uipath-rpa

UiPath RPA Assistant

Full assistant for creating, editing, managing, and running UiPath automation projects — both coded workflows (C#) and low-code RPA workflows (XAML).

Reading the referenced files is imperative — read each required file in full. This SKILL.md is a router: it tells you which reference to open, not what it says. When a rule, the Task Navigation table, or a section points you to a reference for the task at hand, open it and read the whole file before acting — do not grep it for a keyword, skim the first screen, fall back to --help, or substitute prior knowledge. Exception: files whose rule prescribes a targeted lookup (Grep ^## for the table of contents, flags via <command> --help) — these are catalogs: read the matching sections, never the whole file. Most errors that slip past validate and surface at build or runtime trace back to a reference that was skipped or only partially read.

When to Use This Skill

• User wants to create a new UiPath automation project (coded or XAML)
• User wants to add a workflow, test case, or source file to an existing project
• User wants to edit an existing workflow or test case
• User wants to modify project configuration (dependencies, entry points)
• User asks about UiPath activities or how to automate something
• User wants to validate, build, run, or debug a workflow
• User wants to add dependencies or NuGet packages to a project
• User wants to create test cases with assertions
• User wants to call an Integration Service connector (Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, etc.)
• User wants to use UI automation to interact with desktop or web applications

UI Automation Capabilities

One UIA activity set covers every UI target:

• Multi-platform — Windows and macOS.
• Desktop and web — native desktop applications and browsers, driven through the same activities.
• Resilient targeting — targets are configured with strict or fuzzy selectors (reinforced by anchors), Computer Vision, or semantic matching; uia-configure-target picks the route and falls back between them automatically.
• Combined in a single automation — desktop and browser apps interoperate in one workflow with no bridge or handoff. Multi-screen, multi-application flows (read from a desktop app, act in a browser, verify across both) are first-class.

UIA Prerequisites

Required package: UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities — minimum version (<MIN_VERSION>): 26.10.2, from the official UiPath NuGet feed (no prerelease flag needed). The uip rpa uia CLI, the package docs, and the UIA skills require <MIN_VERSION> or newer — before any UIA work, check the installed version in project.json under dependencies. Do not hardcode the version from memory; this section is the only source of truth.

Upgrades require explicit user consent. Never install or upgrade UIA silently. Consent comes from one of:

• Plan-mode: approval of a plan whose Task 0 names the upgrade explicitly — both package ID and version. Plan approval IS the consent — do NOT re-ask at execution time.
• Interactive mode (no plan): a direct prompt before packages install runs.

Discovery (non-mutating, no consent required):

uip rpa packages versions --package-id UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities --include-prerelease --project-dir "$PROJECT_DIR" --output json

Install / upgrade (mutating — only after consent per the table above):

uip rpa packages install --packages 'id=UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities,version=<MIN_VERSION>' --project-dir "$PROJECT_DIR" --output json

Omit ,version=<MIN_VERSION> to resolve the latest compatible build (at or above <MIN_VERSION>).

Precondition: Project Context

Before doing any work, check if .claude/rules/project-context.md exists in the project directory.

If the file exists → check for staleness:

1. Read the first line of .claude/rules/project-context.md to extract the metadata comment: <!-- discovery-metadata: cs=N xaml=N deps=N -->
2. Count current files: Glob **/*.cs (excluding .local/ and .codedworkflows/) and **/*.xaml in the project directory
3. Count current dependencies: read project.json and count keys in the .dependencies object
4. Compare the current counts against the stored metadata values
5. For each count (cs, xaml, deps), compute the percentage difference: abs(current - stored) / max(stored, 1) * 100
6. If any individual count differs by 60–70% or more → run the discovery flow below
7. If all counts are within the threshold → context is fresh, proceed with the skill workflow

If the file does NOT exist → run the skip gate below; if it does not trip, run the discovery flow.

Skip gate: nothing to discover yet

Discovery on a project with no authored content returns empty tables and costs a subagent round-trip. Do NOT spawn the discovery agent when any row matches:

Gate tripped: write no context files now, proceed with the skill workflow. After the build, write both context files yourself from what you just created — same paths and AGENTS.md marker logic as discovery-flow step 3.

Discovery flow (used for both missing and stale context):

1. Spawn the project discovery agent and wait for it to complete. Its definition lives inside this skill at agents/uipath-project-discovery-agent.md. Use whichever spawn mechanism your host supports:
   • Host registers plugin agents by name (e.g., Claude Code) → trigger the registered uipath-project-discovery-agent agent.
   • Host only spawns its own predefined subagents (e.g., UiPath Autopilot) → spawn a subagent and pass it that file (relative to this skill) as its instructions / custom skill. Grant it write access so it can produce the context files itself; a read-only subagent still works via step 3.
2. The agent writes the context files itself and returns a context-files: status line followed by the context document. Use the returned document as this session's project context — do NOT re-read the files it just wrote, and do NOT rewrite them.
3. Only when the agent reports context-files: not-written (read-only subagent host, or a write error) → write the returned content to both:
   • .claude/rules/project-context.md (create .claude/rules/ directory if needed) — auto-loaded by Claude Code in future sessions
   • AGENTS.md at project root — the shared cross-agent context convention (read by UiPath Autopilot in Studio Desktop and other AGENTS.md-aware hosts). If AGENTS.md already exists, look for <!-- PROJECT-CONTEXT:START --> / <!-- PROJECT-CONTEXT:END --> markers and replace only between them; if no markers exist, append the fenced block at the end
4. If the agent returns SKIP: <reason> instead of a document, treat it as a gate trip: no context files now, write them yourself after the build.
5. Then proceed with the skill workflow

Step 0: Resolve PROJECT_DIR

Before creating or modifying anything, determine which project to work with. See references/environment-setup.md for the full procedure.

Quick check: Find project.json to establish {projectRoot}. That's it — no Studio Desktop check needed for the standard loop. uip rpa auto-launches a headless Studio (UiPath.Studio.Helm NuGet) on first call. Studio Desktop is required only for files diff, focus-activity, and regenerating coded UI automation's ObjectRepository.cs (the Descriptors.* class — see Rule 7 and environment-setup.md).

Project Type Detection

After establishing PROJECT_DIR, first check project.json for targetFramework:

• targetFramework: "Legacy" (or field absent in an older project) → Legacy mode. Stop here and switch to the Legacy-mode workflow: references/legacy/legacy-mode-guide.md. Legacy projects use the standalone uip rpa-legacy CLI, .NET Framework 4.6.1, classic activities (no "X" suffix), and mscorlib assembly references. The rest of this SKILL.md (modern mode) does NOT apply to Legacy projects.
• targetFramework: "Windows" or "Portable" (Cross-platform) → Modern mode, continue below.

For modern projects, determine whether this is a coded or XAML project:

1. Coded mode — .cs files with [Workflow] or [TestCase] attributes exist AND no .xaml workflow files (beyond scaffolded Main.xaml)
2. XAML mode — .xaml workflow files exist AND no coded workflow .cs files
3. Hybrid — Both exist → consult coded-vs-xaml-guide.md to pick the right mode for each new file; default to matching the user's current request
4. New project — Neither exists → default to XAML. Switch to coded only when the user explicitly says "coded", ".cs", "C# workflow", "coded test case", or names a coded-specific trigger (custom data models / DTOs, unit-testable business logic). For all other phrasings ("create a workflow", "automate X", "build an automation"), use XAML. See coded-vs-xaml-guide.md for the full decision flowchart.

Routing: Once mode is determined, use the Task Navigation table below to find the right reference files. For guidance on choosing between coded and XAML approaches, see coded-vs-xaml-guide.md. For Legacy projects, follow references/legacy/legacy-mode-guide.md instead.

Authoring Mode Selection

Default to matching the project's existing mode. For new projects or ambiguous cases, default to XAML — it is the more common mode, has the widest activity coverage, and is the unmarked term in user vocabulary ("create a workflow" means XAML; "create a coded workflow" means coded). Switch to coded only on explicit user phrasing or a coded-specific trigger from the table below.

UI Automation Boundaries

For any task whose business behavior is "open an app/browser, click, type, scrape visible UI, submit a form, or verify UI state", the interaction layer MUST be UiPath UI Automation — NApplicationCard plus UIA activities (XAML), or uiAutomation.Open/Attach plus Object Repository descriptors (coded). Do NOT substitute InvokeCode, PowerShell, Selenium, Playwright, Chrome DevTools Protocol, raw DOM JavaScript, HTTP form posts, or external browser-driver scripts. The coded fallback rows above apply only to non-UI helper logic (data transforms, parsing, DTOs, calculations, API-only integrations).

If target configuration is unavailable, fall back to the documented UIA indication path — never to an external browser automation shortcut.

The full prohibited-tool list, the UIA-only exploration requirement, and the InvokeJS/InjectJsScript exception scope are in the UIA package guide ({PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/ui-automation-guide.md) § Mandatory: Generate Targets Before Writing Any UI Code — read it in full per Rule 7 before any UIA work.

Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern (when live app access is unavailable)

When generating a UI automation workflow without live app access (target capture cannot be run because the app is not installed, the agent has no UI, or the user explicitly deferred capture to a developer), emit real UIA activities with placeholder selectors and TODO Indicate markers — never Log stubs.

Forbidden: a workflow whose UI-interaction steps are Log("LoginWorkflow: type username") with a // TODO[selectors]: comment. The workflow passes build/validate and runs cleanly, but does nothing. This is the most expensive kind of stub — it looks complete, the validator says it's fine, and the failure mode is silent.

Required: the real UIA activity (NTypeInto, NClick, NGetText, NApplicationCard, etc.) with the target descriptor's selector left as a placeholder string and a TODO Indicate marker embedded in the activity's DisplayName (XAML) or in a // TODO[Indicate] comment immediately adjacent to the coded call. A developer opens Studio, clicks Indicate on each marked activity, and the workflow runs.

This applies to both XAML and coded modes. The full pattern with XAML and coded examples is in uia-starter-guide.md § Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern — read it before authoring stub-mode workflows. It requires no UIA package or CLI.

Hybrid pattern — XAML orchestration + coded fallback for logic with no matching activity:

Main.xaml                  ← orchestration (XAML)
  └── InvokeWorkflowFile → ProcessData.cs  ← coded logic

For the full decision flowchart, InvokeCode extraction rules, and detailed hybrid patterns, see coded-vs-xaml-guide.md.

Capture-First Fast Path

When the request is "automate this dialog/form" or "build a UI test from these manual steps" — i.e. the bulk of the work is target capture, not coding — defer authoring-phase prerequisites until target capture is complete. The capture surface is interactive, app-state-sensitive, and time-bound; project-context discovery adds nothing during capture and steals time from it.

Fast-path order for capture-first tasks. Read the UIA package guide ({PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/ui-automation-guide.md) in full first (Rule 7) — it mandates the target-capture orchestration reference used in step 3. Then:

1. Pre-flight Window Baseline — list top-level windows once; decide whether to launch the app (package guide § Window Baseline).
2. Inventory targets from manual steps (Test Manager test case, PDD, or written script). Each "Click X" / "Enter Y" / "Select Z" / "Verify W" step maps to one OR element. Group by screen state (package guide § Capturing from Manual Test Steps).
3. Capture all targets screen by screen via uia-configure-target and screen advancement (package guide § Multi-Step UI Flows).
4. Then enter authoring phase: project-context discovery (the precondition above), write code, validate.

Skip this path when the task has no UI surface (data transforms, IS connector calls, headless file/email automation). Also skip it when the task HAS a UI surface but no live app to capture against (app not installed, no GUI, capture deferred to a developer) — there is nothing to capture, so use the § Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern above instead. The Window Baseline does not tell you if the app is installed and has a GUI — validate that separately (e.g. look for the executable on disk) or ask the user.

Session Pre-warm

First heavy uip rpa call pays a ~22s Studio host cold-start (shared across validate/build/run/activities get-default-xaml/analyzer-rules list). When more than one is expected this session, background a cheap warm-up at session start so the tax hides behind planning:

uip rpa activities find --query log --output json > /dev/null 2>&1 &

On Windows PowerShell, & doesn't background — use Start-Process powershell.exe -ArgumentList ... (not pwsh). Never Start-Process -FilePath "uip" (or any .ps1): Windows opens it in Notepad, not PowerShell.

Skip when 0 or 1 heavy uip rpa calls are expected (read-only Q&A, single-file inspection) — the warm-up doesn't reclaim its cost.

Critical Rules

Rule numbering. Common Rules use 1–12. ### Coded-Specific Rules continues 13–19. ### XAML-Specific Rules is an independent 16–24 sequence, so numbers 16/17/18/19 appear in both mode-specific sections — the [Coded] / [XAML] prefix on each rule disambiguates. Cross-references in this file ("Common Rule 10", "Common Rule 12", "Rule 21", "Rule 24") always point to a uniquely-numbered rule.

Common Rules (Both Modes)

1. NEVER create a project without confirming none exists. Follow Step 0 resolution: check explicit path, project name, then CWD for project.json. Only create when confirmed no project matches AND user explicitly requests creation.

2. ALWAYS use uip rpa init to create new projects — never write project.json or scaffolding manually.

   • Before creating, decide if a template is needed. If the user names a template ("REFramework", "Robotic Enterprise Framework", "based on the X template"), an industry/domain pattern (SAP, ERP, banking, mainframe), or otherwise hints at a non-blank starter, run uip rpa templates search --query "<term>" --output json first. Selection rule against Data[*]:
     • User named a specific non-Official template (e.g. "Enhanced REFramework", "Lite ReFrameWork") AND a Marketplace item's title or packageId substring-matches the user's specific qualifier → ask the user (Official + that Marketplace item are both candidates). Do NOT auto-pick.
     • Exactly one source == "Official" match AND user did not name a non-Official template → use it; pass --template-package-id <packageId> --template-package-version <version> to init. Proceed without asking.
     • Multiple Official matches OR only Marketplace matches → present candidates (packageId, version, source, title) to the user and ask which to use. Never silently pick a Marketplace template.
     • No matches → fall back to a built-in --template-id and tell the user nothing was found.
   • Built-in --template-id keywords map without a search: library → LibraryProcessTemplate, test automation / test project → TestAutomationProjectTemplate, otherwise BlankTemplate. When --template-package-id is set, --template-id is ignored. Full decision flow: environment-setup.md § Template selection. 2a. Pass --target-framework AND --expression-language explicitly on every uip rpa init — never omit them. Both are immutable after creation (Rule 23); omitting --target-framework silently yields a Windows project. Choose framework by where the automation runs: cross-platform / non-Windows runtime (Linux, container, serverless) or Studio Web editing → Portable (Cross-platform); Windows runtime using Windows-only capabilities (Excel COM, classic Office, WPF / PresentationFramework, Windows-only UIA) or Studio Desktop as the edit surface → Windows (not editable in Studio Web). A request needing both a cross-platform runtime and a Windows-only capability is contradictory — surface it, don't silently pick. Windows - Legacy is a last resort (explicit ask or hard .NET 4.6.1 need; never inferred from VB.NET or non-"X" classic activities) — create it in Legacy mode, not modern init. No signal → AskUserQuestion (Windows vs Cross-platform), framed around the runtime host. --expression-language: default VisualBasic, CSharp only on explicit request.

3. Phase-gated validation. Two-phase validation:

   • Per-file (after every create or edit): uip rpa validate --file-path "<FILE>" --project-dir "<PROJECT_DIR>" --output json until 0 errors. Catches structural XAML, missing references, analyzer-rule violations, schema violations. Fix one thing per iteration.
   • Project-level build (after per-file validate is clean across all files in the edit session, and before declaring done): uip rpa build "<PROJECT_DIR>" --output json until clean. Catches what validate misses (unknown members, invalid enums, CacheMetadata / member resolution, attribute-form C# JIT) — full list at cli-reference.md § Errors build catches that validate misses. If build errors, identify the offending file from the output and re-run validate --file-path on it.
   • 5-attempt cap per loop — 5 attempts for each file's per-file validate loop; a separate 5 attempts for the project-level build loop. Fix one root cause per iteration.
   • Smoke-test shortcut: A successful uip rpa run substitutes for the standalone end-of-session build — run compiles internally. Prefer run --skip-build when build has just passed; see cli-reference.md § Smoke Test.
   • Do NOT run uip rpa analyzer-rules list as an authoring prerequisite. validate and build already enforce the enabled analyzer rules and report violations with rule IDs and recommendations — pre-fetching the rule list is speculative cost (the unscoped call can take a minute or more). It is an on-demand command: run it when the user asks about the project's best-practice/analyzer rules, or when repeated violations of the same rule family suggest authoring against the full rule set. See cli-reference.md § analyzer-rules list.

   See cli-reference.md § Validation Iteration Loop.

4. ALWAYS bring every touched file to per-file validate clean AND verify the project builds before declaring done. Cadence per Rule 18: batch-author, then validate. Project-level build runs once at the end of the edit session (or at any compile-verification gate) — not after every Edit, because build is project-scoped and rebuilds the entire project regardless of which file changed. validate clean alone is not "validated"; it cannot see member or enum errors — the project-level build is mandatory before declaring done. And a clean gate is not runtime proof — for observable-output workflows, end the gate with one run and check outputs (execution-maps-guide.md § Gate ≠ runtime proof). See cli-reference.md § Validation Iteration Loop.

5. Prefer UiPath built-in activities for Orchestrator integration, UI automation, and document handling. Prefer plain .NET / third-party packages for pure data transforms, HTTP calls, parsing.

6. ALWAYS ensure required package dependencies are in project.json before using their activities or services. 6a. Pre-edit verification gate. Two authoring actions are hard to roll back once build fails — verify before serialization, not after.

   • Removing a dependency — grep the project for usages before deleting an entry. A package may be the sole supplier of an activity used elsewhere (MergePDFs lives in the IntelligentOCR.StudioWeb family).
   • Writing a new activity tag — confirm via uip rpa activities find --query "<verb>" --output json and use the returned ClassName. Do not derive tag names from Studio display names. See common-pitfalls.md § Common Activity Name Confusions.

7. [UIA] Before writing ANY UIA activity (XAML <uix:N*> or coded uiAutomation.* / Descriptors.*), MUST read references/uia-starter-guide.md IN FULL, and the UIA package's authoring guide it mandates ({PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/ui-automation-guide.md) IN FULL — including the mode-specific section (For Coded Workflows or For XAML Workflows). No exceptions for "simple" UIs. Skipping this rule is the most common cause of hallucinated selectors, wrong target XML, and missing OR descriptors. NEVER hand-write selectors — use uia-configure-target exclusively (the package guide explains how). The package guide exists only after the package is installed — verify § UIA Prerequisites first (Rule 7a); if the package is installed but the guide file is absent, the installed version predates it — treat as below the minimum version. The starter guide owns the skill-side UIA policies: run/debug procedure + runtime selector recovery, the stub-mode deliverable pattern, and UI Library publishing. 7a. [UIA] Verify UIA prerequisites before invoking uia-configure-target. The minimum version and the prerequisite check live in § UIA Prerequisites (top of this file) — run that check first (do not hardcode the version from memory; that section is the only source of truth). If UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities is below the minimum or {PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/ui-automation-guide.md is absent (Rule 7 treats a missing guide as below-minimum), the uip rpa uia CLI is unavailable — and both target capture and indication depend on it, so indication is not a fallback when the package itself is missing. Ask the user to install/upgrade per § UIA Prerequisites. If they decline or the package cannot be installed, fall back to the Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern (§ above) — real activities with TODO Indicate markers need no CLI. Never silently route to a non-existent skill path. Use indication capture only when a compatible UIA package is installed but uia-configure-target cannot see the element; record UI capture: indication-only in the plan header to skip uia-configure-target in that case. Runtime failure counts too: when the package is present but the UIA snapshot CLI's live scans fail persistently (driver/COM errors on every scan), first rule out a locked or non-interactive Windows session (LogonUI running = lock screen) — that needs an unlock, not a fallback. Only if scans still fail on an unlocked interactive session, treat capture as unavailable and use the Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern.

8. Use --output json on all CLI commands whose output is parsed programmatically. 8a. run / debug start success/failure verdict comes from the outer Result (and equivalently the inner HasErrors), NEVER from any log entry's Level. A successful workflow may emit Log Message activities at Error or Warning level as observability — those are workflow-emitted data, not CLI failures. Compile failures, validation failures, and unhandled runtime exceptions all flip HasErrors and propagate to the outer Result. Treating log-entry levels as a failure signal flips green runs to "failed" and burns retries on healthy workflows. In a debug session, check DebugState first — a Suspended response means an exception awaits your decision (continue / retry / ignore / cancel) while HasErrors is still false. See cli-reference.md § run and debugging.md § Reading Debug Output Effectively.

9. For "leverage / reuse / find shared libraries" requests, search the tenant feed — not the local filesystem, NuGet.org, or keyword-permutation loops. Run uip or libraries list --limit 500 --output-filter "<JMESPath>" --output json. On zero results from the filtered call, take the fallback branch — do not re-keyword. Skip when an SDD already records §16 "Shared libraries referenced" or the user has said "no shared libraries" earlier in the session. See tenant-library-search-guide.md for the full procedure.

10. Register every test case file in project.json → designOptions.fileInfoCollection. Applies to both XAML and coded test cases. Required keys, GUID format, JSON snippet, and full schema (including dataVariationFilePath for data-driven and publishAsTestCase for coded): references/testing-guide.md § project.json Registration and assets/json-template.md.

11. Test case structure: Given-When-Then. Applies to both XAML and coded test cases. See references/testing-guide.md § XAML Test Case Structure for the canonical patterns (the section's lead also points to the coded variant in coded/operations-guide.md).

12. Trigger activity placement. Two trigger types — identify from uip rpa activities find --query "<event>" --output json by reading isTrigger and triggerType. Placement rules differ.

    Integration triggers (isTrigger: true, triggerType: "integration") — strict placement. MUST be the first activity of Main.xaml's root Sequence; CANNOT be placed inside ui:TriggerScope. Bind Result to a workflow-scope variable; the rest of the Sequence is the handler. Connection asset (ConnectionId) required for IS-based triggers (Mail / GSuite / O365 / Salesforce / Jira / Slack / ServiceNow / any *.IntegrationService.Activities package); not required for Orchestrator-native triggers (TimeTrigger, QueueTrigger, ManualTrigger).

    Local triggers (isTrigger: true, triggerType: "local") — flexible placement. Place EITHER as the first activity of Main.xaml's root Sequence (Orchestrator dispatches a fresh job per event) OR inside <ui:TriggerScope.Triggers> with handler in <ui:TriggerScope.Action> (robot stays alive while the scope is active; trigger fires in-process). Both placements are valid — choose by runtime model. No connection asset required.

    Unknown triggerType (forward-compat — e.g. a future "scheduled") → read the bundled doc and ask the user. Do not assume placement.

    Reading existing XAML: activity inside <ui:TriggerScope.Triggers> must be a local trigger; an integration trigger there is broken — flag to the user. Activity at workflow root can be either type — check triggerType to disambiguate.

    See trigger-pattern-guide.md for worked examples, the SchedulingMode reference, the catalog of trigger activities, and the procedure for editing existing ui:TriggerScope workflows.

Destination Preflight (Both Modes)

Studio Web destination → Solution-wrapped deliverable, not a bare project. Studio Web ingests Solutions only; a bare project folder is invisible in both SW workspace tabs. Treat these phrases as SW signals in the request: "Studio Web", "SW", "upload to web", "browser editor", "cloud workspace edit". On match, build the RPA project normally per the rest of this skill, then hand off to uipath-solution to wrap and ship it: uip solution init <NAME> → uip solution projects import "<PROJECT_DIR>" --solutionFile <SOLUTION>.uipx → uip solution upload "<SOLUTION_DIR>". The final deliverable is the Solution, not the bare project folder. Local execution (uip rpa run) and the Orchestrator package flow (uip rpa pack → uip or packages upload — there is no uip rpa publish) are fine with a bare project — only an SW destination changes the deliverable shape.

Execution Discipline (Both Modes)

Run to completion — do not declare work done while plan tasks remain. If a plan file exists at docs/plans/*.md referenced by this request (or discoverable there for this feature), read its header before acting and during every checkpoint.

• If the header has Execution autonomy: autonomous: continue until ALL plan task checkboxes are [x] OR a concrete item from the plan's Stop conditions section is hit.
• If the header has Execution autonomy: interactive, or no plan file exists: use judgment and confirm with the user on material decisions.
• Before declaring the task done, re-read the plan and enumerate any unchecked boxes. If unchecked tasks remain and no Stop condition was hit, keep going — do not summarize partial work as "Done".
• "Feels expensive", "many tool calls used", "natural pause point", "partial result looks usable", and "too complex to continue in one session" are NOT Stop conditions. Only the concrete hard blockers in the plan's Stop conditions section count.
• Plan decisions already made are authoritative. Do not AskUserQuestion about structure, file count, selector strategy, or capture approach when the plan specifies them — those questions belonged to the planner.

Error Handling (Both Modes)

Wrap external interactions (UI, file, network, DB) in Try/Catch and classify failures — BusinessRuleException for bad input data (no retry; needs a human), system exceptions for transient faults (retry then escalate). Don't blanket-wrap pure logic, don't leave a Catch empty, and Rethrow (never Throw New Exception(ex.Message)) to preserve the stack trace. For exception taxonomy, Retry Scope count/interval semantics, ContinueOnError suppression, screenshot-on-error, the Global Exception Handler recipe (scaffold + project.json registration + verdict logic), and the resilience patterns — recovering to a known app state before retrying, per-item transaction boundaries, idempotent/compensating writes to avoid duplicate creates and partial writes, sensitive-data redaction, and retry ownership across queue/Retry-Scope/GEH/job layers — read references/error-handling-guide.md in full before adding resilience to a workflow.

Execution Maps (Both Modes)

Follow the journey map in execution-maps-guide.md for every build or edit — it fixes which tool calls batch into which assistant turn (greenfield ≤5 turns, brownfield ≤4). Within a turn: chain dependent uip calls with && in one Bash; emit independent Bash/Read/Edit calls as parallel tool uses. Split turns only where a call needs an earlier call's stdout or a file mutation. Rule 21 discovery for off-card activities fans out inside T1/T2 — all K finds parallel, then all K doc Reads, then all K get-default-xamls — never one activity at a time.

Sequential by design — never batch across: templates search → init (Rule 2 decision gate); any AskUserQuestion or consent gate; UIA state advances and indication (the UIA journey in the guide encodes its per-screen gating).

Coded-Specific Rules

13. [Coded] ALWAYS inherit from CodedWorkflow base class for workflow and test case classes (NOT for Coded Source Files).
14. [Coded] ALWAYS use [Workflow] or [TestCase] attribute on the Execute method.
15. [Coded] Update project.json → entryPoints when adding/removing workflow files in Process projects. Tests and Library projects do NOT use entryPoints — skip this step for those project types. For fileInfoCollection (required for every test case in every project type — XAML and coded alike), see Common Rule 10.
16. [Coded] One workflow/test case class per file, class name must match file name.
17. [Coded] Namespace = sanitized project name from project.json. Sanitize: remove spaces, replace hyphens with _, ensure valid C# identifier.
18. [Coded] Entry method is always named Execute.
19. [Coded] Use Coded Source Files for reusable code — plain .cs files without CodedWorkflow inheritance, no entry point.

XAML-Specific Rules

16. [XAML] Activity docs are the source of truth — check {projectRoot}/.local/docs/packages/{PackageId}/ first. Always.
17. [XAML] MUST understand project structure — read project.json, check expression language, scan existing patterns. NEVER generate XAML blind.
18. [XAML] Batch-author, single gate — author the complete workflow in one pass, sourcing each activity card → memory → Rule 21 triple (precedence in execution-maps-guide.md). Then per-file validate to clean, then one project build (Rule 3 cadence, 5-attempt caps unchanged); for observable-output workflows the gate ends with one run + output check (execution-maps-guide.md § Gate ≠ runtime proof). On failure: fix by error category (Rule 19); card-covered activities stay card-sourced — a gate failure does NOT reopen activities find/get-default-xaml; >2 errors with ambiguous origin → bisect (stub out half the new activities, re-validate).
19. [XAML] Fix errors by category — Package → Structure → Type → Activity Properties → Logic.
20. [XAML] Flowchart node structure + ViewState both decide whether a Flowchart renders. Structure first: every FlowStep/FlowDecision/FlowSwitch MUST be a direct child of <Flowchart> (only direct children are added to the Flowchart.Nodes collection), wired through Flowchart.StartNode/FlowStep.Next/branches with <x:Reference>+x:Name. NEVER build the flow as a nested chain — one FlowStep physically nested inside the previous one's <FlowStep.Next> — because nested-only steps are absent from Flowchart.Nodes and the designer renders almost nothing, regardless of ViewState. Then ViewState: when generating new Flowchart/StateMachine/ProcessDiagram workflows, per-node ViewState is MANDATORY — ShapeLocation+ShapeSize on every node (ConnectorLocation optional, Studio auto-routes). Without it Studio stacks every node at (0,0) so they overlap into what looks like a single node, and Studio does NOT auto-arrange on open (see canvas-layout-guide.md). When editing existing files, do NOT modify ViewState on nodes you are not changing. For Sequences, ViewState is optional.
21. [XAML] Reading <Activity>.md from {PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/... is a precondition for activities get-default-xaml — for every activity not on the common-activity card.
    • Card-listed activities and patterns: check references/common-activity-card.md and references/common-pattern-card.md first; on a card hit, author from the card entry alone — skip activities find, skip activities get-default-xaml, skip the per-activity MD read. Precedence: card → agent memory (execution-maps-guide.md § Cross-session memory) → full triple. A memory hit substitutes for the triple only; validate/build still gate.
    • All other activities: (1) activities find → class name, (2) read <Activity>.md first and extract a property checklist (required + use-case-relevant), (3) activities get-default-xaml → starter element, (4) diff your checklist against the starter and add what's missing — an empty checklist means you skipped step 2, go back.
    • Doc lookup order: primary {PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/<PackageId>/activities/<Activity>.md; fallback references/activity-docs/<PackageId>/<closest-version>/<Activity>.md for older package versions where .local/docs is empty. Exception — UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities has no bundled fallback: .local/docs (present only after the package is installed) is its sole activity-doc source. If it is absent, do not hunt for a bundled copy — follow Rule 7a (install with consent per § UIA Prerequisites, or use the Placeholder-Selector Stub Pattern — uia-starter-guide.md).
    • Trigger activities are special — read BOTH docs. When the class name ends in Trigger, the namespace contains .Triggers, or the description mentions "starts a job" / "Monitor Events" / "Trigger Scope", also read the bundled references/activity-docs/<PackageId>/<closest-version>/activities/<Activity>.md and the package's bundled overview.md. The auto-generated .local/docs version is sparse for triggers; the bundled hand-written docs carry placement guidance (entry-point vs. ui:TriggerScope), deployment context, and cross-cutting namespace/assembly gotchas that the extractor does not capture. See Common Rule 12 and trigger-pattern-guide.md.
    • Skip-tax — concrete: activities get-default-xaml omits any property whose value equals the type default. For NGetText the starter is literally <uix:NGetText HealingAgentBehavior="SameAsCard" /> with zero output properties — authoring from this alone produces NGetText.Value="..." (does not exist; the output member is TextString), which validate accepts and build rejects. For NTypeInto that's 2 of 20 properties hidden.
    • Self-extending the card — "this activity feels simple, I'll add it to the card mentally" — is the failure mode. The card is the only allowlist; for non-card activities the MD read is the only check.
    • Full procedure: xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md § Activity Property Surface. 21a. [XAML] Built-in workflow activities: use the card only for this allowlist. Fast-path card activities are: Sequence, If, Switch<T>, TryCatch, While, DoWhile, ForEach<T>, Assign, LogMessage, WriteLine, Delay, Throw, Rethrow. If the activity is on this list, open references/common-activity-card.md and author from the card. If it is not on this list, check references/common-pattern-card.md next — its patterns cover e.g. text-file read/append/write, file copy, CSV, DataTable→CSV, queue publish, retry wrap, InvokeWorkflowFile, InvokeCode rows, HTTP→JSON — and follow full Rule 21 only when BOTH cards miss. Pick, Parallel, and ParallelForEach<T> are intentionally on neither card; use full Rule 21. Studio's "While" / "Do While" / "For Each" toolbox items emit UiPath wraps (UiPath.Core.Activities.InterruptibleWhile / InterruptibleDoWhile / UiPath.Core.Activities.ForEach<T>), not the framework System.Activities.Statements.While/DoWhile/ForEach<T>.
22. [XAML] MUST read references/xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md before generating or editing any XAML — then vet the plan against references/xaml/common-pitfalls.md. common-pitfalls.md is a catalog of independent gotcha sections — do NOT read it end-to-end: list its headings (Grep ^## on the file), then Read every section whose heading matches an activity, property, or feature in the workflow you are about to author. Unsure whether a section applies → read it. This is an authoring-time gate, not only a troubleshooting resource — consulting it first is cheaper than debugging a gotcha validate cannot see.
23. [XAML] NEVER change expressionLanguage or targetFramework on an existing project. Decide both proactively at init time (Common Rule 2a); this rule covers the immutability afterward. Both fields in project.json are fixed at creation time and apply to every XAML file in the project — flipping expressionLanguage (VisualBasic ↔ CSharp) invalidates every expression, and flipping targetFramework (Windows ↔ Portable/cross-platform, or Legacy) invalidates package references and activity compatibility. Do not attempt in-place conversion. If the user wants to convert an existing project, confirm with them, copy the project to a temporary folder, create a new project via uip rpa init --expression-language <VisualBasic|CSharp> --target-framework <Windows|Portable> (for a target of Windows - Legacy, create it in Legacy mode instead — modern init is not the legacy creation path), make sure all the defined workflows in the old project have an equivalent in the new project. Delete the copied project just after the new project has been successfully generated and the user agree with the changes.
24. [XAML] Wrap every container-activity body/branch in <Sequence> — even single-activity bodies. Studio's designer expects the wrap as a drop zone; Studio's emitter produces it. validate and build accept the bare form, so neither catches missing wrappers. Applies to creation and editing alike. Slots include If.Then/If.Else, While/DoWhile body, ForEach.Body, TryCatch.Try/Catch/Finally, Switch.Default + each case, PickBranch.Trigger/Action, NApplicationCard.Body. Full table with examples: xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md § Container Activity Bodies — Wrap in Sequence.

Task Navigation

Coded Workflows Quick Reference

Coded workflows use standard C# development: create file → write code → validate → run. Activity discovery (activities find, activities get-default-xaml) is XAML-specific — for coded mode, check {projectRoot}/.local/docs/packages/{PackageId}/coded/coded-api.md first for service API docs, then fall back to packages inspect, then to the bundled per-package coded docs at references/activity-docs/<PackageId>/<closest-version>/coded/. See coded/codedworkflow-reference.md § Inspect NuGet Package Tool.

Three Types of .cs Files

Service-to-Package Mapping

Each service on CodedWorkflow requires its NuGet package in project.json. Without it: CS0103.

For infrastructure/cloud packages (azure, gcp, aws, azureAD, citrix, hyperv, etc.), see coded/codedworkflow-reference.md.

For IS connectors from coded workflows via ConnectorConnection.ExecuteAsync: UiPath.IntegrationService.Activities — see coded/integration-service-guide.md.

CodedWorkflow Base Class

All workflow/test case files inherit from CodedWorkflow, providing built-in methods (Log, Delay, RunWorkflow), service properties, and the workflows property for strongly-typed invocation. Extendable with Before/After hooks via IBeforeAfterRun.

Full reference: coded/codedworkflow-reference.md

Templates

• assets/codedworkflow-template.md — Workflow, test case, helper-class, and Before/After-hooks boilerplate (all coded templates)
• assets/json-template.md — entryPoints and fileInfoCollection snippets
• environment-setup.md § Designing Project Structure — Project structure design guidelines (mode-agnostic)

XAML Workflows Quick Reference

XAML workflows follow a discovery-first, phase-based approach: Discovery → Generate/Edit → Validate & Fix → Response. See xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md § Authoring Workflow for the full phase workflow.

Workflow Types

Expression Language

Check expressionLanguage in project.json. VB.NET uses [brackets] for expressions; C# uses CSharpValue<T> / CSharpReference<T>. Default for new XAML projects is VB.NET.

Key CLI Commands

Common Activities

XAML File Anatomy

The XAML file anatomy template (namespace declarations, root Activity element, body structure) is in xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md — read it before generating or editing any XAML.

Key References

• xaml/xaml-basics-and-rules.md — XAML anatomy, safety rules, editing operations (read before any XAML work)
• xaml/common-pitfalls.md — Activity gotchas, scope requirements, property conflicts
• data-manipulation-guide.md — DataTable LINQ (filter/sort/group/join/diff), strings, RegEx, DateTime, type conversion, collections, JSON; VB + C# forms
• error-handling-guide.md — Modern-mode error handling & resilience: exception taxonomy, Try/Catch discipline, Retry Scope, ContinueOnError, Throw/Rethrow, screenshot-on-error, Global Exception Handler (scaffold + registration + verdict logic), state recovery before retry, transaction boundaries, idempotent/compensating writes (duplicate-create safety), sensitive-data redaction, and retry ownership across layers
• reframework-guide.md — REFramework execution modes, SetTransactionStatus queue-guard fix, Config.xlsx leftover trap
• xaml/csharp-activity-binding-guide.md — Canonical C# binding forms per common activity property (flat lookup table + recipes) + § C# Expression Pitfalls (attribute-form VB JIT, ThrowIfNotInTree, OutArgument parse errors)
• xaml/canvas-layout-guide.md — Flowchart node vocabulary, structure & wiring, node registration, forbidden nested-chain pattern + Flowchart/State Machine/LRW canvas layout with ViewState
• xaml/long-running-workflow-guide.md — LRW package dependency, node vocabulary, gateway patterns, suspend/resume persistence
• xaml/jit-custom-types-schema.md — JIT custom type discovery
• library-authoring-guide.md — Produce reusable libraries: public-workflow contract, activity layout sidecar (display name, icon, widgets), error contract, SemVer, pack & publish to the libraries feed

Multi-Screen UI Automation Workflows

For XAML workflows spanning multiple capture screens, default to author-once-after-capture with a single validate+build gate (Rule 18); per-screen authoring interleave only on long captures (5+ screens). Turn structure: execution-maps-guide.md § Journey: UIA capture + build. Capture loop and the Complete-then-advance rule: UIA package guide § Multi-Screen Authoring (Rule 7) — it mandates the target-capture orchestration reference to read IN FULL first.

Resolving Packages & Activity Docs

Follow this flow whenever you need to use an activity package:

Step 1 — Ensure the package is installed

Check project.json → dependencies for the required package.

Always query versions with --include-prerelease. Many UiPath activity packages ship as -preview between stable releases, and the latest preview routinely contains new activities, fixed signatures, and updated .local/docs content that activity generation depends on. Without the flag, the listing hides these and the agent will pick a stale stable.

• If present → note the installed version. Then list available versions with --include-prerelease and compare:
  • If a newer version (stable or preview) exists, inform the user: state the installed version, the latest available version, and that newer packages offer the best support for activity generation (latest activity surface, accurate .local/docs, fewer signature mismatches). Ask whether to upgrade. Never force-upgrade an already-installed package.
  • If the installed version is already the latest, proceed to Step 2.
• If absent → install the latest version returned by packages versions --include-prerelease (preview is acceptable):

uip rpa packages versions --package-id <PackageId> --include-prerelease --project-dir "<PROJECT_DIR>" --output json
uip rpa packages install --packages 'id=<PackageId>,version=<LATEST_VERSION>' --project-dir "<PROJECT_DIR>" --output json

Step 2 — Find activity docs (priority order)

1. Check {PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/{PackageId}/ — auto-generated, most accurate. Use Glob + Read (not Grep — .local/ is gitignored).
2. Fall back to bundled references at references/activity-docs/{PackageId}/ — pick the version folder closest to what is installed.

UI Automation References

UIA references live in two locations. Always cite by location so the reader knows which tree to open:

• This skill (references/, relative to this SKILL.md) — policy this skill owns: prerequisites/version gating, run/debug orchestration, stub-mode deliverables, UI Library publishing.
• UIA activity pack ({PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/, installed via uip rpa packages install) — the UIA authoring guide, target-capture orchestration, single-purpose task guides, concrete uip rpa uia CLI syntax, per-activity property surfaces, coded API surface, and the UIA skill internal procedures. Co-versioned with the package, so always source-of-truth over anything in this skill when they diverge.

In this skill (references/, relative to this SKILL.md)

• uia-starter-guide.md — read first for any UIA work (Rule 7). Mandates the package guide read, then owns the skill-side UIA policies: run/debug procedure (baseline → debug → cancel → window cleanup) + profiling + runtime selector failure recovery, the placeholder-stub deliverable pattern, and UI Library publishing. Version gating and upgrade consent: SKILL.md § UIA Prerequisites.

In the UIA activity pack ({PROJECT_DIR}/.local/docs/packages/UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities/)

• ui-automation-guide.md — the entry point for all UIA authoring (Rule 7; read in full first — also the Rule 7a availability probe). Window baseline, capture orchestration, common pitfalls, control-specific interaction, coded and XAML patterns. Its § Documentation routes to everything else in the pack: target-capture orchestration, task guides, CLI command inventory, per-activity property surfaces, coded API surface, and the UIA skills (uia-configure-target, uia-improve-selector).

Completion Output

Before reporting "done", verify the plan is complete. If a plan file at docs/plans/*.md drove this work:

1. Re-read the plan and scan its task checkboxes.
2. If any [ ] boxes remain AND the plan's header says Execution autonomy: autonomous AND no Stop conditions item was hit — do not report done. Resume execution on the next unchecked task.
3. If unchecked boxes remain because a Stop condition was hit, name the exact stop-condition item in the report.
4. If the plan is fully checked off, or execution autonomy is interactive, proceed to the report format below.

Then, if the harness provides persistent memory, save validated patterns per execution-maps-guide.md § Cross-session memory before reporting.

When you finish a task, report to the user:

1. What was done — files created, edited, or deleted (list file paths)
2. Validation status — per-file validate result (all files passed, or remaining errors) and project-level uip rpa build result. Both must be clean to claim verification — validate clean alone is insufficient (it does not detect unknown member names or invalid enum values). If build has not run since the last edit, say so explicitly rather than claiming success.
3. Plan completion — which task checkboxes in docs/plans/*.md are now [x]; list any still [ ] and, for each, the Stop-condition item that interrupted it (or "not reached" if execution was cut short another way)
4. How to run — the uip rpa run (or uip rpa debug start) command (if applicable)
5. Next steps — follow-up actions (configure connections, add OR elements, fill placeholders)
6. Trouble? — if the user hit issues during this session, mention: "If something didn't work as expected, use /uipath-feedback to send a report."

Do NOT use framing like "complete", "done", "finished", or "the automation is built" unless every plan task is checked off. "Partial", "stopped at ", or "blocked by " is the honest framing otherwise.