dsh-d365-kit (D365 Toolkit)

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A development and deployment assistant for Dynamics 365 CE / Dataverse, installed as a DeepSeek Harness bundle. It turns a real D365 organization into something an agent can query directly: metadata, solution layers, snapshot diffs, references, migration risk, the impact of code changes, and controlled writes.

Fifteen tools, one settings page. Read-only by default: grant no capabilities and it can only look, not change.

You: which forms and views still use the contoso_customertier field on account in DEV?
agent: 17 forms, 64 views (62 columns / 50 filters), 0 business processes …

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What problem it solves

Most day-to-day friction in D365 projects is not "can't write code", it is information asymmetry between environments:

Problem	How this plugin answers
If I ship this solution to SIT, will it override another solution's customizations?	d365_migrate checks layers component by component, listing the solutions that will be shadowed, the components that are missing, and the option values that will be lost
Why is the same form different in two environments?	d365_layers tells you who overrode it, d365_diff gives you the field-level differences
Will deleting this field break something?	d365_refs reverse-looks-up forms / views / processes / plugin steps, d365_data shows how many records still use it
Will this MR run once deployed to UAT?	d365_code_check maps JS to web resources and forms, and C# to assemblies/types/steps/images
Upstream changed a plugin — has downstream caught up?	d365_contract treats upstream registrations as a contract and compares them item by item downstream, with waivers and trends
Can we deploy right now?	d365_health shows suspended imports/publishes and failed jobs; the pre-flight check before writes uses the same data
Need to add a field / option value / view column?	d365_write produces a plan → a human confirms in the conversation → only then does it write, with a queryable audit trail afterwards

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Feature overview

Connectivity and environments

Tool	Purpose
d365_envs	Environment inventory, whether credentials are complete; with check: true it actually connects once
d365_configure	Add, edit or remove environments (URL, tenant, ClientId, secret), test connectivity
d365_health	Suspended/failed background jobs, in-progress import publishes, recently installed solutions

Metadata and solution layers

Tool	Purpose
d365_metadata	19 resource kinds: entities, attributes, relationships, forms, views, workflows, business rules, plugins, web resources, solutions, components, Custom APIs, sitemaps, option sets
d365_layers	msdyn_componentlayer: which solutions have overridden a component, who is on top, and which layer is currently active

Snapshots and diff

Tool	Purpose
d365_sync	Pulls an environment's metadata into a local snapshot, recording "complete / truncated / failed" per resource
d365_diff	Field-level differences between two snapshots (added, removed, modified), with noise filtering and a stale-snapshot warning

Impact and data

Tool	Purpose
d365_refs	Reverse lookup: field → forms/views/processes; web resource → forms and events; assembly → types and steps
d365_data	Business records: count / group by / sample (requires data.read)
d365_data_write	Create or update one business record, executed after confirmation in the conversation (requires data.write)

Writes

Tool	Purpose
d365_write	Add/update/delete option values, add/update/delete fields, rename a table, add or remove system view columns; plan-* only produces a plan, execute requires manual confirmation

Migration and checks

Tool	Purpose
d365_migrate	Solution migration risk assessment: layer shadowing, missing components, lost option values, version and managed state
d365_contract	Contract matrix and drift: assemblies, plugin types, steps, form libraries, handlers, sitemaps, option values; with waivers and trends
d365_code_check	Reads a GitLab MR, maps JS/C# changes onto the target environment and reports blocker / warning / manual confirmation

Operations

Tool	Purpose
d365_reports	Local artifacts and disk usage, cleanup per retention policy (dry run by default), snapshot compaction

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Settings page

"Settings → D365 Toolkit" in the DSH Web UI, six tabs:

Tab	Contents
Environments	Environment inventory, test connection, default environment
Permissions	Tick capabilities per environment (read business data / write kinds), default solution for changes, copy to other environments
Plans	Pending write plans, recent change records and publish results (re-publishable)
Data	File count / size / retention policy per artifact kind, dry run and cleanup, snapshot compaction
GitLab	Repository URL, default project, read-only token (read_api)
General	Snapshots to keep, default row limit, request timeout

The UI language follows DSH (Chinese / English). The environment inventory and d365_configure go through the same storage code, so what the UI shows and what the agent sees always match.

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Installation

Prerequisites: DSH desktop; network access to *.dynamics.com; a read-only application user (ClientId + secret).

# From npm (shortest, upgradeable; works once the package is published)
plugin_manager install_bundle target="dsh-d365-kit@0.22.1"

# From Git (no registry needed, pin a tag)
plugin_manager install_bundle target="git+https://<your-git>/<group>/dsh-d365-kit.git#v0.22.1"

# From a local directory (link: code changes take effect immediately)
plugin_manager install_bundle target="D:\path\to\dsh-d365-kit"

dsh-d365-kit@<version> is resolved from the npm registry; a GitHub repository alone is reachable through the git+https:// form (that is how the second command works today). The repo ships .github/workflows/publish.yml, so pushing a v* tag publishes to npm once NPM_TOKEN is configured.

After installing, restart DSH once so the web client loads the settings page code into its module graph.

Then: Settings → D365 Toolkit → Environments → Add environment (key, URL, tenant, ClientId, secret) → Test connection → Save. Read-only by default; to read business records, tick "Read business data" under "Permissions".

For full steps, credential resolution order, upgrade and uninstall, see docs/en/installation.md.

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Typical usage

1. Assess a solution before deploying

What are the risks of shipping this solution to SIT and UAT?

d365_migrate action=assess source=dev solution=ContosoBase targets=["sit","uat"]

The report answers: does the target already have this solution, is the source version higher, whose layers will sit on top of each component (listing the shadowed solutions), and will option sets lose values. It lands in .d365/reports/migration-*.md.

2. Can this field be deleted

Who else still uses account.contoso_customertier? Also check how many records carry a value.

d365_refs   kind=field entity=account attribute=contoso_customertier
d365_data   action=group entity=account field=contoso_customertier

3. Why two environments differ

d365_sync environments=["dev","sit"]
d365_diff base=dev head=sit resources=["forms","views","attributes"]
d365_layers component=Account componentType=SystemForm

4. Check whether an MR can ship to UAT

d365_code_check mergeRequest="https://gitlab.example.com/contoso/powerapps/-/merge_requests/7759/diffs" targets=["uat"]

JS changes are mapped to web resources and forms, checking whether the fields they read are on the form and whether deleted functions are still referenced by a handler; C# changes are checked against assembly version, plugin types, steps, step images and filtering attributes. Anything that cannot be decided statically goes into the "manual confirmation" list.

5. Add 36 tax ID option values (the full write flow)

d365_write action=plan-add-options environment=dev optionSet=contoso_taxcategoryos labels=["AD3|Andorra: Tax Register Number", ...]

(the agent returns the plan and the operation list)
Run mw04aul6-1ci6aa

The second step pops a confirmation card in the conversation; nothing is written until you click "Approve and execute". After writing, only the affected option set is published — the whole organization is not recalculated.

6. Upstream plugins changed — what is downstream missing

d365_contract action=drift source=dev targets=["sit","uat"] forms=true

For more phrasings you can copy straight into a conversation, see examples/prompts.en.md and docs/en/scenarios.md.

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Permission model

By default read-only, and metadata-only. Capabilities are granted per environment and live in write.environments of d365.config.json:

{
  "write": {
    "environments": {
      "dev": ["data.read", "optionValue.add", "attribute.add"],
      "sit": ["data.read"]
    },
    "solutionUniqueName": "ContosoBase"
  }
}

Capability	Operation	Effect
data.read	any GET	Read business records; without it you can only read metadata
data.write	POST / PATCH	Create or update business records (no delete)
optionValue.add	InsertOptionValue	Add an option value (global or attribute-local)
optionValue.updateLabel	UpdateOptionValue	Change an option label
optionValue.delete	DeleteOptionValue	Permanently delete an option value (high risk)
attribute.add	CreateAttribute	Add a field
attribute.update	UpdateAttribute	Change a field's display name / description / required level
attribute.delete	DeleteAttribute	Permanently delete a field and its data (high risk)
entity.update	UpdateEntity	Change a table's display name and description
view.columns	UpdateSavedQuery	Add or remove system view columns

Writes take two steps: plan-* generates a plan read-only → a human confirms in the conversation (or the settings page) → execute. Before execution it checks whether the environment is importing/publishing and refuses if it is busy; every execution is recorded item by item in .d365/changes/, plans move through pending → running → done/failed, and a re-run does not submit twice.

The decision lives in one place, lib/client.js: any entity set not known to be metadata is blocked as business data, and the block happens before the token is fetched. A new tool cannot bypass this gate.

See docs/en/permissions.md for details.

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Local artifacts

<workspace>/
  d365.config.json          # environment inventory and tool parameters (can be committed)
  d365.secrets.json         # client secret (plaintext — do not commit)
  .d365/
    snapshots/<env>/<id>/   # metadata snapshots + manifest
    diffs/                  # diff reports
    reports/                # migration, contract, code check, historical trends
    query/                  # query evidence, data write audit
    pending-writes/         # pending plans
    changes/                # executed changes and publish results
    waivers.json            # contract waivers

.d365/ ships its own .gitignore (contents *). Default retention: snapshots 2 files/30 days, reports 50/90, diff 20/30, query 100/7, changes 200/180; cleanup runs automatically after artifacts are written, and waivers.json plus pending plans are never cleaned up.

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Documentation

Document	Contents
docs/en/installation.md	Installation, first-time setup, credentials, upgrade, uninstall
docs/en/tools.md	Parameters, return values and examples for the 15 tools
docs/en/scenarios.md	Complete walkthroughs for 8 real scenarios
docs/en/permissions.md	Capability table, write flow, pre-flight check, safety boundary
docs/en/checks.md	Rules and confidence levels for migration assessment, contract drift and code checks
docs/en/troubleshooting.md	Common error codes and troubleshooting
docs/en/architecture.md	Module layout, data flow, how to add a tool
CHANGELOG.md	Version history

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Known limitations

• Does not collect Ribbon or Power Automate cloud flows.
• attributes is requested per entity, so with many entities the request count equals the entity count; use entities to narrow the scope.
• Metadata tables mostly have no incremental cursor, so every sync is a full pull; a delta is only possible by "running it a second time, then diffing".
• d365_layers relies on the msdyn_componentlayer virtual table: you must supply both the component id and the type; a name alone returns 0 rows.
• Component types 36 / 50 / 70 (report and chart kinds) have no matching name in the layer table, so only their existence is checked.
• Layer order is determined by import time, not version number: whoever imported later is on top.
• secureconfiguration always reads back empty through the Web API, so plugin secure config can only be confirmed manually.
• Contract drift reads live data (not snapshots) and takes tens of seconds to a few minutes on a large environment.

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Development

index.js              # Host entry: registers the 15 tools, mounts the settings page routes
client.js             # settings page (six tabs, no build step)
lib/
  client.js           # Dataverse Web API client (retry, paging, permission gate)
  auth.js             # Entra ID client credentials flow + token cache
  config.js           # config loading and normalization
  resources.js        # query definitions for the 19 metadata resource kinds
  write-actions.js    # planner / executor for all write operations
  contract.js         # contract matrix and drift rules
  migrate.js          # migration assessment
  code-check.js       # MR check (JS)
  csharp-check.js     # MR check (C#)
  refs.js             # reverse index
  retention.js        # retention policy and disk cleanup
  ...

Zero runtime dependencies: only Node's built-in fetch / fs / path. After changes, validate each file with node --check; host-side changes take effect only after reloading the plugin (plugin_manager set_plugin enabled=false then true), client code needs a page refresh.

Conventions for a new tool: parameters and output.schema both use standard JSON Schema; return "summary + file path" and write the body to a file; after registering, add it to the disposers in index.js.

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Status

An internal tool, evolving with project needs. Version semantics: bug fixes bump patch, new tools/capabilities bump minor, config structure changes bump major.

Environment configuration and secrets are not shipped with the package; each machine fills in d365.config.json and d365.secrets.json itself.

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License

MIT © 2026 iTanzhao

Use it, change it, ship it — keep the copyright notice. No warranty, no trademark rights.