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03 Command Reference

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RemyDuijkeren edited this page Jul 7, 2026 · 43 revisions

Command Reference

Run commands from any directory inside your project — Flowline walks up to find .flowline. Cancel anytime with Ctrl+C (graceful) or Ctrl+Break (immediate, Windows). If cancelled mid-run, re-running is safe.

Contents

Global flags

Available on every command:

Flag Description
-h, --help Show help for the command. Works on every subcommand: flowline push --help, flowline deploy --help, etc.
-v, --verbose Show detailed command output
-f, --force Allow operations that are blocked by default because they risk unrecoverable data loss: skips the drift check on deploy, the dirty-source check on sync, and allows plugin assembly version downgrades. The blocks exist to protect you — only use --force when you know what you're losing.
--no-cache Re-run all pre-flight checks instead of using cached results. Flowline caches tool version probes, environment info, and solution metadata (TTLs: 7 days / 12 hours / 4 hours) so commands start instantly. Use this when the cache is stale but the TTL hasn't expired yet — e.g. you just created a new solution or switched PAC auth profiles.

clone

Bootstraps an existing Dataverse solution into a new Git repo. Creates .flowline, unpacks the solution XML into src/, scaffolds the Plugins and WebResources projects, writes AGENTS.md, and generates the initial DATAVERSE_CONTEXT.md.

flowline clone ContosoSales --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com
Argument / Option Description
<solution> Solution to clone
--prod <url> Production environment URL — saved to .flowline. Required on first run; omit once set.
--uat <url> UAT environment URL — saved to .flowline when provided. Typically set via flowline provision uat instead.
--test <url> Test environment URL — saved to .flowline when provided. Typically set via flowline provision test instead.
--dev <url> Development environment URL — saved to .flowline when provided. Typically set via flowline provision dev instead.
--managed Also clone the managed solution (saved to .flowline)

push

Builds the solution and syncs plugin assemblies and web resources to DEV. Files under WebResources/dist/ are synced.

flowline push
Argument / Option Description
[solution] Solution to push (optional in project mode)
-s, --scope <scope> Limit scope: all, webresources, plugins, or assemblyonly. Can be specified multiple times.
-p, --pluginFile <path> Prebuilt plugin assembly (.dll) — for standalone use
-w, --webresources <path> Web resource folder — for standalone use
--dev <url> Dev environment URL — read from .flowline. Only needed to override or in standalone mode.
--no-delete Push without deleting Dataverse assets missing from source
--no-build Skip dotnet build and push the existing Release artifacts
--no-publish Skip publishing web resources after sync
--dry-run Preview changes without touching Dataverse

--no-build: Skips the build step and pushes the artifacts already on disk — handy when you just built and tested the projects. It is strict and Release-only: it reads the same Release output a normal push produces (Plugins/bin/Release/.../Plugins.dll, WebResources/dist/). If those artifacts are missing, push fails with a clear message instead of pushing stale or partial output — build Release first, or drop --no-build. Honors --scope, so --scope plugins --no-build skips only the plugins build. In standalone mode (--pluginFile/--webresources) it has no effect, since those already skip the build.

--no-publish: Skips the PublishXml step that normally runs after web resources are synced. Useful in CI pipelines that push multiple solutions before publishing once at the end, or that hand publish to another tool. Applies to web resources only — plugin push has no publish step. Default behavior (publish after sync) is unchanged when the flag is omitted.

Push refuses to run when WebResources/dist/ is missing or empty — with or without --no-build — because an empty folder would delete every web resource in the solution.

Use --scope assemblyonly to update only the assembly bytes without touching step or Custom API registrations — useful in hot iteration loops when registrations haven't changed:

flowline push --scope assemblyonly

Standalone push

push works outside a Flowline project — no .flowline, Git repo, or project structure required:

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

Standalone rules:

  • --pluginFile must point to an already-built assembly.
  • --webresources points at the folder whose files should be synced.
  • If .flowline exists in the current folder, standalone mode stops — project mode and standalone mode cannot be mixed.
  • The target solution must be unmanaged.

sync

Pulls the current solution state from DEV and unpacks it into the repo. Run this after making changes in the maker portal to capture them in source control.

Full guide: 07-Sync

flowline sync
Argument / Option Description
[solution] Solution to sync (optional in project mode)
--dev <url> Dev environment URL — read from .flowline. Only needed to override.
--managed Export and unpack the managed solution in addition to unmanaged
--bump <component> Version component to increment: patch, minor, major, or none to skip bumping (default: patch)
--no-build Skip the dotnet build validation step

--no-build: Skips the post-sync build that validates the synced source compiles cleanly. Useful when iterating quickly and you know the build is clean, or when running sync in a CI step that handles build separately.

By default, Flowline syncs only the unmanaged solution. Pass --managed once to also export the managed package; the flag is saved to .flowline so all subsequent syncs include it automatically. Pass --managed false to revert.

Warning

You need --managed if you intend to deploy to other environments (test, UAT, prod) as a managed solution.

deploy

Packs the solution from the repo and imports it into the target environment.

Full guide: 08-Deploy

flowline deploy test
flowline deploy prod
flowline deploy https://contoso-uat.crm4.dynamics.com
Argument / Option Description
<target> Target environment: prod, uat, test, dev, or a URL
--solution <name> Solution to deploy
--managed Deploy the managed package instead of unmanaged
--skip-dtap-check Skip DTAP promotion checks (existence and version)
--skip-solution-check Skip the solution checker gate
--no-backup Skip the pre-deploy environment backup
--no-delete Report orphan components without deleting them

By default, deploy imports the unmanaged solution — pass --managed for the managed package. It enforces promotion order (DTAP gate), runs the solution checker, takes a pre-deploy backup, and cleans up orphaned components. See 08-Deploy for details on all of that.

provision

Provisions a DEV or TEST environment by copying from production. Use once when setting up a new environment or refreshing an existing one.

flowline provision dev --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com
flowline provision test --prod https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com
Argument / Option Description
[role] Target role: dev, test, or uat (default: dev)
--prod <url> Production environment URL to copy from — read from .flowline. Only needed to override.
--copy <type> Copy type: minimal (no data) or full (with data)
--suffix <text> Target URL suffix (default: role name)
--allow-overwrite Overwrite an existing target environment

generate

Generates early-bound C# entity types via pac modelbuilder build with opinionated defaults. Output lands in Plugins/Models/ — no separate assembly, no ILMerge. Running generate again fully replaces the folder.

Full guide: 05-Generate-Early-Bound-Types

# First run — namespace derived from Plugins.csproj, saved to .flowline
flowline generate

# Subsequent runs pick up namespace and extra tables from .flowline
flowline generate

# Override namespace
flowline generate --namespace Contoso.Plugins.Models

# Include extra tables not in the solution
flowline generate --extra-tables account,contact
Argument / Option Description
[solution] Solution to generate types for (optional in project mode)
--namespace <ns> Model namespace — saved to .flowline for future runs
--extra-tables <tables> Comma-separated extra tables to include
--dev <url> Dev environment URL — read from .flowline. Only needed to override or in standalone mode.
-o, --output <path> Output folder (required outside a Flowline project)
--generator {pac|xrmcontext3|xrmcontext} Generator to use — pac (default) uses pac modelbuilder build; xrmcontext3 uses Delegate.XrmContext v3 F# exe (Windows only, bridge); xrmcontext uses XrmContext v4 dotnet tool (cross-platform). Saved to .flowline.

Standalone generate

Use outside a Flowline project by supplying -o, --dev, and the solution name:

flowline generate ContosoSales --dev https://contoso.crm4.dynamics.com --namespace Contoso.Plugins.Models -o ./src/Models

status

Shows environment info, Flowline version, .NET SDK, PAC CLI, and Git versions, plus authentication status.

flowline status

The output looks like this:

╭─╴╷  ╭─╮╷ ╷╷  ╷╭╮╷╭─╴
├╴ │  │ ││╷││  ││╰┤├╴
╵  ╰─╴╰─╯╰┴╯╰─╴╵╵ ╵╰─╴
Flowline CLI v0.7.1.0 (NT 10.0.26200.0, CLR:10.0.9, 64-bit)
.NET SDK version: 10.0.301
Power Platform CLI version: 2.8.1+ga4eb71c (.NET 10.0.9)
Git version: 2.54.0.windows.1

Configuration
  Dev: https://automatevalue-dev.crm4.dynamics.com/
    ✓ remy@automatevalue.com
  Test: https://automatevalue-test.crm4.dynamics.com/
    ✗ Not authenticated
  UAT: Not configured
  Prod: https://automatevalue.crm4.dynamics.com/
    ✓ remy@automatevalue.com

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Solution   Dev          Repo             Test         Prod
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Cr07982    1.0.36  ──▶  1.0.37 ⚠ ●  ┈┈▶  ✗ auth  ┈┈▶  1.0.36 ↑
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
— not deployed   ✗ auth failed   ↑ behind   ⚠ ahead   ● uncommitted

Warning: an environment is ahead of an earlier stage — check the grid above.

The grid shows each solution's version across your pipeline, left to right in promotion order (Dev → Repo → Test → UAT → Prod). The arrows show how each stage compares to the one before it: green means caught up, cyan ↑ means behind (normal — just not promoted yet), red ⚠ means ahead (unexpected — usually something deployed out of band). A — means not deployed there yet, ✗ means the environment is configured but not authenticated, and ● flags uncommitted changes in that solution's repo folder. Environments without a configured URL are skipped entirely.

The line below the grid sums it up: a warning if something's out of order, a nudge to promote if environments are just behind, or All environments in sync. when everything matches.

drift

Compares committed source against a live environment and reports components that are present there but not declared in source. Read-only — never deletes or modifies anything.

flowline drift prod
flowline drift dev
flowline drift test ContosoCustomizations
Argument / Option Description
<target> Environment to compare against: prod, uat, test, or dev
[solution] Solution to check (optional in project mode)
--prod <URL> / --uat <URL> / --test <URL> / --dev <URL> Override the configured URL for whichever environment <target> names

Run it against prod/test as a standalone drift check, or against dev before sync/deploy as a preview of what the next run would flag. It reuses the same comparison deploy's orphan cleanup runs internally, just pointed at whichever environment you name and always in report-only mode.

Exit codes: 0 when the comparison ran and found nothing, 15 (Validation Failed) when drift is found, 19 (Inconclusive) when the comparison couldn't run at all (e.g. the solution has no components locally or in the target — investigate the printed reason before trusting the result), or the same connection/config codes deploy uses.

Known limitation: drift only detects components present in the target but not declared in your committed source (created directly there, or added since your last sync). It does not detect the opposite — something your source declares that was deleted directly in the target.

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