Generate a Canvas App

Generate a complete Power Apps canvas app for the following requirements:

$ARGUMENTS

Overview

This skill orchestrates two specialist agents:

1. canvas-app-planner — discovers available controls and data sources, designs the app, presents a screen plan for your approval, then writes a shared plan document
2. canvas-screen-builder — writes exactly one screen's YAML; multiple builders run in parallel after the plan is approved

You (the skill) coordinate the agents and own the compilation + error-fixing loop after all screens are written.

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Phase 0 — Create App Folder

Before planning, derive a short folder name from the user's requirements:

1. Extract the app name or a 2–4 word summary from $ARGUMENTS
2. Convert to kebab-case (e.g., "Expense Tracker" → expense-tracker, "my travel planner" → my-travel-planner)
3. Create the folder using Bash: mkdir -p <folder-name>
4. Resolve its absolute path — this is the working directory for all subsequent phases

Pass this absolute path as the working directory in every agent prompt below.

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Phase 1 — Gather Preferences (Wizard)

Before invoking the planner, use AskUserQuestion to collect design preferences that cannot be reliably inferred from $ARGUMENTS. Parse $ARGUMENTS first to determine which questions to skip — but a short request like "visitor check-in app" or "expense tracker" leaves most preferences unspecified and you MUST ask.

Call AskUserQuestion with the applicable questions from the table below (include only the ones that need answers):

Question	Header	When to Ask	Options
Who will primarily use this app, and on what device?	Target Users & Device	Only if not clear from $ARGUMENTS	(3–4 dynamically inferred options that combine the user role with their likely device, e.g., for "visitor check-in": Front desk staff on desktop/tablet, Security team on tablet, Self-service kiosk on tablet, Visitors on their phone)
Do you have a screenshot or mockup for reference? (paste an image or provide a file path)	Reference	Only if user has NOT already attached/pasted an image with their request	Yes I'll share one now, No just pick a direction for me
What aesthetic direction?	Aesthetic	Only if not clear from $ARGUMENTS (skip if user already described a visual direction like "dark themed", "minimal", "corporate style", or provided a reference image)	Clean & Professional (Recommended), Bold & High-Contrast, Soft & Approachable, Dense & Utilitarian
Which features do you need? (multi-select)	Features	Only if $ARGUMENTS is vague on features	(3–4 dynamically inferred options based on app purpose + target users)

Rules:

1. If the user provides a screenshot (either attached with their original request or via the wizard), examine it to extract structural cues (layout, navigation pattern) and visual cues (color palette, density, typography). Use these to inform the aesthetic direction — do not ask the aesthetic question separately.
2. If all questions are already answered by $ARGUMENTS and any attached images, skip the wizard entirely and proceed directly to Phase 2.
3. Ask all applicable questions in a single AskUserQuestion call — do not ask them one at a time.
4. Store all answers for use in the planner prompt below.

Target users & device influence design decisions:

• Desktop users → data-dense layouts, tables, keyboard-friendly, multi-column. ManualLayout acceptable for pixel-perfect dashboards.
• Tablet users → touch-friendly targets, medium density, AutoLayout (responsive) so the app adapts to landscape/portrait.
• Phone users → large touch targets, single-column, simplified navigation, AutoLayout (responsive), minimal typing.
• Multi-device / unknown → AutoLayout (responsive) required.

Layout strategy rule of thumb: Default to AutoLayout (responsive) unless the user explicitly chose desktop-only or requested pixel-perfect positioning. AutoLayout uses GroupContainer with Variant: Horizontal or Variant: Vertical and LayoutDirection, which adapts to different screen sizes. ManualLayout uses fixed X/Y/Width/Height values that do not reflow.

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Phase 2 — Plan

Invoke the canvas-app-planner agent using the Task tool.

Pass a prompt that includes:

• The user's requirements: $ARGUMENTS
• The wizard answers collected in Phase 1 (target users & device, aesthetic direction, features, and any screenshot observations)
• The working directory (the absolute path resolved in Phase 0)
• The plugin root path: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}

Example prompt:

You are the canvas-app-planner agent. Plan a Canvas App for the following requirements:

[paste $ARGUMENTS here]

User preferences (from wizard):

• Target users & device: [answer or "not specified" — e.g., "Front desk staff on desktop/tablet"]
• Aesthetic direction: [answer or "not specified"]
• Features: [answer or "not specified"]
• Reference image: [observations from screenshot, or "none provided"]

Working directory: [absolute path from Phase 0] Plugin root: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}

Follow the instructions in your agent file. Write canvas-app-plan.md and App.pa.yaml to the working directory. Return the screen list and plan document path when complete.

Wait for the planner to finish. The planner will present the screen plan to the user via plan mode and wait for approval before returning. Do not proceed to Phase 3 until the planner task completes successfully.

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Phase 3 — Build

After the planner completes, read canvas-app-plan.md from the working directory.

Extract the screen list from the ## Screens table — collect each screen name and its target file name.

Invoke one canvas-screen-builder agent per screen. Fire all invocations in a single message (parallel execution) — do not wait for one screen to finish before starting the next.

For each screen, pass a prompt that includes:

• Screen name (e.g., "Home")
• Target file name (e.g., "Home.pa.yaml")
• Absolute path to canvas-app-plan.md
• Working directory

Example prompt per screen:

You are the canvas-screen-builder agent. Implement the [Screen Name] screen.

• Target file: [ScreenName].pa.yaml
• Plan document: [absolute path to canvas-app-plan.md]
• Working directory: [absolute path from Phase 0]

Follow the instructions in your agent file. Write [ScreenName].pa.yaml and return your result when done. Do not call compile_canvas — validation is handled by the skill.

Wait for all screen-builder tasks to complete before proceeding.

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Phase 4 — Validate and Fix

After all screen-builders have finished writing their files, call compile_canvas on the working directory.

On success: Proceed to Phase 5.

On failure: Read every error in the output. Errors will reference specific files and line numbers. For each error:

1. Read the referenced .pa.yaml file
2. Fix the error using Edit
3. After fixing all errors from this pass, call compile_canvas again

Repeat until compile_canvas reports no errors. Do not give up after a single fix attempt — iterate until the entire directory compiles clean.

Track how many compile_canvas passes were needed.

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Phase 5 — Summary

Delete canvas-app-plan.md from the working directory using Bash: rm <working-directory>/canvas-app-plan.md

Present a final summary:

App generation complete.

Screen	File	Status
[Screen Name]	[filename].pa.yaml	Written

Compiled clean after [N] pass(es). | Screens: [N] | Data: [source or collections]

If any errors remain after exhausting fixes, report them explicitly so the user knows what needs manual attention.