2023 Power Automate Coding Standards For Cloud Flows

Welcome to the Power Automate Coding Standards For Cloud Flows.

In this guide you will find 60+ pages of coding rules, guidelines and best practices I use everyday to create Power Automate cloud flows. I have spent the last 3 years building Power Automate flows every day. Now I want to share the knowledge I’ve gained in this set of easy-to-understand, actionable examples.

Power Automate already has an official set of cloud flow coding standards released back in 2019. So why did I make my own? A few reasons:

• I wanted an updated set of standards and guidelines for 2023 that includes all of the latest features
• These coding standards can be continuously improved as new Power Automate features hit “general availability” in 2024, 2025, 2026 and beyond
• Readers can leave comments on my website describing their own best practices which I can incorporate into future versions

I hope you enjoy my Power Automate Coding Standards For Cloud Flows.

Table Of Contents

1. 🔠 Naming Conventions
   • Why Use Power Automate Naming Conventions?
   • Flow Names
   • Action Names
   • Trigger Names
   • Variable Names
   • Connection Reference Names
     
     
2. 📦 Variables
   • How Should I Store Values In A Flow?
   • Variables
   • Compose Action
   • Environment Variables
   • Configuration Data Table
   • Get A Single Key-Value Pair From Configuration Data
   • Retrieve All Key-Value Pairs For A Configuration Data Group
     
     
3. 📝 Commenting Code
   • Why Write Code Comments?
   • Tips For Writing Good Comments
   • Display Power Automate Expressions In The Flow Comments
   • Do Not Use The Collaborative Comments Feature For Coding Comments
     
     
4. 🧶 Connection References
   • Use Connection References Instead Of Connections
   • Remove Duplicate Connection References From Solutions
   • De-duplicate Connection References In Environments
   • Assign Connection Ownership To Service Accounts
     
     
5. 🐞 Error-Handling
   • Try, Catch, Finally Pattern
   • Group Multiple Actions Inside Of A Scope Action
   • Terminate The Flow With A Status Of Success Or Failure
   • Notify The Process Owner Of The Flow Failure
   • Get The Flow Error Message For The Failed Action
   • Include The Flow Run History URL
     

6. ⚡ Performance Optimization
   • Enable Concurrency Control In Apply To Each Loops
   • Execute Flow Actions In Parallel Branches
   • Use Filter Queries When Retrieving Large Datasets
   • Reduce Table Sizes By Selecting Columns
   • Stay Below The Data Connector API Limits
   • Identify Bottlenecks With Process Advisor
   • Favor Compose Over Declaring Variables When Creating Arrays
   • Exploit Batch Update APIs
   • Avoid Using On-Premise Actions
     
     
7. 📋 Flow Architecture & Design Tips
   
   • Writing Reusable Code
   • Create Child Flows To Store Repetitive Logic
   • Favor Custom Connectors Over The HTTP Action For Reusability
   • Always Build Flows Inside Of A Solution
     
   • Security Architecture
   • Secure Inputs/Outputs For Passwords, API Keys and Secrets
   • Enable Elevated Permissions By Configuring Run As User
     
   • Platform Considerations
   • Be Aware Of Power Platform Request Limits
   • Decide Whether To Use Premium Flow Connectors
   • Keep The 30 Days Flow Duration Limit In Mind
     
   • Designing Flow Triggers
   • Replace The Power Apps V1 Trigger With V2
   • Apply Select And Filter Criteria To Automated Triggers
   • Create Advanced Trigger Conditions With Flow Expressions
     
   • General Coding Patterns
   • Flatten Nested IF Condition Actions
   • Eliminate Unnecessary Apply To Each Loops
   • Generate Fetch XML For The Dataverse List Rows Action
   • Use A State Machine Pattern

Questions?

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