Create and publish workflow templates for Azure Logic Apps (Preview)

Applies to: Azure Logic Apps (Standard)

Azure Logic Apps provides prebuilt integration workflow templates that you can use to accelerate the process of building integration applications. These templates follow commonly used patterns and help you streamline development by providing a starting point or baseline with predefined business logic and configurations.

Not only can you kickstart development with workflow templates, you can create workflow templates for your own use or share them with others. Your template can include artifacts such as schemas, maps, and custom assemblies. To add your template to the templates gallery in the Azure portal, create a template package by using this how-to guide. When you're done, visit the workflow template repository in GitHub for Azure Logic Apps where you can create a pull request for your template package and have the Azure Logic Apps team review your template.

Limitations

Workflow templates currently support only Standard logic apps and single workflows.

What does a template package include?

The following table describes the required and optional files in a template package:

You can also include any other files to maintain and support your template, for example, files with test or sample data.

Create a template package folder

• Before you create the template package folder, get familiar with Names and style conventions.

• To keep the template repository easier to browse, organize, and maintain, use the following syntax for your folder name and the fewest number of words to avoid exceeding the character limit for file paths:

  <workflow-task>-<product>-<pattern-or-protocol, if any>

  For examples, see the workflow template repository for Azure Logic Apps in GitHub.

• To correctly register your template package folder, you must add the folder name to the repository's root-level manifest.json file.

Create a workflow.json file

The workflow.json file contains the underlying definition for a workflow in JSON format. To create the workflow.json file, you need to copy and save your workflow definition as a file named workflow.json.

For the easiest and best way to get the workflow definition, create your workflow using the designer. Make sure to review Workflow best practices along with Names and style conventions. Or, as a starting point, you can use the prebuilt workflow templates from the template gallery in the Azure portal.

As you build your workflow, the designer automatically includes references to any added built-in, service provider connections, managed API connections, or libraries in the underlying workflow definition.

After you're done, copy the underlying workflow definition to an empty workflow.json file.

Workflow best practices

• Use the built-in operations as much as possible. For example, the Azure Blob Storage connector has the following versions available for Standard workflows:

  • A built-in, service provider version, which appears in the connectors gallery with the In App label. This version is hosted and run with the single-tenant Azure Logic Apps runtime, offering better performance, throughput, and other benefits.

  • A Microsoft-managed API version, which appears in the connectors gallery with the Shared label. This version is hosted and run in multitenant Azure using shared global resources.

• Don't use hardcoded properties and their values in trigger and action definitions.

• Provide more context about trigger and action definitions by adding descriptive and helpful comments.

Copy the underlying workflow definition

1. In the Azure portal, on the workflow menu, under Developer, select Code.

2. From the code view window, copy the entire workflow definition, for example:

   

3. In an empty file named workflow.json, save the workflow definition.

Parameter references in workflow.json

When you reference parameters in the workflow.json file, you must reflect the parameter names that use the suffix _#workflowname# in the following way:

"name": "@parameters('<parameter-name>_#workflowname#')"

For example:

"name": "@parameters('sharepoint-folder-path_#workflowname#')"

Connection references in workflow.json

When you reference connections in the workflow.json file, you must reflect the connection names that use the suffix _#workflowname# in the following way:

"referenceName": "<connector-ID>_#workflowname#",
"connectionName": "<connector-ID>_#workflowname#"

For example:

"referenceName": "azureaisearch_#workflowname#",
"connectionName": "azureaisearch_#workflowname#"

For more information about the connector ID, see Find the connector ID.

Create a workflow template image

In the Azure portal, each workflow template has an overview pane in the workflow templates gallery. This pane includes a read-only preview image for the workflow that the template creates plus other template information.

To create this preview image, follow these steps:

1. In the designer, set up your workflow for creating two screenshots.

   You need to create a version each for the browser light theme and dark theme.

2. Create the workflow screenshots using your preferred screen capture tool. Don't include too much whitespace around the workflow.

3. Save each image using the .png file name extension and any name that you want, following the Names and style conventions.

4. In the manifest.json file for your workflow template package, add the same image names to the images section without the .png file name extension, for example:

   "images": {
       "dark": "workflow-dark",
       "light": "workflow-light"
   }
   

Create a manifest.json file

The manifest.json file describes the relationship between a workflow and related components. Currently, you need to manually create this file, or you can repurpose the manifest.json file from an existing prebuilt template in the Azure Logic Apps workflow template repository in GitHub. As you create the manifest.json file, make sure to review the names and style conventions.

The following table describes the attributes in the manifest.json file:

Find the connector ID

To find the connector ID to use for a connection in the manifest.json file or a connection reference in the workflow.json file, follow these steps:

1. In the Azure portal, open your logic app resource.

2. On the logic app menu, under Workflows, select Connections.

3. Select the JSON View tab.

4. Based on the connection type, follow these steps:

   • For a managed, "shared" API connection that is hosted and run in Azure:

     1. Find the managedApiConnections section.

     2. In the connection attribute, copy and save the id value, but replace any personal or sensitive data, such as the subscription ID, resource group name, and so on, with #<item>#:

        /subscriptions/#subscription#/providers/Microsoft.Web/locations/#location#/managedApis/<connection-name>

        For example, the following text shows the connector ID for the SharePoint connector:

        /subscriptions/#subscription#/providers/Microsoft.Web/locations/#location#/managedApis/sharepointonline

   • For a service provider connection that is hosted on the single-tenant Azure Logic Apps runtime:

     1. Find the serviceProviderConnections section.

     2. For each connection, find the id attribute in the serviceProvider attribute.

     3. Copy and save the following value:

        /serviceProviders/<connection-name>

        For example, the following text shows the connector ID for the Azure AI Search connector:

        /serviceProviders/azureaisearch.

Find the operation 'kind' and 'type' properties for featuredConnections

In the manifest.json file, the featuredConnections section can include icons for any other operations that you want to include with the template gallery in the Azure portal. For this section, which is an array, you need to provide the kind and type attributes for each operation.

To get these attribute values, follow these steps in the Azure portal with your opened workflow:

1. On the workflow menu, under Developer, select Code.

2. In the code view window, in the actions section, find the operation that you want, and then find the kind and type values.

Add template package to GitHub repository

To publish your template to the templates gallery in the Azure portal, set up GitHub, and create a pull request with your template package for validation and review:

1. Create a GitHub account, if you don't have one.

   For more information, see Get started with your GitHub account.

2. Go to the workflow template repository named LogicAppsTemplates for Azure Logic Apps in GitHub.

3. Create your own fork, which is a remote copy of the LogicAppsTemplates repository in GitHub.

   For more information, see Forking a repository.

4. To work locally, clone your fork onto your computer.

   1. Follow these steps to download, install, and set up Git.

   2. Go to your fork, which has the following URL:

      https://github.com/<your-username>/LogicAppsTemplates

   3. On your local computer, create a folder named GitHub, if you don't have one already. Don't clone to a OneDrive synced folder.

   4. Follow these steps to clone your fork, not the production repository.

   5. In your local repository, follow these steps to create a working branch.

   6. After you check out your working branch, go to the root level in your local repository, and create the template package folder.

   7. Add your template files to the template package folder, and update the root-level manifest.json file with the folder name.

   8. When you're ready to commit your changes to your local repository, which is like saving a snapshot, run the following commands using the Git command-line tool or other tools:

      git add .

      git commit -m "<commit-short-description>"

   9. To upload your snapshot to your remote fork, run the following command:

      git push origin <your-working-branch>

5. In GitHub, create a pull request to compare <your-working-branch> with the main branch in the LogicAppsTemplates repository.

   1. Go to the repository's Pull requests page, and select New pull request.

   2. Under Compare changes, select Compare across forks.

   3. Make sure that your pull request has the following settings, and then select Create pull request.

      Base repository	Base	Head repository	Compare
      Azure/LogicAppsTemplates	main	<user-name>/LogicAppsTemplates	<your-working-branch>

      

   4. Enter a title and description for your pull request. To finish, select Create pull request.

   5. Wait for the Azure Logic Apps team to review your pull request.

   For more information, see Creating a pull request from a fork.

Names and style conventions

For more guidance, see the Microsoft Style Guide and Global writing tips.

Related content

Create a Standard logic app workflow from a prebuilt template