force-link-environment Agent Skill

Force-links a development or target environment to a Power Platform Pipelines host, overriding any existing association with a previous…

Context cost
4k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
2 files · 18.9 kB1 script among them — read before you run
Licence
MITthe author’s own terms
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Force-links a development or target environment to a Power Platform Pipelines host, overriding any existing association with a previous host. Use when creating a deploymentenvironments record fails with "this environment is already associated with another pipelines host", or when intentionally migrating an environment from one host to another (e.g., Platform Host → Custom Host, or between two Custom Hosts). Calls the documented `ManageEnvironmentStamp` Dataverse action (the API behind the "Force Link" button in the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app).

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

devops
Filed under

Cloud & DevOps

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md16.1 kB · preview
--- name: force-link-environment user-invocable: true argument-hint: "Optional: '--host <url>' to skip the host resolution step; '--dev-env <bapEnvId>' to skip the dev env prompt. With both flags supplied, the skill still pauses for destructive-action confirmation." allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList, AskUserQuestion, mcp__plugin_power-pages_microsoft-learn__microsoft_docs_search, mcp__plugin_power-pages_microsoft-learn__microsoft_docs_fetch model: opus ---
23> **Plugin check**: Run node "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/check-version.js" — if it outputs a message, show it to the user before proceeding.
24
25# force-link-environment
26
27Move a dev or target environment's Power Platform Pipelines host association from one host to another. This is the documented remediation when deploymentenvironments create fails with *"this environment is already associated with another pipelines host"*, and also the right tool when intentionally migrating environments between hosts.
28
29**Microsoft Learn (ground truth):** [Using Force Link to associate an environment with a new host](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/custom-host-pipelines#using-force-link-to-associate-an-environment-with-a-new-host)
30
31## What this skill changes
32
33In the **target host** (the new host the user wants to use):
34- Marks the existing deploymentenvironments record as the active stamp for the BAP environment.
35- Re-runs validation; on success, validationstatus flips to Succeeded (200000001).
36
37In the **previous host** (the host the env was previously linked to):
38- The corresponding deploymentenvironments row is **delinked**. Its validationstatus is left stale until refreshed in the previous host's UI.
39- Makers who could run pipelines through that environment in the previous host **lose access** to those pipelines via this environment.
40
41The action is reversible by running Force Link again from the previous host.
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md2,246 words
Files2
LicenceMIT
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈370
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
3,655
on trigger
The instruction body and 1 supporting file, read only when the skill fires.
2.0%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 20% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

4k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

It asks the agent to write files, using whatever file access your client already has. Whether it reaches the network is not declared.

What it asks for
Writes filesyes
Network accessnot declared

Read from the allowed-tools line of this skill’s own SKILL.md. It also asks for Bash, which could do either, so what is not named there is not ruled out. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

2 files, 18.9 kB on disk. Mostly text — the instructions the model reads — with 1 script in it that your client would run only if the instructions tell it to.

  • SKILL.md16.1 kB
  • scripts/validate-force-link.js2.8 kB
What is not in it

A skill installs nothing and depends on nothing: it is a folder your client reads. This one carries 1 script beside the text, so the bundle is 2 files you can review in full before installing. The MIT licence covers the templates and examples as well as the instructions.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# force-link-environment · 4k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/force-link-environment/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/force-link-environment" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/force-link-environment ] || { mv .claude/skills/force-link-environment "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/force-link-environment" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/force-link-environment"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add microsoft/force-link-environment

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/force-link-environment/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/force-link-environment/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/force-link-environment" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/force-link-environment ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/force-link-environment "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/force-link-environment" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/force-link-environment" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/force-link-environment/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencemicrosoft/force-link-environment

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

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Publisher
Servers10
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