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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / For Automation in .App...
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Answered

For Automation in .App file Creation from AL file for Business central

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Posted on by Yash Mistry 123
I'm currently working on automating the deployment process for a Business Central extension. On the backend, I'm generating .al files programmatically, and I want to take it a step further by automatically compiling these into a .app file to enable full CI/CD integration.
Is there any Platform or any Automation process available for that so I can fully Automate that process?(Or possible to integrate using Power Automate).
I'm Talking about Business Central Cloud.
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Business Central
I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Tech-Lucky Profile Picture
    Tech-Lucky 1,267 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Using PowerShell Scripts you can Build a .app File without using VS Code.
     
  • Suggested answer
    Kamal Khakhkhar Profile Picture
    Kamal Khakhkhar 1,274 on at
    Hii There, 
    as per Your requirement you can create CI/CD integration as per Microsoft Documentation.
     
     
    You can do as per It.
     
    If you dound answer, Mark It answered.
     
    Thank You.
    Kamal Khakhkhar.
  • Suggested answer
    Mohamed Amine Mahmoudi Profile Picture
    Mohamed Amine Mahmoudi 26,390 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
     
    I suggest you follow Microsoft's recommendations :
     
    Best regards,
    Mohamed Amine MAHMOUDI
  • Verified answer
    Jeffrey Bulanadi Profile Picture
    Jeffrey Bulanadi 8,760 on at

    Hi Yash,

    Good question—and one that’s becoming increasingly common as more teams push for full CI/CD with Business Central extensions.

    If you're programmatically generating .al files, then automating the creation of .app files is the natural next step. There are platforms and scripting approaches available that make this not only possible, but reliable.

     

    What you can use today

     
    • AL-Go for GitHub – Microsoft’s open-source DevOps framework made specifically for Business Central extensions. It compiles .al files into .app packages, handles testing, and supports GitHub-hosted workflows.
    • Azure DevOps Pipelines – Build pipelines with hosted agents to run the alc.exe compiler via PowerShell. Microsoft Learn has official training content for this setup.
    • PowerShell Scripting – Run headless builds locally or on a build server using alc.exe, with the necessary symbols in your .alpackages folder.
      

    Can Power Automate be part of it?
    Not directly, but yes—it can act as your orchestration layer:

    • Kick off pipeline jobs using HTTP triggers
    • Monitor source control changes or pull requests
    • Handle post-build flows like approvals or notifications

    Power Automate doesn’t compile .al files itself, but it can effectively coordinate the process.

     

    Quick checklist before going live

    • Ensure your app.json and launch.json configs are clean and aligned with your target platform.
    • Use the application property to minimize dependency issues.
    • Keep your symbols updated in the .alpackages folder if compiling outside VS Code.
     

    Helpful references
    AL-Go for GitHub
    Using Azure Pipelines
    PowerShell automation tutorial
    app.json & launch.json usage



    If you find this helpful, feel free to mark this as the suggested or verified answer.

    Cheers
    Jeffrey

  • Verified answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    YUN ZHU 95,331 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Hi, This can be easily done using AL-Go. Here are some introductory videos from Microsoft that I hope will give you some tips.
    PS: Business Central 2022 wave 1 (BC20): AL-Go for GitHub (AL-Go Template)
     
    Hope this helps.
    Thanks.
    ZHU
  • Suggested answer
    Sohail Ahmed Profile Picture
    Sohail Ahmed 11,136 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    You can automate .app file creation from AL files using AL-Go for GitHub. It handles build, test, and deploy in Business Central Cloud. Just push your AL files to a GitHub repo using the AL-Go template, and it compiles them automatically. ✔️
     
     
  • Gerardo Rentería García Profile Picture
    Gerardo Rentería Ga... 25,213 Most Valuable Professional on at

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