ALM ritual for solution export and import

Treat every Power Platform solution export and import as a fixed ritual with a before part and an after part. Before every export, clean up topic names and run "Add Required Objects". A dot in a topic name blocks the export of the whole solution. Knowledge sources, agent flows, prompts, and connected agents are not added automatically. Export unmanaged from your development environment; import managed toward test and production. After every import: reconfigure authentication, check the channels, publish, and only then share.

• Before every solution export, however small the change.
• After every solution import into a test or production environment.
• When an imported agent opens fine but answers nothing.

1. Rename topics so that no topic name contains a dot.
2. Open the solution and run "Add Required Objects".
3. Verify that knowledge sources, agent flows, prompts, and connected agents are listed in the solution.
4. Export the solution as unmanaged from development, as managed toward test and production.
5. Keep the unmanaged original in development; a managed solution cannot be exported again.
6. After the import, reconfigure the user authentication.
7. Check every channel; icon and channel details can get lost on import.
8. Publish the agent.
9. Share the agent only after the publish succeeded.
10. Ask one test question the agent must answer from its knowledge. Uploaded knowledge does not travel with the solution and must be reprocessed in the target environment.