Microsoft AI-first Development Weekly: Copilot Managed Runtime tools generate code to save app data
Microsoft AI-first Development Weekly covers Power Apps Code Apps, Microsoft Copilot Managed Runtime and Power Platform skills and plugins for AI-first development.
Power Platform plugins give AI coding assistants instructions and tools for building or reviewing apps, websites and automated processes. The changes below affect specific products and plugins, rather than every Power Platform app.
Copilot Managed Runtime: generate the code to save app data
Copilot Managed Runtime has new development tools for working with its built-in data store, where an app can save information. A developer describes the records the app needs, such as tasks with a title, status and owner. The tools then generate code for saving and retrieving those records, reducing the code the developer has to write by hand.
The Copilot Managed Runtime tools also add a setting for testing that data access while the app runs on the developer's computer. This needs the updated development tools and compatible software for running the app.
The built-in data feature is available only where Microsoft has enabled it. Developers must check access while signed in. Where it is unavailable, Microsoft's guidance points to a connection to another data source, such as Dataverse or SharePoint. Microsoft's guidance describes the built-in store as NoSQL, a way of storing records without relying on traditional database tables. It does not name the underlying database engine.
Copilot Managed Runtime remains in public preview for eligible organisations using Microsoft's commercial cloud. Running apps requires the applicable Power Apps Premium licence or Copilot Credits entitlement. The new tools do not establish access in every organisation or environment.
See the Copilot Managed Runtime command-line tool, local development plugin, built-in data guidance and access requirements.
Power Apps model-driven apps: protect someone else's page changes
The Model Apps plugin helps an AI coding assistant build Power Apps model-driven apps. These apps organise business data into tables, forms and pages. Before updating a page it previously created with AI, the plugin now checks whether someone has changed that page in the Power Apps maker portal.
If the page differs from the saved version, the Model Apps plugin stops and shows the differences. It also stops if it cannot read the saved version needed for the comparison. This helps prevent an assistant from replacing another person's work, but does not combine competing edits automatically.
The Model Apps plugin also needs evidence that a page belongs to the app before removing it during cleanup. If it cannot tell whether a page was successfully created, it reports that uncertainty instead of blindly trying again.
See the Model Apps page-protection changes.
Power Apps model-driven apps: preserve more of an app when rebuilding it
The Model Apps plugin can now record tables that a Power Apps model-driven app uses even when those tables do not appear in its navigation menu. It also records the Main forms, the screens used to view and edit individual records.
Keeping these details in the downloaded app description helps the Model Apps plugin retain them when rebuilding the app. It checks form names before saving changes and detects conflicting names for links between tables.
One limit remains: the rebuild can add forms, but removing an existing form may still require a change in the Power Apps maker portal. The plugin's checks report that remaining step.
Read the Model Apps rebuild changes.
Power Pages: build and check websites in more than one language
The Power Pages plugin can now help create a website whose main language is not English, and add support for other languages. It presents a plan for approval before making changes, then checks each language version.
For languages read from right to left, the Power Pages plugin checks both the code and the page displayed in a browser. This helps catch layouts that work in one language but break in another.
These changes apply to supported Power Pages sites built with code and their supported web development tools. They do not promise automatic translation of every existing Power Pages site. The revised workflow no longer offers its static localisation route, which used fixed translated content.
See the Power Pages language workflow and implementation changes.
Power Pages: understand why website access is wrong
The Power Pages plugin's access review now separates major and minor problems. It checks whether people can see too much, cannot see what they need, or have correctly configured access.
For major problems, the Power Pages report identifies the likely cause: permission rules, the way data is organised, website code, or settings for code that requests data. This helps makers address the source of the problem instead of repeatedly changing permissions.
The Power Pages plugin must check the report for consistent findings before presenting it. If the review covered only part of a site, the report must say so. It is not a security certificate for the whole website.
See the Power Pages access-review changes.
Power Apps canvas apps: plan the screens before building them
The Canvas Apps plugin now guides an AI coding assistant through what a Power Apps canvas app should do, which screens it needs, how they should look and whether the design can be built. Canvas apps let makers choose the layout and controls on each screen.
For a small change to an existing canvas app, the Canvas Apps plugin follows a shorter process and preserves unrelated behaviour and layout. This avoids treating every edit as a new app design.
The Canvas Apps plugin still requires code and change checks. Those checks alone do not prove that someone has run and tested the app. This is a change to the plugin's building process, rather than wider access to the Power Apps service.
Read the Canvas Apps planning changes.
Power Platform mobile apps: create the starting project automatically
The Mobile Apps plugin can now create a mobile app project from its included starting template. It installs the supporting software while the AI assistant continues planning, removing a manual template-copying step from this creation process.
A progress page on the developer's computer shows the Mobile Apps build stages and planned screens. It also explains which permissions and phone features the app is expected to use while running. That report does not mean unused permissions have been removed from the prebuilt software that runs the app on the phone.
Native mobile development through the Mobile Apps plugin remains in private preview and must not be used in production.
See the Mobile Apps creation changes.
Power Platform mobile apps: limit changes to the feature being added
The Mobile Apps plugin now gives clearer choices when adding a data connection or a phone feature to an existing app. It can change only the code, or also update the approved plan and affected screens. This helps keep the work within the requested change.
The Mobile Apps plugin also separates adding a data source, refreshing its details and removing it from the app. Removal stops if the app's code still uses that source. Removing the source from the app does not delete the underlying tables, records or connections.
These Mobile Apps workflows remain in private preview and must not be used in production.
Read the Mobile Apps editing workflow and data-connection changes.
Model Apps and Power Automate plugins: usage reporting is on by default
The Model Apps and Power Automate plugins now send usage and diagnostic information by default, with controls to turn off sending. This reporting is often called telemetry.
Depending on the plugin and available information, Model Apps and Power Automate reports can include identifiers for the organisation, its Microsoft account space, the Power Platform environment or the signed-in user. These identifiers are not anonymous. Turning off sending still leaves diagnostic logs on the local computer.
Where those reports are sent also differs. The Model Apps plugin documents destinations for supported government and regional Microsoft clouds. The Power Automate plugin sends only when it recognises a commercial-cloud destination; otherwise, it keeps the information locally. Neither plugin documents collecting prompts or the contents of business records in this reporting.
Read the Model Apps usage-reporting details and Power Automate usage-reporting details.
Power Automate Process Mining: ask an AI assistant to investigate delays
Microsoft has added a Process Intelligence plugin for people authorised to use Power Automate Process Mining. Process Mining uses records of business activity to show how a process works. The plugin lets an AI coding assistant investigate delays, repeated work, different routes through a process and differences between groups.
The Process Intelligence plugin helps analyse existing Process Mining data. It does not create process maps, views or saved business measurements. It does not support Microsoft's GCC, GCC High or DoD government clouds, or Mooncake, its China cloud.
Process Intelligence results can contain personal or business data. They are sent to the selected AI service without automatically removing sensitive information. Setup requires explicit agreement to this connection after showing the privacy notice.
Read the Process Intelligence capabilities, access requirements and privacy notice.
Power Platform mobile apps: choose organisations and connect a test phone
The software that runs apps built with the Mobile Apps plugin now supports choosing between more than one Microsoft organisation and selecting a Power Platform environment. Makers can restrict which organisations are allowed. This needs an app sign-in configuration that supports those organisations.
For local testing, the Mobile Apps development tools can also create a protected connection between a phone and the developer's computer using Microsoft Dev Tunnels. This helps when the phone cannot reach the computer over the local network. The connection requires sign-in, does not allow anonymous access and is removed when the development server stops.
These Mobile Apps capabilities remain in private preview and must not be used in production.
See the Mobile Apps template changes and software that runs the mobile app.
Power Pages: review how a website looks and works
The Power Pages plugin has a new design review that checks up to eight key pages at desktop and mobile sizes. It checks accessibility, meaning how usable the site is for people with different needs, and returns ratings with specific suggestions. Creating a new Power Pages site also includes a visual review before accessibility checks.
The separate Power Pages design review does not change project files or run project code. It cannot sign into protected pages, so the report lists pages it has not reviewed.
Read the Power Pages design-review changes.
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