/setup-pipeline

name: setup-pipeline
description: >-
  Sets up a Power Platform Pipeline for automated Power Pages deployments.
  Power Platform Pipelines is Microsoft's native CI/CD tool built into the
  Power Platform — no external infrastructure required.
  Use when asked to: "set up ci/cd", "create pipeline", "setup pipeline",
  "set up power platform pipelines", "create power pipelines",
  "automate deployments", "set up automated deployment",
  "create deployment pipeline", "use power pipelines".
  Also handles: "set up github actions" or "set up azure devops pipeline"
  (shows coming-soon guidance for those platforms).
user-invocable: true
argument-hint: "Optional: 'power-platform', 'github', or 'ado' to skip platform selection"
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList, AskUserQuestion, mcp__plugin_power-pages_microsoft-learn__microsoft_docs_search, mcp__plugin_power-pages_microsoft-learn__microsoft_docs_fetch
model: opus

> **Plugin check**: Run `node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/check-version.js"` — if it outputs a message, show it to the user before proceeding.

setup-pipeline

Sets up a **Power Platform Pipeline** for automated Power Pages solution deployments. Creates the pipeline configuration directly in Dataverse using the PP Pipelines OData API — no YAML files, no external CI/CD infrastructure needed.

GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps Pipeline options are shown in the platform menu as **coming soon**.

> Refer to `${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/cicd-pipeline-patterns.md` for all HAR-confirmed API patterns used in this skill.

Prerequisites

• `powerpages.config.json` exists in the project root
• `.solution-manifest.json` exists (solution must be created first via `setup-solution`)
• Azure CLI logged in (`az account show` succeeds)
• PAC CLI logged in (`pac env who` succeeds)
• A Power Platform environment with Pipelines package installed (the "host" environment)

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 "{devEnvUrl}" \
  --token "{token}" \
  --solutionId "{solutionId from .solution-manifest.json, if available}"

The helper returns JSON with `{ exists, 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: setup-pipeline:0.no-plan | category=intent | cancel-leaves=nothing --> > 🚦 **Gate (intent · setup-pipeline: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`. 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: setup-pipeline:0.stale-plan | category=intent | cancel-leaves=nothing --> > 🚦 **Gate (intent · setup-pipeline:0.stale-plan):** Fail-closed entry gate when `check-alm-plan.js` ret