nickmeron/skills/debug-plugin

The user wants to debug a plugin issue, find errors, or understand custom actions/APIs.

Argument provided: $ARGUMENTS

Plugin Trace Log Debugging

"Something broke" / "Show me errors" / "Debug plugin X"

1. Call get_plugin_traces with the relevant filter:
   • By plugin name: plugin_type_name: "MyPlugin"
   • By correlation ID: correlation_id: "abc-123"
   • By message: message_name: "Create"
   • Adjust hours_back if needed (default 24h)
2. Analyze the results:
   • performanceexecutionduration → how long it ran (in ms)
   • exceptiondetails → the error message and stack trace
   • messageblock → trace output written by the plugin (ITracingService)
   • depth → execution pipeline depth (>1 means triggered by another plugin)
   • mode → 0=Synchronous, 1=Asynchronous
   • operationtype → which pipeline stage (0=Unknown, 1=Create, 2=Update, 3=Delete, etc.)
3. Present findings:
   • Highlight the error message clearly
   • Show the execution timeline
   • If there are patterns (e.g. all failures are async, or all from the same plugin), point that out
   • Suggest possible fixes based on the exception type

Common plugin error patterns

• InvalidPluginExecutionException → business logic validation failure
• System.NullReferenceException → plugin code bug (null context?)
• System.ServiceModel.FaultException → permission or API error
• Timeout → long-running plugin hitting the 2-minute limit

Custom Action & API Discovery

"What custom actions exist?" / "Find action X"

1. Call find_custom_actions with a keyword
2. For each result, note: name, unique name, bound entity, status

"How do I call custom action X?"

1. Call get_custom_action_metadata with the unique name
2. It returns:
   • The action definition (input parameters from XAML)
   • Registered plugin steps (if any)
   • Web API invocation pattern — the exact POST URL to call it
3. Present a clear example of how to call it via the Web API

"What Custom APIs are available?"

1. Call find_custom_apis with a keyword
2. For detailed info: get_custom_api_metadata returns:
   • Request parameters (name, type, required/optional)
   • Response properties (name, type)
   • Plugin type that handles it
   • Whether it's a Function (GET) or Action (POST)
   • Web API invocation pattern

If the user wants to actually execute an action

• Use the execute_action tool with the action name and parameters
• For bound actions, also provide the entity and entity_id

Research support

If the error or pattern is unclear, search Microsoft Learn for the specific error message or pattern:

• site:learn.microsoft.com plugin trace log {error_type}
• site:learn.microsoft.com custom api dataverse {topic}