Architecture & Debug Guide

Use this skill to understand the codebase architecture, trace issues across repos, or debug failures. If given a specific error or symptom, use the architecture map below to identify which layer is failing and follow the targeted debug steps for that layer.

Repo Dependency Map

powerplatform-build-tools  (THIS REPO — Azure DevOps Extension)
        │
        │  npm import (bundled)
        ▼
@microsoft/powerplatform-cli-wrapper  (TypeScript action library)
        │
        │  child_process.spawn()
        ▼
pac CLI binary  (pac.exe / pac — .NET, downloaded from NuGet at build time)
        │
        │  HTTPS REST
        ▼
Power Platform API  (Dataverse / crm.dynamics.com)

Layer Responsibilities

Full Call Chain (export-solution as example)

Azure DevOps Pipeline
  │  task inputs: SolutionName, SolutionOutputFile, authenticationType, Environment
  ▼
src/tasks/export-solution/export-solution-v2/index.ts
  ├── TaskParser.getHostParameterEntries(taskDefinitionData)
  │     └── reads task.json → Record<string, HostParameterEntry>
  ├── getCredentials()
  │     ├── tl.getInput("authenticationType")  → "PowerPlatformSPN" | "PowerPlatformEnvironment"
  │     ├── tl.getEndpointAuthorization(endpointName)
  │     └── returns AuthCredentials { appId, clientSecret, tenantId, cloudInstance }
  ├── getEnvironmentUrl()
  │     └── checks (in order): task input → pipeline variable → env var → service connection URL
  │
  └── exportSolution(params, new BuildToolsRunnerParams(), new BuildToolsHost())
        │           ↑                    ↑
        │    runnersDir from          getInput() wraps
        │    POWERPLATFORMTOOLS_      tl.getInput()
        │    PACCLIPATH env var
        ▼
cli-wrapper: src/actions/exportSolution.ts
  ├── createPacRunner(runnerParams)   → CommandRunner (spawn wrapper)
  ├── authenticateEnvironment(pac, credentials, environmentUrl)
  │     └── pac("auth", "create", "--environment", url, "--applicationId", id,
  │               "--clientSecret", base64secret, "--tenant", tenantId, "--cloud", "Public")
  ├── InputValidator.pushInput(args, "--name", params.name)       → host.getInput(entry)
  ├── InputValidator.pushInput(args, "--path", params.path, resolveFolder)
  ├── InputValidator.pushInput(args, "--managed", params.managed)
  │   ... (assembles full arg list)
  │
  ├── pac("solution", "export", "--name", "MySolution", "--path", "/out/sol.zip", ...)
  │     ▼
  │   CommandRunner.ts: child_process.spawn("pac.exe", args, { env: { PP_TOOLS_AUTOMATION_AGENT: ... } })
  │     ├── stdout lines → logger.log()   → Azure DevOps build log
  │     ├── stderr lines → logger.error() → Azure DevOps build log
  │     └── exit 0 → resolve() | exit ≠ 0 → reject(RunnerError) → task fails
  │
  └── clearAuthentication(pac)
        └── pac("auth", "clear")

Key Files by Layer

build-tools (this repo)

cli-wrapper (inside node_modules/@microsoft/powerplatform-cli-wrapper)

Authentication Types & Environment Variable Map

Note: Managed Identity is NOT supported through PPBT. getCredentials.ts only handles the three types above. WIF is detected when authorization.scheme === "WorkloadIdentityFederation" inside the PowerPlatformSPN branch — PPBT sets PACADOIDTOKENREQUESTURL / PACADOIDTOKENREQUESTTOKEN env vars and pac CLI handles the OIDC exchange.

Environment variables used by tasks:

Bundled Dependency Notes (affects vulnerability fixes)

These packages are in bundleDependencies — they ship inside the VSIX and their nested transitive deps are marked inBundle: true in package-lock.json. npm overrides cannot reach them. Lock file must be patched directly.

Debug Runbook by Symptom

npm install hangs indefinitely

Cause: npm re-resolves the full dependency tree when a new uncached package version is introduced. During re-resolution it hits npm.pkg.github.com for @microsoft/* packages.

1. Check ~/.npmrc has a valid GitHub token: //npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=<token>
2. Test auth: curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -H "Authorization: token <token>" https://npm.pkg.github.com/@microsoft%2fpowerplatform-cli-wrapper → should return 200
3. Run with verbose to find where it hangs: npm install --verbose 2>&1
4. Check npm debug log: cat C:/.tools/.npm/_logs/<latest>-debug-0.log | tail -100
5. If log shows 50,000+ placeDep ROOT minimatch lines → infinite loop from a conflicting flat minimatch override. Remove it.

npm install errors with registry auth

Cause: GitHub PAT expired or missing scopes.

1. Token needs read:packages scope on github.com
2. Token goes in ~/.npmrc as //npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=<token>
3. The project .npmrc sets @microsoft:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com/ and always-auth=true

Task fails: "pac.exe not found" or "POWERPLATFORMTOOLS_PACCLIPATH not set"

Cause: tool-installer task did not run before this task, or failed silently.

• All tasks require tool-installer to run first — it sets POWERPLATFORMTOOLS_PACCLIPATH
• Check CliLocator.ts for the exact path resolution logic
• On Linux: pac binary needs execute permissions — CliLocator.ts sets them via chmod

Task fails: "auth create failed" or authentication errors

Layer: cli-wrapper authenticate.ts or pac CLI auth

1. Check service connection credentials in Azure DevOps (Pipelines → Service Connections)
2. Verify the auth type: SPN vs Username/Password vs Workload Identity
3. Check cloudInstance — wrong cloud (e.g. sending to Public when env is UsGov) causes auth failure
4. Check getCredentials.ts — resolveCloudInstance() maps the endpoint URL hostname to cloud name
5. Enable diagnostics: set agent.diagnostic=true variable in pipeline → adds --log-to-console to pac

Task fails: "Solution not found" or pac CLI errors

Layer: pac CLI → Power Platform API

1. Enable --log-to-console: set system.debug=true in pipeline variables
2. Check the exact pac command being run in the build log (each arg is logged)
3. The error is from pac.exe — check Power Platform documentation for that specific pac command
4. Verify environment URL: getEnvironmentUrl.ts has a 4-level fallback — add explicit Environment input to the task to override

Build fails: TypeScript errors after upgrading packages

Layer: build-tools compile step

1. npm run build → webpack + ts-loader
2. TypeScript target is ES5, module is CommonJS (tsconfig.json)
3. gulp-typescript is on ^6.0.0-alpha.1 — type errors may surface after TS version upgrades
4. cli-wrapper interface changes break at compile time here — check IHostAbstractions and RunnerParameters

VSIX package has wrong task GUIDs / tasks conflict in marketplace

Layer: gulp/pack.mjs

1. Task GUIDs per stage are in extension/task-metadata.json
2. LIVE uses the canonical GUIDs; BETA/DEV/EXPERIMENTAL get unique GUIDs so they don't conflict
3. pack.mjs substitutes GUIDs at pack time — verify the substitution logic if tasks show up under wrong IDs

Task fails: "Can't resolve AAD/OAuth authority"

Source: IcM recurring pattern (ADO #4863652) Layer: pac CLI auth → Power Platform API

1. Usually caused by incorrect cloudInstance value — check getCredentials.ts → resolveCloudInstance()
2. Verify the service connection URL matches the actual cloud (Public vs USGov vs China)
3. Check if the tenant's AAD authority endpoint is reachable from the build agent (network/proxy issues)
4. Enable diagnostics: set agent.diagnostic=true in pipeline variables for verbose pac auth logging

Task fails: WhoAmI error in non-English build agent context

Source: ADO #4846644 (long-term, no code fix yet) Cause: whoAmI.ts in cli-wrapper parses localized pac CLI output to extract the environment ID. Fails when the build agent OS locale is non-English. Workaround: Ensure build agent uses English locale (en-US). Set LANG=en_US.UTF-8 on Linux agents. Layer: cli-wrapper src/actions/whoAmI.ts ~line 40 — fix must go upstream to cli-wrapper repo.

Import solution fails with PVA (Power Virtual Agents) components

Source: IcM 604312672, ADO #4896777 Symptom: import-solution task fails when solution contains PVA components. Layer: pac CLI → Power Platform API (not a build-tools code issue) Workaround: Check pac CLI version — update nuget.json to latest pac CLI. If persists, raise with PAC CLI team.

Extension not working on Azure DevOps Server 2020 (on-prem)

Source: ADO #5130362 Official stance: Extension is not supported on Azure DevOps Server 2020 on-prem. Action: Deflect IcM tickets. Direct customers to Azure DevOps Services (cloud) or Server 2022+.

New pac CLI version needed

1. Update version in nuget.json
2. The pac version is also referenced in package.json for documentation — keep in sync
3. Run gulp restore (or npm run prepare-pack) to download the new binary to bin/
4. Test with bin/pac/pac.exe --version

Vulnerability in a bundled dependency

Cause: Packages in bundleDependencies have inBundle: true in lock file. npm audit fix and overrides cannot touch them. Fix procedure:

# 1. Get safe version metadata
npm view <package>@<safe-version> dist.tarball dist.integrity --json

# 2. Find the exact key in package-lock.json
#    (may be nested: node_modules/foo/node_modules/bar)
node -e "const l=require('./package-lock.json'); console.log(Object.keys(l.packages).filter(k=>k.includes('<package>')))"

# 3. Patch the lock file entry: update version, resolved URL, integrity hash

# 4. Apply
npm install
npm audit  # verify resolved

Task Pipeline Dependency Order

tool-installer          ← MUST run first (sets POWERPLATFORMTOOLS_PACCLIPATH)
      │
      ├── create-environment  → sets BuildTools.EnvironmentUrl pipeline variable
      │         │
      │         ├── import-solution
      │         ├── export-solution
      │         ├── pack-solution / unpack-solution
      │         ├── publish-customizations
      │         ├── set-solution-version
      │         └── deploy-package
      │
      ├── backup-environment → restore-environment
      ├── copy-environment
      └── delete-environment

Build Output Structure

npm run build
  └── webpack → dist/tasks/<task-name>/<task-name>-v2/index.js  (32 bundles)

npm run prepare-pack
  ├── webpack (above)
  └── gulp restore → bin/pac/pac.exe + bin/pac_linux/pac

npm run pack
  └── gulp pack
        ├── npm pack → out/npm-package/
        ├── stages to out/staging/ (dist/ + bin/ + extension/)
        ├── injects GUIDs from task-metadata.json (4 stages)
        └── tfx-cli → out/packages/
              ├── PowerPlatform-BuildTools-<ver>-LIVE.vsix
              ├── PowerPlatform-BuildTools-<ver>-BETA.vsix
              ├── PowerPlatform-BuildTools-<ver>-DEV.vsix
              └── PowerPlatform-BuildTools-<ver>-EXPERIMENTAL.vsix