FlowOn CI/CD Tools
Version: 1.0
Last Updated: January 2025
Introduction
At FlowOn, we value software development engineering processes and best practices. Many enterprise projects fail not because of technical limitations, but because of the lack of sound engineering practices around deployment, versioning, and environment management. FlowOn CI/CD Tools embodies our commitment to bringing modern DevOps practices to the Dynamics 365 ecosystem.
Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of frequently merging code changes into a shared repository, where automated builds and tests verify each change. Continuous Delivery (CD) extends this by automatically deploying validated changes to testing or production environments. Together, CI/CD forms the backbone of modern software delivery, enabling teams to release high-quality software faster and more reliably.
FlowOn CI/CD Tools is an enterprise-grade command-line toolkit that brings these practices to Dynamics 365 and FlowOn projects. It automates the complete lifecycle of exporting, versioning, transforming, and deploying solutions, configurations, and data across environments—turning what was once a manual, error-prone process into a reliable, repeatable pipeline.
Why CI/CD Matters
Organizations that adopt CI/CD practices experience:
- 70% reduction in deployment failures
- 50% faster time to market for new features
- 90% reduction in manual deployment effort
- Near-zero environment drift between stages
- Complete auditability of all changes
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ VALUE PROPOSITION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ WITHOUT CI/CD WITH FLOWON CI/CD TOOLS │
│ ───────────── ──────────────────────── │
│ │
│ • Manual exports • Automated exports │
│ • Copy/paste deployments • One-command deployments │
│ • "It works on my machine" • Consistent environments │
│ • No change history • Full Git history │
│ • Weekend deployments • Continuous delivery │
│ • Rollback? Start over • Instant rollbacks │
│ • Environment drift • Environment parity │
│ • Tribal knowledge • Documented pipelines │
│ • Fear of releases • Confidence in releases │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Core Capabilities
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ FLOWON CI/CD TOOLS CAPABILITIES │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ EXPORT │ │ IMPORT │ │ VERSIONING │ │
│ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ │
│ │ • Solutions │ │ • Solutions │ │ • Solution Ver │ │
│ │ • FlowOn Files │ │ • FlowOn Files │ │ • API Versions │ │
│ │ • Configuration │ │ • Configuration │ │ • Semantic Ver │ │
│ │ • Business Data │ │ • Business Data │ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ DATA MAPPING │ │ OPENAPI │ │ PLUGIN MGMT │ │
│ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ │
│ │ • Config Maps │ │ • Schema Gen │ │ • Enable/Disable│ │
│ │ • Entity Maps │ │ • Swagger Docs │ │ • Recipe Mgmt │ │
│ │ • Localization │ │ • Client Gen │ │ • Deployment │ │
│ │ • Connections │ │ │ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
What Gets Exported/Imported
| Artifact Type | Description | File Format |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamics Solutions | Standard CRM solutions (entities, forms, views, plugins, workflows) | Managed/Unmanaged .zip |
| FlowOn Package (.flop) | Logic Blocks, Flows, BPM Processes, APIs, Events, Service Connections, Recipes, Schedules | .flop (structured XML) |
| Configuration Data | Environment-specific settings, feature flags, URLs | XML mapping files |
| Business Data | Reference data, lookup tables, seed data | XML data files |
| Localized Resources | Multi-language labels, messages, templates | XML mapping files |
| Service Connections | External API configurations, credentials, certificates | XML mapping files |
Tooling Capabilities Summary
| Capability | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
| List Features | flowon features | Lists installed FlowOn features |
| List Projects | flowon projects | Lists FlowOn projects |
| Export | flowon export | Exports Dynamics 365 and FlowOn artifacts |
| Import | flowon import | Imports artifacts to target environment |
| Generate Mappings | flowon generate-mappings | Creates data mapping files |
| Apply Mappings | flowon apply-mappings | Applies transformations |
| Generate OpenAPI | flowon generate-openapi | Generates API documentation |
| Enable Plugins | flowon enable-plugins | Activates FlowOn plugins |
| Disable Plugins | flowon disable-plugins | Deactivates FlowOn plugins |
| Enable Recipe | flowon enable-recipe | Activates Logic Recipes |
| Disable Recipe | flowon disable-recipe | Deactivates Logic Recipes |
| Increment Version | flowon increment-solution-version | Bumps solution version |
| Generate Docs | flowon docs | Generates documentation |
Next Steps
- CI/CD Challenge - Understanding the Dynamics 365 CI/CD gap
- Installation - Install and configure FlowOn CI/CD Tools
- Command Reference - Complete command documentation
- Export Operations - Export solutions and artifacts
- Import Operations - Deploy to target environments
- Data Mapping - Environment-specific transformations
- Pipeline Integration - Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions