Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hello,
I would like to perform some mass searches or replace in my code across dozens of PAD V2 schema flows. Doing so manually is time consuming and error prone.
I would like to extract my PAD flows code using CLI, API or any other method. Then I can perform my edits and paste back the code to new copies of the flows and test them.
I looked into different places but did not succeed. Here is what I have been trying.
- using Microsoft.PowerApps.Administration.PowerShell let me access some metadata on my cloud flows, not PAD flows
- using Power Platform CLI, not working
- create an RPA process I did not even tried because that would take longer than doing the work manually by opening each flow and copying the code to an external document.
It may be that programmatic access is not exposed but if there is any way to do something like that I would like to hear from the experts.
Many thanks,
Philippe

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

@philippecand

You're absolutely right that Power Automate Desktop (PAD) V2 schema flows are not as straightforward to extract and edit in bulk as cloud flows. However, there are some options available to help you automate or semi-automate this process:

✅ Option 1: Use the Dataverse Web API to access PAD flows

Microsoft now supports programmatic access to desktop flows via the Dataverse Web API, which includes:

Listing desktop flows
Retrieving their schema (inputs/outputs)
Triggering or canceling flows
📘 Microsoft Docs – Work with desktop flows using code

You can:

Query the workflows entity with category eq 6 to get desktop flows.
Use the clientData field to retrieve flow metadata.
Unfortunately, the actual flow logic is stored in binary format, not editable JSON like cloud flows.

⚠️ Limitations

PAD V2 flows are stored as binary blobs, not plain text or JSON.
You cannot directly edit the flow logic programmatically.
There is no official CLI or SDK to export/import PAD flows in editable format.

🧪 Workaround: Use the local temp files

When you open a PAD flow in the designer, it creates temporary files in:

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power Automate Desktop\Designer\Temp

Inside, you’ll find:

script.robin – the actual flow logic in a readable scripting format
flow.metadata.json – metadata about the flow

You can:

Open a flow manually
Copy the script.robin file
Edit it in bulk using scripts or tools
Paste it back into a new flow manually

This is not officially supported, but it’s the closest to what you’re asking for.

🧰 Suggested Workflow

Open each PAD flow manually (or automate this with UI automation).
Copy the script.robin file from the temp folder.
Perform your search/replace operations.
Create a new flow and paste the modified script.

🧠 Alternative: Use Solutions for ALM

If your flows are part of a Dataverse solution, you can:

Export the solution (managed or unmanaged)
Use the Solution Packager to unpack it
Inspect the binaries (though still not editable directly)

📘 ALM for PAD V2 schema

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists.

✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems.

❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

Community site session details

Access PAD V2 schema flows code via API or Code or console