MS Teams custom app: Failed to create publish request

Question

Hi

I have created a custom app in developer portal in Teams, and I have been granted the "upload custom app" permission. After being granted this, I have been able to "preview in Teams", which is good, because I could not before. However, I am still not allowed to request for the app to be distributed. I have been trying my best to find documentation on if I need more permissions, but I am not able to see what that could be, given that everything else in the custom app build has worked. In short, whenever I try to publish app to org, it says "failed to create publish request: app_id"

Answer 1

Hi Ida Marie Sandum

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum

As far as I know, this behaviour is due to a permissions gap between sideloading/previewing a custom app (which your current setup allows) and publishing it for org-wide distribution. The "upload custom app" permission enables personal testing or team use but does not grant the ability to submit a publish request for org-wide availability. To publish an app, you need the Teams Administrator role in Microsoft 365. Without it, the Developer Portal blocks the publish request, causing a silent failure, even if the app package is valid. This issue can also be influenced by org-wide app settings or policies restricting submissions.

Link references:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-custom-app-policies-and-settings

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4378233/unable-to-update-app-in-teams-developer-portal-wha

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-custom-app-policies-and-settings

Therefore, you can try some of the ways below to see if this problem can be solved:

Initially, please make sure you are requesting the Teams Administrator role from your organization's Microsoft 365 global admin via the Microsoft Entra admin center (Roles and administrators > Teams Administrator).

As a workaround, you consider downloading the app package (.zip file) from the Developer Portal and have a Teams Admin upload it directly via the Teams admin center (Teams apps > Manage apps > Upload new app). This may help to bypasses the submission process and makes the app available org-wide after a short propagation period.

In the meantime, you can try clear your Teams client cache, restart the app, and validate your app manifest using the Developer Portal's schema validation tool.

In case you still cannot to create publish request after trying above method, kindly let me know in the comment section.

Hope my answer will help you, for any further concern, kindly let me know in the comment section

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