Useful Tools

The essential Windows toolkit — hub for 100+ community plugins that ease customization, admin, and configuration tasks across Dataverse environments.

by Jonas Rapp

Visual query builder for Dataverse. Design complex FetchXML without writing a line of XML — generate C#, JavaScript, Power Automate expressions, SQL equivalents.

by Mark Carrington

Run real SQL queries against Dataverse. Bulk insert/update/delete, joins, CTEs — converts to optimal FetchXML or SDK calls under the hood.

by Scott Durow

Visual editor for model-driven app command bars. Edit ribbons, buttons, and commands without wrestling with XML manually.

by Jonas Rapp

Read plugin trace logs in a searchable grid. Filter by plugin, correlation ID, date range — debugging plugins without this is a masochistic exercise.

Move data between environments without leaving XrmToolBox. Migration, staging, post-refresh data seeding — handles lookup remapping automatically.

by MscrmTools

Manage JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and image web resources directly from XrmToolBox. Bulk upload, rename, auto-detect unused resources, publish — replaces an entire solution round-trip.

Identify which attributes on a table are actually used (populated, referenced in views, used in forms). Invaluable before a schema cleanup.

by Guido Preite

XrmToolBox plugin for building and executing Dataverse Web API requests interactively. Generates XHR, fetch, axios, and Postman snippets in any syntax you need.

Bulk-update personal settings (time zone, currency, language, dashboards) across multiple users at once. Onboarding new teams without it is tedious.

Official Microsoft CLI for everything Power Platform — auth, solution management, plugin deployment, environment lifecycle. The foundation of modern PP DevOps.

Official VS Code extension exposing pac commands with auth management, solution browser, and YAML/schema IntelliSense. Works on macOS / Linux too.

by Danish Naglekar

Third-party VS Code extension with TypeScript type generation for Dataverse tables, form script scaffolding, and solution component browser.

For C# plugin and custom API development. Cross-platform (macOS/Linux/Windows) — no Visual Studio required for modern plugin workflows.

by Natraj Yegnaraman

Must-have Chrome/Edge extension. God-mode for debugging — show schema names, toggle required fields, record properties, form dev mode, process switcher.

by Onur Menal

Form manipulation Swiss-army knife. Toggle field requirement, show hidden fields, edit read-only, swap labels to schema names, refresh subgrids — all from a single pane.

Click the extension button on any D365 record to open it in the Dataverse Web API with a human-readable UI. Inline edit, lookup preview, and direct access to solution-aware flow definitions.

by Mohammed Khawatme

Developer-grade browser extension for model-driven apps: live Inspector with form component hierarchy, Plugin Trace Log Viewer, Business Rule Manager, WebAPI Explorer, and FetchXML Tester — all inside the browser.

Chrome extension that toggles Microsoft's built-in `ribbondebug=true` URL parameter — reveals command-bar button diagnostics without retyping the query string every time.

Microsoft's command-line tool for unpacking/packing solution ZIPs into source-controlled directories. Prerequisite for proper Git-based ALM.

Official Azure DevOps task pack: authenticate, export/import solutions, publish customizations, run tests — drop-in for build and release pipelines.

Equivalent for GitHub Actions — same action surface as Azure DevOps tasks. Makes multi-environment CI/CD straightforward.

Microsoft's first-party deployment pipeline feature — successor to the ALM Accelerator. Visual Dev → Test → Prod promotion with approvals, built into the Power Platform admin experience.

by Danish Naglekar

Curated newsletter with the best articles, videos, and tools for Power Platform developers. Biweekly, covers Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse, Pages, and Copilot Studio. Subscribe and skip the noise.

by Carina M. Claesson

Functional-side companion to Dev Weekly — makers, consultants, solution architects. Same curation quality, wider scope (community news, events, maker content).

Official learning hub. Role-based paths, practical labs, certification prep. Start here for anything fundamental.

YouTube channel from Microsoft's Customer Advisory Team. Deep architectural dives, best practices, feature walkthroughs directly from the engineering team.

Debajit Dutta's blog — one of the most practical Dynamics 365 / Power Platform resources. Strong on plugins, Web API, and integration patterns.

Author of Dataverse REST Builder. Deep technical writing on Web API, OData, and the undocumented corners of Dataverse.

The full catalog of XrmToolBox community plugins — 100+ tools covering nearly every niche task. Worth browsing before writing any custom tooling yourself.