Create Site

> Plugin check: Run node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/check-version.js" — if it outputs a message, show it to the user before proceeding.

Create Power Pages Code Site

Guide the user through creating a complete, production-quality Power Pages code site from initial concept to deployed site. Follow a systematic approach: discover requirements, scaffold and launch immediately, plan components and design, implement with design applied, validate, review, and deploy.

Core Principles

• Use best judgement for design details: Once the user picks an aesthetic direction and mood, make confident decisions about specific fonts, colors, page layouts, and component behavior. Do not ask the user to specify every detail — use the design reference and your own taste to make creative, distinctive choices.
• Use TaskCreate/TaskUpdate: Track all progress throughout all phases — create the todo list upfront with all phases before starting any work.
• Scaffold early, design with intention: Get the dev server running immediately after discovery so the user has something to look at. Then plan the design and features while the scaffold is live — apply the chosen aesthetic during implementation.
• Live preview feedback loop: The dev server MUST be running before any customization begins. Browse the site via Playwright (browser_navigate + browser_snapshot) to verify every significant change. Do NOT take screenshots — only use accessibility snapshots to check page structure and content.
• Keep the scaffold loader in sync with reality: The scaffold loader polls public/scaffold-status.json. Update this file before every AskUserQuestion (to raise the "waiting for your input" banner so the user doesn't miss a terminal prompt) and before each implementation step in Phase 5 (so the progress-bar label matches what you're actually doing while the decorative spinner continues its default cycle). See [Live Preview Status Protocol](#live-preview-status-protocol).
• Use real images: Source high-quality photos from Unsplash wherever pages need visual content — hero sections, feature cards, about pages, backgrounds, etc. Use https://images.unsplash.com/photo-{id}?w={width}&h={height}&fit=crop URLs with specific photo IDs found via WebSearch. Never leave image placeholders or broken `` tags pointing to nonexistent files.
• Git checkpoints: Commit after every individual page and component — each gets its own commit so breaking changes can be reverted.

Constraint: Only static SPA frameworks are supported (React, Vue, Angular, Astro). NOT supported: Next.js, Nuxt.js, Remix, SvelteKit, Liquid.

Initial request: $ARGUMENTS

---

Live Preview Status Protocol

While the scaffold loading screen is visible (from Phase 2.6 until the Home page itself is replaced in Phase 5), the loader polls GET /scaffold-status.json every 1.5 seconds. The message you write into /public/scaffold-status.json appears as the label under the progress bar, and awaitingInput controls the "waiting for your input" banner. The decorative spinner above the progress bar continues its built-in phrase cycle; keep the progress-bar label current so the loader still reflects what is actually happening.

Why this matters: When the browser with the loader takes over the user's screen, a prompt in the terminal can sit unanswered for a long time because the user doesn't realize anything is waiting. The banner makes it obvious.

File shape (all fields optional — omit any field you don't want to change):

{
  "message": "Creating Contact page",
  "awaitingInput": false,
  "inputPrompt": "Please check your terminal to respond."
}

• message — one short present-participle phrase shown as the status line under the progress bar in the loader (replacing the default "Getting started…" / "Setting up infrastructure…" cycle). Include the grouping context inline when it helps (e.g., "Creating Footer component (shared components)").
• awaitingInput — when true, a prominent pulsing banner appears at the top of the loader and stays visible until this field is cleared. Set this before every AskUserQuestion call and clear it (false) immediately after the user answers.
• inputPrompt — short context for the banner (e.g., "Choose a framework"). Optional.

When to update the file:

1. After scaffold launches (end of Phase 2): write an initial status like { "message": "Planning your site", "awaitingInput": false }.
2. Before any AskUserQuestion that runs while the scaffold is visible (Phases 3, 4, and any in-scaffold prompt in Phase 5): set awaitingInput: true with a short inputPrompt. After the user answers, write again with awaitingInput: false.
3. Before each implementation step in Phase 5 — applying design tokens, creating each shared component, creating each page, updating the router, updating navigation — update message to the specific action. Examples: "Applying design tokens", "Creating Navbar component", "Creating Contact page".
4. At the end of Phase 5, after the Home page has been replaced: delete public/scaffold-status.json so it isn't deployed with the site.

Write the file with the Write tool (atomic overwrite). You do not need to read it first.

---

Phase 1: Discovery

Goal: Understand what site needs to be built and what problem it solves

Actions:

> 🚦 Gate (plan · create-site:1.purpose): Multi-question prompt collecting site name, framework, purpose, audience, and target directory. Determines what gets scaffolded. Fires only on the "site purpose unclear" branch (step 3 below). > > Trigger: Phase 1 when site purpose was not provided in $ARGUMENTS. > Why we ask: Wrong framework picked → wrong template copied into the wrong directory; cleanup is annoying. > Cancel leaves: Nothing — no scaffolding has started yet.

1. Create todo list with all 8 phases (see [Progress Tracking](#progress-tracking) table)
2. If site purpose is clear from arguments:

• Summarize understanding
• Identify site type (portal, dashboard, landing page, blog, etc.)

1. If site purpose is unclear, use AskUserQuestion:

| Question | Header | Options | |----------|--------|---------| | What should the site be called? (e.g., "Contoso Portal", "HR Dashboard") | Site Name | (free text — use a single generic option so the user types a custom name via "Other") | | Which frontend framework? | Framework | React (Recommended), Vue, Angular, Astro | | What is the site's purpose? | Purpose | Company Portal, Blog/Content, Dashboard, Landing Page | | Who is the target audience? | Audience | Internal (employees, partners), External (public-facing customers) | | Where should the project be created? | Location | Current directory, New folder in current directory (Recommended), Any other directory |

1. Resolve the project location:

• If "Current directory": Project root = ``.
• If "New folder in current directory": Create a folder named __SITE_NAME__ inside the cwd. Project root = /__SITE_NAME__/.
• If "Any other directory": Ask for the full path. Verify/create it. Project root = provided path.

After resolving, confirm: "The site will be created at ``."

Store this as PROJECT_ROOT.

1. From the user's answers, derive:

• __SITE_NAME__ (Title Case, e.g., Contoso Portal)
• __SITE_SLUG__ (kebab-case derived from site name, e.g., contoso-portal)
• __SITE_DESCRIPTION__ (one-line description based on name + purpose)

1. Summarize understanding and confirm with user before proceeding

Audience influences site generation:

• Internal: Prioritize data tables, dashboards, authentication, navigation depth, functional over flashy design
• External: Prioritize landing page appeal, SEO-friendly structure, contact forms, clean marketing-oriented layout

Output: Clear statement of site purpose, framework, audience, derived naming values, and project location

---

Phase 2: Scaffold & Launch Dev Server

Goal: Get a running site immediately so the user has something to preview while features and design are planned

> The scaffold is a temporary branded loading screen — it shows a Power Pages animated "Building your site" experience with orbiting elements, status messages, and feature cards. Its only purpose is to get the dev server running quickly so the user has something to look at while you plan and build. During Phase 5 (Implementation), the entire scaffold — including theme.css, Layout, Home page, and all placeholder components — is completely replaced with the user's actual site: their chosen typography, color palette, pages, components, and navigation. Do NOT try to build on top of the loading screen; replace it entirely.

> See ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/framework-conventions.md for the full framework → build tool → router → output path mapping.

Actions:

2.1 Copy Template

> ${PLUGIN_ROOT} is already resolved to the plugin's absolute path at runtime. Use it directly in Glob/Read paths — do NOT search for the plugin directory.

Read and copy all files from the matching asset template to the project directory:

| Framework | Asset Directory | |-----------|----------------| | React | ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/assets/react/ | | Vue | ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/assets/vue/ | | Angular | ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/assets/angular/ | | Astro | ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/assets/astro/ |

Use Glob to discover all files in the asset directory, Read each file, then Write to the project directory preserving the relative path structure.

Also copy the shared loader icon that the scaffold references from its CSS (url('/power-pages-icon.png')):

Read the binary file ${PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/assets/shared/power-pages-icon.png and Write it to /public/power-pages-icon.png. (All four supported frameworks serve public/ at the web root, so the same /power-pages-icon.png URL works for every framework.)

Seed the live status file so the loader shows a real message the moment it mounts. Write /public/scaffold-status.json:

{ "message": "Planning your site", "awaitingInput": false }

See [Live Preview Status Protocol](#live-preview-status-protocol) for the full contract — from here on, update this file before every AskUserQuestion and before each Phase 5 implementation step.

2.2 Replace Placeholders

After copying, replace all __PLACEHOLDER__ tokens in every file. Use Edit with replace_all: true on each file.

• Name/slug/description placeholders: Use the actual values from Phase 1 (__SITE_NAME__, __SITE_SLUG__, __SITE_DESCRIPTION__).

> Note: The scaffold loading screen uses hardcoded Power Pages branding colors — there are no color placeholders (__PRIMARY_COLOR__, etc.) to replace. The user's chosen color palette is applied fresh during Phase 5 when the scaffold is completely replaced.

2.3 Rename gitignore

Rename gitignore → .gitignore in the project root (stored without dot prefix to avoid git interference in the plugin repo).

2.4 Install Dependencies

Run npm install before initializing git so that package-lock.json is included in the initial commit:

cd ""
npm install

2.5 Initialize Git Repository

Initialize a git repo and make the first commit. This captures all template files AND package-lock.json in one clean baseline:

cd ""
git init
git add -A
git commit -m "Initial scaffold: __SITE_NAME__ (__FRAMEWORK__)"

From this point, commit after every significant milestone so any breaking change can be reverted.

2.6 Start Dev Server

This MUST happen now — before any planning or customization begins. The dev server gives the user a live preview while features and design are being planned:

cd ""
npm run dev

Run npm run dev in the background using Bash with run_in_background: true. Note the local URL (typically http://localhost:5173 for Vite or http://localhost:4200 for Angular or http://localhost:4321 for Astro).

2.7 Verify in Playwright & Share URL

Immediately after the dev server starts, verify the scaffold is working:

1. Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_navigate to open the dev server URL
2. Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_snapshot to verify the page loaded correctly (do NOT take screenshots — only use accessibility snapshots)
3. Share the dev server URL with the user so they can preview the site in their own browser (e.g., "Your site is running at http://localhost:5173 — open it in your browser to follow along as I build.")

> GATE: Do NOT proceed to Phase 3 until ALL of the following are true: > > 1. Template files copied and placeholders replaced > 2. Git repo initialized with initial scaffold commit > 3. npm install completed successfully > 4. Dev server is running in the background (npm run dev) > 5. Playwright has opened the site and verified it loads via browser_snapshot > 6. The dev server URL has been shared with the user > > If any of these are not done, complete them now before moving on.

Output: Running dev server with verified scaffold, URL shared with user

---

Phase 3: Component Planning

Goal: Determine what pages, components, and design elements the site needs — while the user previews the running scaffold

> 🚦 Gate (plan · create-site:3.requirements): Three sub-prompts (features multi-select, aesthetic, mood) — shape the Phase 4 plan and the Phase 5 implementation. Fires at step 2 of the action list below. > > Trigger: Phase 3 entry; scaffold loader is up. > Why we ask: Wrong feature set / aesthetic gets baked into the rendered plan — the Phase 4.7 gate would still catch most errors, but it's wasteful to defer the catch. > Cancel leaves: Nothing — scaffold loader files are throwaway artifacts replaced wholesale in Phase 5.

Actions:

1. Raise the "awaiting input" banner so the user notices the terminal prompt even while the browser loader is full-screen. Write /public/scaffold-status.json:

``json { "message": "Planning your site", "awaitingInput": true, "inputPrompt": "Features, aesthetic, and mood — please answer in the terminal." } ``

Immediately after the user answers, Write the same file again with "awaitingInput": false so the banner disappears.

1. Use AskUserQuestion to collect feature and design requirements:

| Question | Header | Options | |----------|--------|---------| | Which features? (multi-select) | Features | (generate 3-4 context-aware options based on the site name, purpose, and audience from Phase 1) | | What aesthetic direction do you want? | Aesthetic | Minimal & Clean (Recommended), Bold & Vibrant, Dark & Moody, Warm & Organic | | What's the overall mood? | Mood | Professional & Trustworthy (Recommended), Creative & Playful, Technical & Precise, Elegant & Premium |

> Feature options are NOT hardcoded. Infer relevant features from Phase 1 answers. For example: > - "HR Dashboard" + Internal → Employee Directory, Leave Requests, Announcements, Org Chart > - "Contoso Portal" + External → Contact Form, Service Catalog, Knowledge Base, FAQ > - "Partner Hub" + Internal → Document Library, Partner Directory, Deal Tracker, Notifications > > Always generate options that make sense for the specific site — never reuse a fixed list. > > If you include an Authentication feature option, describe it generically as "Login/signup for tracking application status" or similar. Do NOT mention a specific identity provider (e.g., "Entra ID", "SAML", "Google") in the feature description — the /power-pages:setup-auth skill will ask the user which provider they want.

1. AI Component Planning — Based on Phase 1 answers (site name, purpose, audience) and the featur

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: microsoft
• Source: microsoft/power-platform-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://aka.ms/ppskills

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.