check_step_config

Analyzes active plug-in step registrations (SdkMessageProcessingStep) for common misconfigurations that cause performance problems, redundant executions, and non-deterministic behavior:

• high — Update steps registered without filtering attributes (they fire on every column change).
• medium — synchronous Create/Update steps on high-volume entities (activitypointer, annotation).
• medium — rank collisions: two or more steps sharing message + entity + stage + rank, so their relative execution order is not guaranteed.
• low — Update/Delete steps without a pre-image (comparing old vs new values requires one).

Only active steps (statecode eq 0) are analyzed.

Tier: Pro — requires the LICENSE_KEY environment variable. Without a license the tool returns a friendly upgrade message instead of results.

Inputs

At least one of the two inputs is required. If both are provided, pluginTypeName wins.

Name	Type	Required	Description
pluginTypeName	string	one of the two	Plug-in type name, e.g. Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin. Matched exactly first, then as a substring.
solutionName	string	one of the two	Solution unique name (uniquename, not the display name). Analyzes all plug-in steps it contains.

Example call

{
  "name": "check_step_config",
  "arguments": {
    "pluginTypeName": "Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin"
  }
}

Example output

{
  "stepsAnalyzed": 6,
  "findings": [
    {
      "severity": "high",
      "step": {
        "id": "aaaaaaaa-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
        "name": "Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin: Update of account",
        "pluginType": "Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin",
        "message": "Update",
        "entity": "account",
        "stage": "PostOperation",
        "mode": "sync",
        "rank": 1,
        "filteringAttributes": null
      },
      "issue": "Update step without filtering attributes fires on every column change.",
      "recommendation": "Set filtering attributes so the step only runs when the columns it cares about change."
    },
    {
      "severity": "low",
      "step": {
        "id": "aaaaaaaa-0000-0000-0000-000000000003",
        "name": "Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin: Delete step",
        "pluginType": "Contoso.Plugins.AccountPlugin",
        "message": "Delete",
        "entity": "none",
        "stage": "PreValidation",
        "mode": "sync",
        "rank": 1,
        "filteringAttributes": null
      },
      "issue": "Delete step has no pre-image registered; comparing old vs new values requires one.",
      "recommendation": "Register a PreImage containing only the attributes the plug-in actually needs."
    }
  ]
}

Findings are sorted high → medium → low. When the scope matches no plug-in type or the solution contains no steps, the tool returns { "stepsAnalyzed": 0, "findings": [], "hint": "..." }.

Common errors

Situation	Response
No LICENSE_KEY set	{ "upgradeRequired": true, "tool": "check_step_config", "message": "...Pro tier...", "docsUrl": "..." } — the tool never throws on a missing license.
Neither input provided	{ "error": "Provide pluginTypeName or solutionName", "hint": "..." }
Solution unique name not found	{ "error": "Solution not found: \"...\"", "hint": "Pass the solution's unique name (uniquename), not its display name..." }
HTTP 403 from Dataverse	Error envelope with the Dataverse message, a hint that reading step registrations requires customizer-level read privileges on SdkMessageProcessingStep, and docsUrl pointing to the business logic best practices.