--- title: AI Agents Can Build Power Automate Flows. Debugging Is the Trap. | FlowStudio MCP description: AI agents build Power Automate flows easily — debugging is where they fail. 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Debugging Is the Trap. ![Picture of Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/catherine-circle.jpg?width=50&name=catherine-circle.jpg) [Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/author/catherine-han) Share: [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agents-can-build-power-automate-flows-debugging-is-the-trap) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agents-can-build-power-automate-flows-debugging-is-the-trap) [Twitter icon](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agents-can-build-power-automate-flows-debugging-is-the-trap) [pinterest-p icon](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agents-can-build-power-automate-flows-debugging-is-the-trap) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agents-can-build-power-automate-flows-debugging-is-the-trap) I have been using AI agents to build Power Automate flows. OpenClaw, specifically. Flows are JSON. Agents are good at JSON. So I expected it to just work - build and debug, end to end. Building worked. Debugging was where it all fell apart. And honestly? I think most people who try this will hit the exact same wall. Video: AI Agent Debugged 2 Power Automate “Bugs” That Weren’t Bugs (3 min) Or watch the [60-second thesis Short](https://youtu.be/vnFfI-WJ0PU). ## The setup I started with the standard approach: - Azure app registration - Grant application permissions for Power Platform APIs - Grant a Power Platform system user role - Let the agent call the management APIs That part worked fine. For basic tasks, it felt like vibe coding actually works. ## The easy win (one attempt) The first flow the agent built for me was simple: *"When an item is created in a SharePoint list, send a Teams message to Catherine."* It did it in one attempt. That gave me confidence. ## Task 2: a custom connector (helpful, but still broken) Next I asked the agent to build a custom connector. It generated a Swagger definition and saved me time. But the connector still had errors - and each fix-deploy-test cycle cost tokens. That was my first signal: **agents can generate quickly, but debugging is where things get expensive.** ## Task 3: Real HR data (where it fell apart) The real test was using the custom connector to grab real HR data from an external system. We needed both the Employee endpoint and the Employee History endpoint. There are thousands of employees, so the flow has to paginate - loop until there is no next page. This is where the agent started burning through tokens. Not because it couldn't write the logic, but because it couldn't **see** what was actually failing. ## What kept going wrong Three things, specifically: **1. The agent couldn't catch the true error.** It kept saying the loop failed due to "connection" issues. But the real error was inside a nested loop - entities were not referenced correctly. A scoping problem, not a connection problem. The agent couldn't see deep enough to know. **2. It mixed in Logic Apps concepts that don't exist in Power Automate.** Agents borrow patterns from whatever training data they have. Mine kept trying map(), filter(), select(), or building "compose" style shapes that look right in JSON but fail at runtime. Power Automate is not Logic Apps. Close, but not the same. **3. Power Automate keeps the useful debug detail behind the UI.** In the portal, you expand the failed action and see the real payload, the real error, the actual values. Through the API? The agent often couldn't get that detail. So it guessed, patched, redeployed, failed, and repeated. That's where the token burn comes from. We went through 10-15 cycles on one flow. Easily $15-20 in LLM costs just to debug a single moderately complex workflow. ## The try-catch workaround (better, but painful) We tried the [**try-catch pattern**](https://johnliu.net/blog/2018/9/the-curious-tale-of-the-result-function-in-flow-logicapps) my husband John wrote about back in 2018. Wrap actions in Scopes. On failure, run an error Scope. Use result() to capture what happened, then write it somewhere - we used a SharePoint list. It helped. At least the agent had something to read. But you need to implement it everywhere. Inside loops. Inside **nested** loops. Inside the parts that actually fail. Every debugging cycle meant modifying the flow itself just to capture error info, then modifying it again to remove the scaffolding. A lot of back and forth. And every round-trip burns tokens. ## The breakthrough: give the agent the run data Since John is running this SaaS [FlowStudio](https://flowstudio.app?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=blog-debugging-trap), he already had the actions I needed - the ones that expose real run details, per-action error info, action inputs and outputs, loop iterations. The stuff you see in the Power Automate portal UI, but unavailable as APIs. After watching me lose yet another round against InvalidTemplate, he said: *"I already have all those APIs. I'll just wrap them in an MCP server."* And that was the game changer. ## What changed with MCP With the [**MCP server**](https://mcp.flowstudio.app/from/blog-debugging-trap), the agent can finally see what actually broke. Here's what debugging looks like now: 1. Agent calls **get\_live\_flow\_runs** - finds the failed run 2. Agent calls **get\_live\_flow\_run\_error** - gets structured, per-action error details. Not just "Failed" - the actual error message, the failing expression, the HTTP response body. 3. Agent calls **get\_live\_flow\_run\_action\_outputs** - reads action inputs/outputs 4. Agent calls **update\_live\_flow** - deploys the fix Four API calls. One round-trip. No try-catch scaffolding. No SharePoint. No guessing. When the nested loop has a scoping problem? It's obvious now - the agent can see the actual action outputs and references. That HR data flow that took $15-20 and 45 minutes to debug? Fixed in under 2 minutes. Pennies in token costs. ## Why I am sharing this After it worked for me, I packaged everything into [**three GitHub Copilot agent skills**](https://github.com/ninihen1/power-automate-mcp-skills): - **power-automate-mcp** - Connect to and operate flows (list, read, trigger, resubmit, cancel) - **power-automate-debug** - Step-by-step diagnostic workflow for failing flows - **power-automate-build** - Build and deploy flow definitions from scratch They work with any MCP-capable agent - GitHub Copilot, OpenClaw, Claude, or anything that speaks the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io). The skills are free and open source. They need a FlowStudio MCP server to talk to. We're offering a free Starter plan - 100 MCP calls, no credit card required - so you can try the full experience without committing to anything. [**Get started at mcp.flowstudio.app →**](https://mcp.flowstudio.app/from/blog-debugging-trap) If you're experimenting with agentic Power Automate work - building flows from prompts, debugging with AI - this is the missing piece. Building is not the hard part. Debugging is. **Related reading:** - [AI Agent Built My Power Automate Flow: 80 Actions Down to 17](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/ai-agent-build-power-automate-flow-dictionary-pattern?hsLang=en) - [Connect a Custom MCP Server to Copilot Studio to Debug Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/copilot-studio-mcp-debug-power-automate?hsLang=en) - [I Built a Flow That Fixes Failed Power Automate Flows](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/power-automate-flow-fixes-other-flows-human-in-the-loop-agent?hsLang=en) - [Getting Started with FlowStudio MCP](https://learn.flowstudio.app/mcp-getting-started?hsLang=en) - [Getting Started with FlowStudio AI (the hosted agent)](https://learn.flowstudio.app/flowstudio-ai?hsLang=en) --- *Catherine Han - [FlowStudio](https://flowstudio.app?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=blog-debugging-trap). John writes about Power Automate and Logic Apps at [johnliu.net](https://johnliu.net).* [Debugging](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/debugging), [MCP](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/mcp), [Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/power-automate), [AI Agents](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/ai-agents), [Vibe Coding](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/vibe-coding) ## Related posts [![Power Automate designer showing a 4-stage human-in-the-loop flow that uses a Copilot Studio agent to diagnose and fix other flows](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-featured-images/57-cover-designer-flow.png?height=200&name=57-cover-designer-flow.png)](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/power-automate-flow-fixes-other-flows-human-in-the-loop-agent?hsLang=en) [Insights & Tips](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/insights-tips), [Debugging](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/debugging), [MCP](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/mcp), [Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/power-automate), [AI Agents](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/ai-agents), [Vibe Coding](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/vibe-coding), [Copilot Studio](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/copilot-studio), [M365 Copilot](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/m365-copilot) ## [I Built a Flow That Fixes Failed Power Automate Flows](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/power-automate-flow-fixes-other-flows-human-in-the-loop-agent?hsLang=en) ![Picture of Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/catherine-circle.jpg?width=50&name=catherine-circle.jpg) [Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/author/catherine-han) Apr 12, 2026, 8:55:15 PM A failed flow sends an HTTP trigger. A Copilot Studio agent reads the run history, produces a... [Read more](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/power-automate-flow-fixes-other-flows-human-in-the-loop-agent?hsLang=en) [![Doc Automation Trilogy Part 2: How I document Power Automate flows from inside Copilot Studio. Editorial design with chat bubbles between user and agent, beside a SharePoint document outline showing the per-flow sections.](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-featured-images/doc-automation-trilogy-part-2.png?height=200&name=doc-automation-trilogy-part-2.png)](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/doc-automation-copilot-studio?hsLang=en) [Insights & Tips](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/insights-tips), [Debugging](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/debugging), [MCP](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/mcp), [Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/power-automate), [AI Agents](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/ai-agents), [Vibe Coding](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/vibe-coding), [Copilot Studio](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/copilot-studio), [M365 Copilot](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/m365-copilot), [Documentatio](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/documentatio) ## [How I document Power Automate flows from Copilot Studio, no IDE required](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/doc-automation-copilot-studio?hsLang=en) ![Picture of Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/catherine-circle.jpg?width=50&name=catherine-circle.jpg) [Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/author/catherine-han) Apr 27, 2026, 11:55:48 PM How do I document my Power Automate flows? Same forum question as Post 1, second answer. Post 1... [Read more](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/doc-automation-copilot-studio?hsLang=en) [![M365 Copilot can debug Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-featured-images/thumbnail-v38-v2.png?height=200&name=thumbnail-v38-v2.png)](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/copilot-studio-mcp-debug-power-automate?hsLang=en) [Insights & Tips](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/insights-tips), [Debugging](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/debugging), [MCP](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/mcp), [Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/power-automate), [AI Agents](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/ai-agents), [Vibe Coding](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/vibe-coding), [Copilot Studio](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/copilot-studio), [M365 Copilot](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/m365-copilot), [Microsoft 365 Copilot](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/microsoft-365-copilot), [Debug](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/tag/debug) ## [How to Connect a Custom MCP Server to Copilot Studio to Debug Power Automate](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/copilot-studio-mcp-debug-power-automate?hsLang=en) ![Picture of Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/catherine-circle.jpg?width=50&name=catherine-circle.jpg) [Catherine Han](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/author/catherine-han) Apr 16, 2026, 12:06:20 AM Microsoft 365 Copilot, calling get\_live\_flow\_runs on a real Power Automate flow. Inspecting action... [Read more](https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/copilot-studio-mcp-debug-power-automate?hsLang=en) [![Flow Studio](https://learn.flowstudio.app/hs-fs/hubfs/flow-studio-transparency.png?width=90&height=90&name=flow-studio-transparency.png "Flow Studio")](https://flowstudio.app) flowstudio.app --- [Go to FlowStudio MCP](https://mcp.flowstudio.app/) [Go to FlowStudio App](https://flowstudio.app/) [youtube icon](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXiXrMydfoLYzS-Ya3yOmYvfEyLbkXhpQ) [linkedin-in icon](https://www.linkedin.com/company/flow-studio-solutions/about/) [envelope icon](mailto:support@flowstudio.app) [link icon](https://flowstudio.app/) Copyright © 2026, Flow Studio Solutions ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Catherine Han", "url" : "https://learn.flowstudio.app/blog/author/catherine-han" }, "dateModified" : "2026-04-15T22:21:51.264Z", "datePublished" : "2026-03-05T17:17:29.000Z", "headline" : "AI Agents Can Build Power Automate Flows. 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