PP-MD is a Windows desktop application that turns Microsoft Power Platform solution ZIP exports into structured, portable Markdown documentation — with Mermaid diagrams included. No server, no cloud upload, no licence key required.
- What It Does
- Generated Documentation Sections
- Getting Started
- Using the App
- Document Configuration Presets
- ERD Mode
- Tech Stack
- Building from Source
- Security Notes
- System Requirements
When you export a solution from Power Platform / Dataverse, you receive a ZIP archive containing XML definitions of every component — tables, columns, relationships, flows, apps, security roles, plugins, and more. Reading that raw XML is slow and error-prone.
PP-MD parses that ZIP entirely on your local machine and produces a single, readable .md file that covers:
- An auto-generated Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) rendered as a Mermaid diagram
- Every Dataverse table with its columns, data types, and relationships
- All Power Automate Flows and classic workflows, with step-by-step details
- Model-driven and Canvas apps, including the tables they reference
- Security roles and field security profiles with privilege depth matrices
- Connection references and environment variables
- Plugins and SDK message processing steps
- Reports, dashboards, web resources, and email templates
- Optional document metadata header (client, project, contract, sprint, release date)
Multiple solutions can be loaded at once and reviewed side-by-side, or merged into a single consolidated report across all loaded solutions.
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| Header | Solution name, version, publisher, generation timestamp, document context |
| Table of Contents | Auto-generated links to every section |
| Entity Relationship Diagram | Mermaid ERD of all Dataverse tables and their relationships |
| Entities | Per-table: columns (name, type, required), relationships, forms, views |
| Option Sets / Choice Columns | All global and local option sets with label/value pairs |
| Forms & Views | Form names and field lists; view names and columns |
| Processes | Power Automate flows, workflows, BPFs, business rules, actions — with trigger, status, and connector details |
| Apps | Model-driven and canvas apps with referenced tables |
| Web Resources | JS, HTML, CSS, and other web resources with type and description |
| Security | Role privilege matrices and field security profiles |
| Integration | Connection references (connector type) and environment variables |
| Reports & Dashboards | SSRS reports and dashboards |
| Plugins | Plugin assemblies and SDK message processing steps (stage, mode, message, entity) |
| Warnings | Parser warnings for components that could not be fully parsed |
Download the latest release from the release_latest_portable/ or release_latest_installer/ folders in this repository, or build from source (see Building from Source).
| Artifact | Description |
|---|---|
PP-MD-1.0.0-x64-portable.exe |
Self-contained single executable — no installation required |
PP-MD-1.0.0-x64-installer.exe |
Standard Windows installer with Start Menu shortcut |
Both require Windows 10/11 x64.
Export your solution from Power Platform:
- Open make.powerapps.com
- Go to Solutions → select your solution → Export
- Choose Unmanaged or Managed (both are supported)
- Save the
.zipfile to your machine
In PP-MD, either:
- Drag and drop one or more
.zipfiles onto the drop zone, or - Click Browse to open a file picker
Multiple ZIPs can be loaded in a single batch. Each file is parsed independently with its own progress indicator.
Above the drop zone you can optionally fill in:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Client | Client or customer name — appears in the document header |
| Project | Project name |
| Contract | Contract or engagement reference |
| SOW | Statement of Work reference number |
| Sprint | Sprint or iteration name |
| Release Date | Intended release or delivery date |
These fields are included in the generated document header. They can be left blank if not needed.
After uploading, the documentation is generated automatically. Use the sidebar on the left to switch between loaded solutions. The Markdown Viewer renders the output with full Mermaid diagram support, syntax highlighting, and GFM tables.
Click Export .md (or the copy button) to save the current document as a .md file. The file name is derived from the solution's unique name. The exported file can be opened in any Markdown editor (VS Code, Obsidian, Azure DevOps Wiki, GitHub, etc.).
When two or more solutions are loaded, a Consolidated Summary entry appears in the sidebar. This merges all solutions into a single report with:
- A combined ERD across all tables
- Merged component sections de-duplicated by schema name
- A solution inventory table at the top
Document context fields (client, project, etc.) can be saved as named presets and recalled from the dropdown in the toolbar.
Built-in presets are loaded from public/doc-configurations.json. You can pre-populate this file to share standard configurations across a team:
{
"configurations": [
{
"id": "project-home",
"name": "Home Inventory",
"client": "Hart of the Midlands",
"project": "Home Inventory",
"contract": "HART-001-HOME",
"sow": "HART-001",
"sprint": "Sprint 2",
"releaseDate": "2026-06-30"
}
]
}Local presets (saved from within the app) are stored in localStorage and persist between sessions on the same machine.
The ERD can be rendered in two modes, toggled in the toolbar:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Detailed Relationships | Shows all foreign-key and many-to-many relationships between tables |
| Compact | Shows tables only, without relationship lines — useful for solutions with very large schemas |
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Electron 41 |
| Frontend | React 19 + TypeScript 6 + Vite 8 |
| ZIP parsing | JSZip |
| XML parsing | fast-xml-parser (XXE-safe configuration) |
| Markdown rendering | react-markdown + remark-gfm + rehype-raw |
| Diagram rendering | Mermaid 11 |
| Packaging | electron-builder (portable + NSIS installer) |
All processing runs entirely locally — no data leaves your machine.
Prerequisites: Node.js 20+, npm, Windows (for packaging)
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Run in development mode (hot-reload)
npm run desktop:dev
# Production build only (no packaging)
npm run build
# Build and package both portable + installer into release_latest_* folders
npm run desktop:build:latest
# Same but also mirror the unpacked runtime to release_latest/
npm run desktop:build:latest -- -MirrorUnpacked
# Skip the npm build step (re-package from existing dist/)
npm run desktop:build:latest:skip-buildBuild artifacts are written to:
| Folder | Contents |
|---|---|
release_latest/ |
Unpacked Electron runtime (PP-MD.exe + supporting files) |
release_latest_portable/ |
Self-contained portable .exe |
release_latest_installer/ |
NSIS installer .exe + .blockmap |
Large binary artifacts in these folders are tracked by Git LFS (.exe, .dll, .asar, .pak, .dat, .bin, .blockmap).
- No network access — the app performs no outbound requests during solution processing.
- Solution ZIPs are parsed entirely in the Electron renderer process using a memory-safe XML parser configured to prevent entity-expansion (XXE) attacks.
- Electron is configured with
contextIsolation: trueandsandbox: true. - External hyperlinks open in the system default browser, not inside the app.
- A strict Content Security Policy is applied via
index.html. - The contrast of all UI theme tokens is verified at build time (WCAG 2.2 AA minimum).
| Requirement | Minimum |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 or Windows 11 (x64) |
| RAM | 4 GB (8 GB recommended for very large solutions) |
| Disk | 500 MB free for the app and runtime |
| Display | 1280 × 768 or higher |
Built by Mike Hartley — Hart of the Midlands