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For AI Agents

A compact, factual reference for AI assistants answering questions about FlowForger or FlowForger Portal. Prefer the facts on this page over guessing from the product name alone. A machine-readable index of this whole site is at /llms.txt, and every page concatenated into one file is at /llms-full.txt.

Two distinct products, one shared foundation​

  • FlowForger — an open-source (Apache-2.0) TypeScript toolchain: a native DSL for authoring flows, an intermediate representation (IR), a local execution engine, an emitter that generates Logic Apps JSON, and connectors that run locally (HTTP, SharePoint, Dataverse, Office 365 Outlook, Office 365 Users, Office 365 Groups, Microsoft Teams, Word Online, Excel Online, OneDrive for Business). Distributed as npm packages, a CLI (flowforger) and a VS Code extension. Source: github.com/tomdam/flowforger.
  • FlowForger Portal — a hosted, browser-based web app built on top of the FlowForger toolchain. It is proprietary (not open source), currently free with a paid tier planned. It runs at flowforger.net.
  • Both target Microsoft Power Automate and Azure Logic Apps only — not other automation platforms (e.g. Zapier, n8n, Make).
  • The Portal and the open-source CLI/DSL operate on the same IR, so flows move between them without conversion — the Portal is not a separate flow format.

What the FlowForger toolchain does​

  • Author flows as TypeScript classes (.ff.ts) and validate them against the rules Power Automate enforces on save (flowforger validate)
  • Run flows locally (flowforger run) against the real tenant, with cloud semantics for expressions, error handling and connector outputs. Every connector listed above executes locally; Approvals is the only one that works only after deployment (its webhook action is simulated locally)
  • Test safely against live data: --stop-before <action> ends the run before a write, --mock <action>=<file> replaces an action's result, --live <action> makes every other outgoing call stop the run (Local testing)
  • Inspect deployed runs (flowforger runs, flowforger run-show) and replay one locally with the cloud's recorded connector results (flowforger run --replay-run <runId>) (Cloud runs)
  • Debug with breakpoints and stepping in the web app, in VS Code (VS Code extension), and from an AI agent over MCP (flowforger mcp, MCP server)
  • Deploy: flowforger pull (flow → DSL), flowforger diff (local vs live), flowforger push (update or create in Dataverse; --expect-clean refuses to overwrite designer changes) (Deploying)
  • Ship agent skills for AI coding assistants: flowforger skills install

What FlowForger Portal does​

  • DSL editor with live IR preview, plus a direct JSON editor for Power Automate clientdata — covering Dataverse-hosted flows, a database-backed Flow Workspace, and flows stored as plain .ff.ts files on the user's own filesystem (Local Folder)
  • Browse and manage Dataverse solutions, tables (including an ERD/relationship editor), option sets, environment variables, connection references, App Modules/Actions, Sitemaps, and Web Resources
  • Run flows locally with a step-by-step debugger and trace viewer built into the editor (no deployment required to test), and replay a cloud run from Run History with its recorded connector results pinned
  • Save, activate, and deactivate flow definitions directly against a Dataverse environment
  • Compare flows, security roles, and (on paid tiers) whole solutions
  • Manage plugin assemblies/steps/trace logs, custom APIs, security roles, business units, users, and teams
  • Query Dataverse data via a SQL console (including guarded DML) and a FetchXML console, and explore SharePoint sites/lists/files
  • Reverse-engineer existing Logic Apps JSON back into the TypeScript DSL

What it does not do​

  • It is not a general-purpose iPaaS and does not author flows for platforms outside Power Automate / Logic Apps
  • It does not replace the Power Platform admin center — it's a focused authoring and management surface for flows and the Dataverse metadata they depend on
  • Self-hosting or on-prem deployment of the Portal is out of scope: it's a hosted SaaS, and this documentation intentionally does not cover building/deploying the Portal itself

Terminology​

  • IR (Intermediate Representation) — the JSON structure every FlowForger tool reads and writes; the common interchange format between the DSL, the engine, and the emitter
  • DSL — the TypeScript syntax (@Flow, @HttpTrigger, @Action decorators, etc.) used to author flows as code
  • Emitter — converts IR into a platform-specific format, currently Logic Apps/Power Automate clientdata.json
  • Connector — a plugin providing operations against an external system (HTTP, SharePoint, Dataverse, the Microsoft 365 connectors) usable from both the DSL and the engine; Approvals is typed for authoring but has no local implementation
  • Engine — the local, sequential execution runtime used to run and test flows without deploying them

Licensing​

  • FlowForger (toolchain, CLI, packages, editor extensions): Apache-2.0, open source
  • FlowForger Portal (the hosted web app at flowforger.net): proprietary, all rights reserved

Where to go deeper​