Set up pipelines in Power Platform

Create and run pipelines to easily deploy solutions to environments.

Create a pipeline

Power Platform administrators can create one or more pipelines, associate any number of environments, then share access with those that will administer or run pipelines.

Prerequisites

• Four environments are recommended, but you can use as few as three Power Platform environments to create a pipeline.
• All environments used in pipelines must have a Microsoft Dataverse database.
• Microsoft Dataverse for Teams environments aren't currently supported for use with pipelines.
• You must have a Power Platform administrator or Dataverse system administrator role.
• All development and target environments used in a pipeline must be enabled as Managed Environments.

Choose environments for pipelines

Before you begin, you’ll need to choose which environments will participate in pipelines. A common setup might include the following:

Environment purpose	Environment type	Managed environment
Host	Production	No
Development	Developer	Yes
QA	Developer	Yes
Production	Production	Yes

• Host environment. This special-purpose environment acts as the storage and management plane for all pipeline configuration, security, and run history.

  • We recommend you keep this as a dedicated production environment separate from the development and target environments.
  • If desired, you can configure multiple different hosts within a tenant, such as for separately managing pipelines for different business organizations or geographic locations. One host for the entire tenant is also acceptable as long as all environments are in the same geographic location.

  Important

  Deleting the host environment deletes all pipelines and run data. Use caution and understand the impact of data and configuration loss as well as maker access to pipelines hosted in the environment.

• Development environment. This is where you’ll develop solutions. A pipeline can be run from within any development environments linked to it.

• Target environment. The destination environment(s) a pipeline deploys to. For example, integration testing, UAT, production, etc.

Tip

Use environment names that indicate their purpose. For example, Contoso Host, Contoso Development, Contoso QA, and so forth.

Install the pipelines application in your host environment

This step is only required for the initial host setup. You may skip to the next section if you already have access to a host environment where you'll create pipelines.

1. Sign in to the Power Platform admin center, go to Environments > New, and create a new environment with a Dataverse database. Be sure to choose the same region that your development, QA, and production environments are created in.
2. Install the Power Platform Pipelines application in your host environment by selecting the host environment, then select Resources > Dynamics 365 apps.
3. Select Install app and scroll down within the right-side panel until you find Power Platform Pipelines.
4. Select Next, if you agree, accept the terms, and then select Install.

   Important

   You only need to install the deployment pipelines application in the host environment. You don't need to install it in other environments, such as development, QA or production environments that will be associated with your pipelines.

Once installed, the deployment pipelines configuration application will appear in the list of installed apps.

Configure a deployment pipeline

1. Copy and paste the environment IDs of all environments participating in the pipelines to a clear text editor such as Notepad. You’ll need these later. More information: Find your environment and organization ID

2. Once the Deployment Pipeline package installation has completed, go to Power Apps, then select the dedicated host environment (where you installed the application).

3. Play the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app.

4. Select Environments on the left pane, and then select New to create the environment records in Dataverse:

   • Name: Enter the name for the environment record. It's a good idea to include the same name as the actual environment, such as Contoso Dev.
   • Environment Type: Select either Development Environment or Target Environment. Select Development Environment for all source environments where unmanaged solutions will be developed. Select Target Environment for QA and production environments where the managed solution artifacts will be deployed.
   • Environment Id: Paste in the environment ID that you copied in the earlier step.

5. Select Save.

6. Refresh the form, then verify Validation Status equals Success.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 until all environments that will participate in the pipeline have environment records created.

8. Select Pipelines on the left navigation pane, and then select New to create a new deployment pipeline:

   • Name: Enter a name for the pipeline, such as Contoso Standard Deployment Pipeline or Contoso Hotfix Pipeline.
   • Description: Optionally, enter a meaningful description for the pipeline.

9. Within the Linked Development Environments grid, select Add Existing Development Environment, then associate one or more development environments. Note that a pipeline must have at least one development environment and one stage before it can be run.

10. Within the Deployment Stages grid, select New Deployment Stage, to display the quick create pane.

11. Enter the details for each stage, and then select Save and Close:

    • Name: The name of the stage.
    • Description (optional): Optional description for the stage.
    • Previous Deployment Stage (optional): Specifies a deployment stage that must be deployed to before deploying to the current stage. For example, when creating a production stage, you can add the test stage as the Previous Deployment Stage. Note that for the first stage, or pipelines containing only one stage, this should be left blank.
    • Target Deployment Environment: This is the target environment where this stage will deploy to.
    • PreDeployment Step Required (optional): Deployment requests will be pending until approved via custom business logic. Requires additional configuration. More information: Extend pipelines in Power Platform

12. Repeat the previous two steps for each stage you'd like to add to the pipeline. Note that you must have at least one stage. You can add up to seven stages.

Grant access to edit or run pipelines

Pipeline security is managed within the host environment by assigning security roles. Additionally, users must currently have access to all environments associated with a pipeline in order to create or run the pipeline.

When you installed the Power Platform pipelines application, two security roles were added:

• Deployment Pipeline User: Has privileges to run pipelines that have been shared with them.
• Deployment Pipeline Administrator: Has full control over all pipeline configuration, without needing system administrator security role membership.

Share pipelines with makers

The Deployment Pipeline User security role grants access to run one or more pipelines. It doesn't grant access to create, edit, or delete pipelines. Users with the Deployment Pipeline User security role won't see the host environment within the environment picker in Power Apps or Power Automate, or otherwise need to be aware of it.

To share pipelines:

• Assign makers the Deployment Pipeline User security role within the host environment. This security role is installed with the Power Platform pipelines application. More information: Assign a security role to a user
• In the deployment pipeline configuration app, Share the pipeline record with makers (or Azure Active Directory groups). Read privilege is sufficient to view and run a pipeline from within the development environment. More information: Share rows with a user or team
• Makers must also have privileges to export solutions from the source development environments, as well as privileges to import solutions to the target test and production environments for which the pipeline deploys to. By default, system customizer and environment maker roles have these privileges.

Share with pipeline administrators

The Deployment Pipeline Administrator security role grants full privileges to all pipelines (and tables, which store pipeline information) within the host environment. It also grants access to run all pipelines associated with the current host. The Deployment Pipeline Administrator security role doesn't grant privileges to perform other activities within the host environment.

Important

Pipeline administrators must also have access to all development, test, and production environments that are associated with pipelines they create or run.

Assign the Deployment Pipeline Administrator security role to users or Azure Active Directory groups within the host environment. This security role is installed with the Power Platform Pipelines application. More information: Assign a security role to a user

Centrally manage and monitor deployments

The pipeline configuration app and host environment provide many other benefits such as:

• Centrally view all deployment activity. Filtered views are also accessible within the maker experience for a given pipeline and solution.
• Audit where a certain solution version is deployed as well as who initiated the request.
• View error logs, validation results, and deployment settings. Environment variables and connections are provided during deployment.
• Retain backups of all solution artifacts by version.
• Schedule bulk delete jobs to remove unwanted data and conserve database capacity. More information: Remove a large amount of specific, targeted data with bulk deletion
• Use a dashboard to visualize deployment metrics. You may also build your own reports using data stored within the host.

Next steps

• Extend pipelines in Power Platform
• Run pipelines in Power Platform