Power Automate Flow Editor — cloud-flow-designer parity spec¶

Captured 2026-05-26 by catalog agent from Microsoft Learn (Power Automate cloud-flow designer · triggers + actions reference · Apply-to-each · Switch · trigger conditions) and inspection of apps/fiab-console/lib/editors/powerplatform-editors.tsx::PowerAutomateFlowEditor + apps/fiab-console/lib/azure/powerplatform-client.ts. Loom has working Flow admin REST list / get / run / runs (UAT-verified); this spec compares Loom's current surface against the full Power Automate cloud-flow designer authoring UX.

Overview¶

A Power Automate cloud flow is a serverless workflow triggered by an event (automated), schedule (scheduled), or user action (instant / button). The flow runs a sequence of actions drawn from 1000+ connectors plus control nodes (Condition · Switch · Apply-to-each · Do-until · Scope · Parallel branch · Terminate). Every flow has a single trigger, a tree of actions, optional trigger conditions (server-side filter expressions that block runs that don't matter), connection references (named credentials), variables, and a 28-day run history. Cloud flows live in Dataverse (under the workflow table when in an env with Dataverse) and are exposed via the Flow management REST API (api.flow.microsoft.com). The authoring surface is the cloud-flow designer at make.powerautomate.com (current "new designer" + legacy "classic designer"); both produce the same underlying Workflow Definition Language (WDL) JSON — an Azure Logic Apps dialect.

Power Automate cloud-flow designer UX¶

Flow landing¶

Header: name · breadcrumb · run history · 28-day chart (success / failure / skipped per day)
Tabs: Details (status, owner, plan, run-only users) · Run history (per-run drill-down) · Edit

Designer (top → bottom canvas)¶

Trigger at top — picked from connector catalog; trigger card displays current configuration (connector + method + parameters + dynamic-content tokens)
Add an action + button between every pair of nodes
Action catalog — search across 1000+ connectors; per-connector list of operations; favourites; recent
Action card — connector + operation + parameter fields (with dynamic-content picker + expression editor); collapse/expand; rename; delete; move

Control nodes¶

Condition — left/operator/right comparison; If yes / If no branches; multi-condition AND/OR via +
Switch — value-to-check + multiple Case branches + Default
Apply to each — iterates over an array; nested actions
Do until — loop with exit condition + count + timeout limits
Scope — group actions, share Try/Catch error handling
Parallel branch — splits flow into concurrent paths after a node
Terminate — end run early with Succeeded / Failed / Cancelled + custom message

Dynamic content + expressions¶

Dynamic content flyout — pick outputs of any prior action / trigger / variable as input to current field
Expression tab — write Workflow Definition Language expressions (triggerOutputs(), body('Get_items')?['value'], addDays(utcNow(), 7), if(equals(...),...,...))
Copilot expression assistant — natural-language → WDL expression (preview)

Variables¶

Initialize variable (typed: Boolean / Integer / Float / String / Object / Array) as the first set of actions
Set variable, Increment variable, Decrement variable, Append to string/array variable

Settings (per action / trigger)¶

Trigger conditions — server-side filter expressions (every condition must start with @); reduces flow runs and consumption
Retry policy — None / Default / Fixed-interval / Exponential
Timeout — ISO-8601 duration
Concurrency control — single-run vs parallel runs (1–50)
Pagination — for connectors that return paged data
Secure inputs / Secure outputs — strip from run history (GDPR + secrets)
Asynchronous pattern — required for long-running AI Builder, Send Approval, etc.

Connection references¶

Per-flow list of named connection references (e.g., shared_office365_1)
Per-reference status: green checkmark / broken (re-auth needed)
Replace connection (used post env-move)

Test + run¶

Test — Manually (interactive) / Automatically (using past run) / Using sample trigger data
Run history — list of last 28 days, per-run: start · end · duration · status (Succeeded / Failed / Cancelled / Running) · trigger output · per-action input + output + error
Resubmit failed run
Cancel running run
Analytics — usage chart + error categorisation

Save — first save creates the workflow; subsequent saves version
Turn on / Turn off — activate or pause
Share — owner / co-owner / run-only user; per-connection auth choice (use ours / sign in your own)
Export — package (.zip with the WDL JSON), Logic Apps template
Solutions membership — included solutions in the env

Copilot¶

Natural-language flow creation: "When a new tweet mentions Contoso, send email" → Copilot picks trigger + actions
Copilot expression assistant inside expression editor

What Loom has today¶

From apps/fiab-console/lib/editors/powerplatform-editors.tsx::PowerAutomateFlowEditor and apps/fiab-console/lib/azure/powerplatform-client.ts:

Environment picker (shared)
List flows — GET https://api.flow.microsoft.com/providers/Microsoft.ProcessSimple/scopes/admin/environments/{envId}/flows?api-version=2016-11-01 (admin REST, UAMI auth)
Flows table — Name (clickable) · State badge (Started / Stopped / Suspended) · Trigger type · Modified
Click a flow → detail view
Get flow — GET .../flows/{name} returns definitionSummary (trigger + first-level action types)
Detail metadata grid — Display name · Name · State · Trigger · Created · Modified
Run flow button — POST .../flows/{name}/triggers/manual/run?api-version=2016-11-01 (only works for flows with a manual trigger)
Runs table — last 50: Run name · Status badge (Succeeded / Failed / other) · Started · Ended · Error message
Reload button (refreshes flows + runs)
Success / error MessageBar after Run flow
Ribbon stub: Reload · Open in Power Platform (labels only)

Gaps for parity¶

No + New flow create flow — can't pick Automated / Scheduled / Instant / Desktop / Process-mining and instantiate a workflow
No designer / canvas authoring — Loom can't edit the trigger + action tree; no connector picker, no per-action parameter form, no dynamic-content picker
No WDL JSON editor — Loom can't show or edit definition.json even in raw form
No trigger configuration — Loom can't change the trigger (e.g., swap a manual trigger for a Dataverse When a row is added trigger) or edit trigger parameters
No control nodes — Condition / Switch / Apply-to-each / Do-until / Scope / Parallel branch / Terminate not surfaced
No dynamic content picker / expression editor — Loom has no way to author @triggerOutputs()?['body/email'] style expressions
No variables — Initialize / Set / Increment / Append not surfaced
No action settings — trigger conditions · retry policy · timeout · concurrency · pagination · secure inputs/outputs · async pattern all hidden
No connection references panel — Loom can't list the connectors a flow needs, can't show broken connections after env-move, can't re-bind
Run flow restricted — only manual triggers work; no "Test with sample data", no "Test with last run", no Resubmit-failed-run, no Cancel-running-run
Per-run drilldown — Loom shows status + error message only; no per-action input / output / error, no payload inspector, no replay
No Turn on / Turn off — state is read-only; can't activate or pause a flow from Loom
No share / owner / run-only-user — share grid not surfaced
No solutions membership — can't show which solution contains the flow
No export / import — can't download .zip package, can't import an exported flow
No Copilot natural-language authoring — no "describe what you want" → flow generation
No Logic Apps Standard hand-off — for sovereign / disconnected deployments, no path to materialize the same WDL as a Logic Apps Standard workflow (this is the Loom escape hatch from earlier Fabric specs and should be reusable here)
No 28-day analytics chart — daily success / failure aggregation chart not rendered
No "save / version" history — can't restore a previous flow version

Backend mapping¶

Live Flow admin REST is the canonical path (Loom has list / get / run / runs working): - List flows — GET https://api.flow.microsoft.com/providers/Microsoft.ProcessSimple/scopes/admin/environments/{envId}/flows?api-version=2016-11-01 - Get flow — GET .../flows/{name} (admin scope returns metadata; definition lives in the per-owner scope https://api.flow.microsoft.com/providers/Microsoft.ProcessSimple/environments/{envId}/flows/{name}?$expand=definition) - Create flow — POST https://api.flow.microsoft.com/providers/Microsoft.ProcessSimple/environments/{envId}/flows with body { properties: { displayName, definition: { $schema, contentVersion, triggers, actions, parameters, outputs }, connectionReferences } } - Update flow — PATCH .../flows/{name} with new definition - Delete flow — DELETE .../flows/{name} - Turn on / off — POST .../flows/{name}/start and .../flows/{name}/stop - Run flow (manual) — POST .../flows/{name}/triggers/manual/run?api-version=2016-11-01 with input body - List runs — GET .../flows/{name}/runs?$top=50 - Get run + actions — GET .../flows/{name}/runs/{runId}?$expand=actions returns per-action input/output/error - Resubmit / Cancel run — POST .../flows/{name}/runs/{runId}/resubmit / .../cancel - Share — POST .../flows/{name}/modifyPermissions - Solutions membership — Dataverse workflows table query - Logic Apps Standard equivalent — Microsoft.Web/sites kind workflowapp + workflow.json (same WDL schema) — Loom can target this in sovereign envs - Designer surface — make.powerautomate.com/manage/environments/{envId}/flows/{name}/details (deep-link out for full authoring)

Required Azure resources / tenant settings¶

UAMI SP added to Service principals can use Power Platform APIs allow group
Per-user Power Automate license (per-user OR per-flow) to own a flow; SP can manage but not own
Premium connectors require premium license per user
HTTP / Custom connectors live in the env
For Dataverse triggers: MSAL Web App SP as Application User on the env with at least Read privilege on every triggering table
For sovereign / Logic Apps Standard hand-off path: Azure subscription + Microsoft.Web resource provider, App Service Plan, storage account (Logic Apps Standard state)

Estimated effort¶

4 sessions. Turn on / off + delete + share + per-run drilldown (action input/output/error) + Resubmit / Cancel is ~1 session (all REST already-accessible). Connection-references panel + solutions membership + 28-day analytics chart is ~0.5 session. Definition viewer (read-only WDL JSON pretty-print) + trigger-conditions form + retry / timeout / concurrency settings is ~1 session. Full designer authoring (trigger picker + connector catalog + action card per parameter + dynamic-content picker + expression editor + Condition/Switch/Apply-to-each rendering) is not feasible in Loom — recommend deep-link out to make.powerautomate.com/.../flows/{name} for authoring and focus Loom on operations + governance. Logic Apps Standard hand-off (export WDL, generate host.json + workflow.json, bicep up a Standard app) is a separate ~1.5-session track.