Flowline 0.4.0

Flowline

Flowline is a CLI tool for delivering Dataverse solutions with unmanaged packages, Git as the source of truth, and a straightforward DEV to STAGING to PROD workflow.

Why Flowline?

Power Platform Pipelines only support managed solutions. Flowline exists for teams that choose unmanaged, keeping full control over every environment without locked-down layers or forced upgrade paths.

Beyond the unmanaged-vs-managed difference, Flowline brings a few things the other tools don't:

• Git is the source of truth. clone bootstraps an existing solution into the repo. sync pulls the current state from DEV back into source control. deploy packages from the repo and imports into the target.
• Fast push for code assets. push syncs plugin assemblies and web resources directly to DEV without a full solution import. Use it from a Flowline project, or point it at a standalone DLL and web resource folder.
• Attribute-driven plugin registration. Decorate IPlugin classes with [Step], [Filter], [PreImage], and [PostImage]; Flowline reads the compiled assembly and handles the Dataverse registrations.
• Plugins, workflow activities, and Custom APIs in one assembly. Flowline reads all supported types from a single assembly in one pass.
• Modern auth. Flowline reuses the PAC CLI token cache. No passwords, no client secrets in scripts, no Windows Credential Manager.

Install

dotnet tool install --global Flowline

Prerequisites:

winget install Microsoft.PowerAppsCLI
winget install Git.Git

Authenticate with PAC CLI before using Flowline:

pac auth create --environment https://your-org.crm4.dynamics.com

Usage Modes

Flowline can be used in two ways.

Full Project Workflow

Use this when Flowline owns the local solution structure. clone creates .flowline, the unpacked solution, an Extensions project, and a WebResources project.

# Create a Git repo for the Flowline project
mkdir contoso-flowline
cd contoso-flowline
git init

# One-time: bring an existing solution into the repo
flowline clone ContosoCustomizations --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com

# Daily dev loop
flowline push
flowline sync
git commit -m "feat: add validation"

# Promote
flowline deploy staging
flowline deploy prod

For fresh environments:

flowline provision dev --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com
flowline provision staging --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com

Project mode expects this structure:

solutions/
  ContosoCustomizations/
    SolutionPackage/          # unpacked solution (PAC cdsproj)
      SolutionPackage.cdsproj
      Mapping.xml
    Extensions/               # plugin assembly project
      Extensions.csproj
    WebResources/             # web resource files
      dist/                   # files here are synced to Dataverse by push
    ContosoCustomizations.sln
.flowline                     # environment URLs and solution config

Files under WebResources/dist/ are synced to Dataverse by flowline push. Files named *_nosync.* are excluded.

Standalone Push

Use this when you only want Flowline's direct Dataverse push. You do not need a Flowline project, .flowline, Git repo, solutions/ folder, Extensions project, or WebResources project.

Run it from a normal folder that is not a Flowline project folder:

flowline push ContosoCustomizations --dll ./bin/Release/MyPlugins.dll --dev https://contoso-dev.crm4.dynamics.com
flowline push ContosoCustomizations --webresources ./dist --dev https://contoso-dev.crm4.dynamics.com
flowline push ContosoCustomizations --dll ./bin/Release/MyPlugins.dll --webresources ./dist --dev https://contoso-dev.crm4.dynamics.com

If --dev is omitted, Flowline uses the current resource-specific PAC auth profile.

Standalone rules:

• --dll must point to an already-built plugin assembly.
• --webresources points directly at the folder whose files should be synced.
• --scope is not allowed with --dll or --webresources.
• .flowline is not read in standalone mode.
• If .flowline exists in the current folder, standalone mode stops because that usually means project mode and standalone mode were mixed.
• The target solution must be unmanaged.

Plugin And Custom API Registration

Add the Flowline.Attributes NuGet package to your Extensions project:

<PackageReference Include="Flowline.Attributes" Version="1.0.0" PrivateAssets="all" />

Decorate your plugin classes. No base class is needed:

[Step("account")]
[Filter("name", "creditlimit")]
[PreImage("name", "creditlimit")]
public class AccountPreUpdatePlugin : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider sp) { ... }
}

flowline push reads the compiled assembly and creates or updates plugin types, steps, images, and Custom API registrations in Dataverse.

Full attribute reference: Flowline.Attributes README

Commands