PPTB Skills

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setup-toolbox-dev-env ​

This skill takes a contributor from "I want to work on the ToolBox host" to a running Electron app in development mode. It checks prerequisites, walks through forking and cloning the host repository, installs dependencies with pnpm, and launches pnpm run dev — the fastest path to seeing changes running in the actual desktop app rather than only in a test harness.

Fork the repository, clone your fork, run pnpm install, then run pnpm run dev to launch the Electron app in development mode.

When to use it ​

  • "Set up my dev environment for the ToolBox host."
  • "I want to contribute to Power Platform ToolBox — get me started."
  • "Clone and run the toolbox host locally."
  • "pnpm install is failing" or "pnpm run dev won't launch" — first checks prerequisites before troubleshooting further.
  • Before add-host-manager, since a working pnpm run dev loop is a precondition for making and testing host changes.

Inputs ​

  • Whether the contributor already has a fork of the host repository, or needs to create one.
  • Installed versions of Node.js, pnpm, and Git (to confirm they meet the minimums).
  • The editor in use (VS Code is recommended, not required).

What it does ​

  1. Confirms prerequisites are installed and meet the minimum versions: Node.js 18 or higher, pnpm 10 or higher, Git, and (recommended) VS Code.
  2. Guides forking the toolbox host repository on GitHub, if not already done.
  3. Clones the fork locally.
  4. Runs pnpm install to set up dependencies, surfacing any install failures against the version prerequisites first (the most common root cause).
  5. Runs pnpm run dev to launch the Electron application in development mode.
  6. Confirms the app actually launches — this is the signal that the environment is ready for further changes — rather than treating a clean pnpm install as sufficient on its own.
  7. Points to add-host-manager (for extending main-process capability) and the broader ToolBox Development workflow (lint, build, contributing standards, release process) as the next steps once the environment is confirmed working.

Example ​

bash
# Prerequisites check
node --version   # >= 18
pnpm --version    # >= 10
git --version

# Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/powerplatform-toolbox.git
cd powerplatform-toolbox

# Install and launch
pnpm install
pnpm run dev

Expected result: the Electron shell opens as a desktop window, running your fork's code in development mode.

Checklist it enforces ​

  • [ ] Node.js 18+ and pnpm 10+ are installed.
  • [ ] The repository is forked and cloned locally.
  • [ ] pnpm install completes without errors.
  • [ ] pnpm run dev launches the Electron app successfully.
  • Getting Started — the primary reference this skill is built on
  • ToolBox Development — broader workflow (lint, build, contributing standards, release process) once the environment is running
  • add-host-manager — the natural next skill once pnpm run dev is confirmed working