, offers alternatives
Error handling	❌ No Scope/Try-Catch patterns	✅ Scope_Try → Scope_Catch with Saga rollback
Flow JSON	❌ Can't generate importable definitions	✅ Full Logic Apps JSON with connection references
SharePoint	❌ Wrong column names (display vs internal)	✅ REST API discovery + correct InternalName usage

What is this?

This repository is a reusable GitHub Copilot Skill that gives AI assistants expert-level Power Automate knowledge. When integrated into your project, Copilot can help you:

• ✅ Build cloud flows with proper architecture patterns
• ✅ Write and debug complex expressions
• ✅ Implement enterprise error handling (Try-Catch, Saga, retry)
• ✅ Check DLP (Data Loss Prevention) compliance
• ✅ Set up CI/CD pipelines with PAC CLI
• ✅ Optimize SharePoint queries and flow performance

Quick Start

Option 1: Copy the skill into your project

git clone https://github.com/kylehuang0323-ai/power-automate-dev-skills.git
cp -r power-automate-dev-skills/.github/ your-project/.github/
cp -r power-automate-dev-skills/docs/ your-project/docs/

Option 2: Add as a Git submodule

cd your-project
git submodule add https://github.com/kylehuang0323-ai/power-automate-dev-skills.git skills/power-automate

Option 3: Reference directly in Copilot Chat

In VS Code with GitHub Copilot, use the prompt templates:

1. Open Command Palette → Chat: Use Prompt from File
2. Select from .github/prompts/ (e.g., build-flow.prompt.md)

Repository Structure

.github/
├── workflows/
│   └── lint.yml                         # CI: Markdown linting + link check
├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/                      # Bug report & feature request forms
├── PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md             # PR checklist
├── copilot-instructions.md              # Core AI instructions (<4KB)
├── instructions/
│   ├── expressions.instructions.md      # Expression-specific rules
│   └── sharepoint.instructions.md       # SharePoint & DLP rules
├── prompts/
│   ├── build-flow.prompt.md             # "Help me build a flow"
│   ├── debug-flow.prompt.md             # "Help me debug a flow"
│   ├── review-expression.prompt.md      # "Review this expression"
│   └── dlp-check.prompt.md             # "Check DLP compliance"
└── skills/
    └── power-automate/
        └── SKILL.md                     # Skill definition & metadata

docs/                                     # Modular knowledge base (15 modules)
├── 01-fundamentals.md                   # Flow types, core concepts
├── 02-triggers.md                       # Trigger types & conditions
├── 03-connectors.md                     # Common connectors reference
├── 04-expressions.md                    # 50+ expression functions cheat sheet
├── 05-variables.md                      # Variables & data operations
├── 06-flow-control.md                   # Conditions, loops, scopes
├── 07-error-handling.md                 # Try-Catch, retry, Saga patterns
├── 08-performance.md                    # Limits, quotas, optimization
├── 09-debugging.md                      # Debugging techniques
├── 10-best-practices.md                 # Naming, architecture, security
├── 11-expert-patterns.md                # Child flows, CI/CD, 8 design patterns
├── 12-dlp-policies.md                   # DLP policies & compliance
├── 13-troubleshooting.md               # FAQ & common errors
├── 14-ecosystem.md                      # AI Builder, Teams, Power Apps, RPA
└── appendix-cookbook.md                  # Ready-to-use recipes

examples/                                 # Importable flow definitions
├── sharepoint-approval/                 # Lock → approve → rollback pattern
│   ├── README.md
│   └── flow-definition.json
├── error-handling-saga/                 # Try-Catch-Finally + Saga compensation
│   ├── README.md
│   └── flow-definition.json
└── teams-adaptive-card/                 # Teams card approval
    ├── README.md
    ├── flow-definition.json
    └── adaptive-card-template.json

Prompt Templates

Prompt	Description	Use When
build-flow	Design a complete flow from a scenario	Starting a new automation
debug-flow	Diagnose and fix flow failures	Flow is failing or behaving unexpectedly
review-expression	Validate and optimize expressions	Expression returns wrong result or errors
dlp-check	Check DLP compliance for a flow design	Before deploying to enterprise environment

Knowledge Coverage

Topic	Key Content
Fundamentals	5 flow types, triggers, actions, connections, expressions
Expressions	50+ functions (string, date, logic, collection, type conversion)
Error Handling	Try-Catch-Finally, Saga compensation, retry with exponential backoff
DLP Policies	3 connector groups, policy stacking, HTTP alternatives
Expert Patterns	Child flows, Solution lifecycle, CI/CD (PAC CLI + Azure DevOps), 8 design patterns
Design Patterns	Saga, Circuit Breaker, Fan-out/Fan-in, State Machine, Queue, Observer, Idempotent Consumer
Ecosystem	AI Builder + GPT, Teams Adaptive Cards, Power Apps integration, RPA Desktop Flows, Dataverse

How the Skill Works

When you add this skill to your project:

1. .github/copilot-instructions.md is automatically loaded by GitHub Copilot as project-level context
2. .github/instructions/*.instructions.md provide path-specific rules when editing relevant files
3. .github/prompts/*.prompt.md offer task-specific templates you can invoke from VS Code
4. .github/skills/power-automate/SKILL.md defines the skill metadata for agent-based tools
5. docs/*.md serve as the detailed knowledge base that Copilot can reference via @workspace

Examples

Importable flow definitions in the examples/ directory:

Example	Patterns	Files
SharePoint Approval	Concurrency control, Scope error handling, Saga rollback	Flow JSON
Error Handling Saga	Try-Catch-Finally, Saga compensation, audit logging	Flow JSON
Teams Adaptive Card	Adaptive Cards, wait for response, conditional update	Flow JSON + Card template

Each example includes a README.md with architecture diagram, customization guide, and import instructions.

Want to contribute an example? See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Ways to contribute:

• 📖 Fix or improve documentation
• ✨ Add new design patterns or cookbook recipes
• 🔌 Add connector references
• 📦 Submit importable flow JSON examples
• 🌐 Help with translations

License

MIT

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Made with ⚡ by @kylehuang0323-ai

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