PPTB Skills

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Getting Started ​

This page covers the basic steps for setting up a local development environment for the Power Platform ToolBox host application — the Electron app that loads and runs tools — before you make any changes. It's deliberately brief; see Architecture once your environment is running and you're ready to understand how the host is structured internally.

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

Prerequisites ​

Before you start, make sure you have:

  • Node.js 18 or higher.
  • pnpm 10 or higher.
  • Git.
  • VS Code (recommended editor).

Setting up the repository ​

  1. Fork the toolbox host repository on GitHub.

  2. Clone your fork locally.

  3. Install dependencies:

    bash
    pnpm install

Running the host in development mode ​

Launch the Electron application in development mode:

bash
pnpm run dev

This starts the host so you can see your changes running in the actual desktop app rather than only in a test harness.

Where to go next ​

  • Architecture explains the main process, renderer process, and API layer you'll be working with.
  • The ToolBox Development overview covers the broader development workflow — linting, building, contributing standards, and the release process — once your environment is up and running.

Checklist ​

  • [ ] 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.