Power Platform Release Wave 1 2026

Another release wave, another long list of updates, and another year older. And as usual I tried to pick 3 (and failed). And while it does feel like a packed wave I would have loved for a bit more pro code updates.

So my favorite ones. The ones that either make daily development easier or hint at where the platform is going.

Here are my top four and a half.

Build Power Pages sites faster with AI coding tools

Power Pages has been evolving quietly, but this one is interesting. Microsoft is adding AI coding tools that understand Power Pages concepts. Things like web roles, table permissions, and the platform’s web APIs are built in. So instead of generating generic code, the AI works with the platform itself, sounds promising!

You can read more about it here: Build Power Pages sites faster with AI coding tools though I wonder if we will get support for other Agentic tools like Claude Code.

Evaluating Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Copilot Studio

Agents are everywhere right now. And the big question is always the same: how do you know if they actually work, or keep working after upgrading a model or changing a prompt? This update introduces evaluation capabilities for agents built in Copilot Studio. It gives you ways to measure how an agent behaves and how well it performs against expectations.

In demos, agents often look great. In production, things get more complicated. Prompts change, data changes, and user behavior definitely changes. Having proper evaluation tools helps teams move beyond “it seems to work” to something more measurable. Especially if you’re building agents that interact with real business data.

Guess this is my favorite update, all details here: Evaluating Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Copilot Studio

Enable online mode to access Dataverse for Canvas apps

This one is less flashy, but very practical. Canvas apps are great for fast UI development, but Dataverse integration sometimes comes with trade‑offs. The new online mode changes how apps interact with Dataverse, which should improve how data is accessed and handled. For developers, that mostly means fewer workarounds and more predictable behavior when working with live data.

Update details here: Enable online mode to access Dataverse for Canvas apps

Github Support for source code integration in Power Platform

This one is a bit of a wildcard, but it’s interesting to see Microsoft investing in better source code integration. GitHub support means you can manage your Power Platform projects outside of Azure DevOps and since some of our clients are on GitHub, it’s a step towards making the platform more accessible to pro developers and teams who are used to working with code repositories.

More details GitHub support for source code integration in Power Platform and with an ETA of may it’s almost there!.

I do wonder if we can implement GitHub Copilot and the Copilot CLI so I do have to find some time to play around with that. It would be interesting to see how much of the development process we can automate with AI tools, especially if they can understand the structure of Power Platform projects.

Making sense of it all

Looking at this wave as a whole, one thing stands out. AI is becoming part of the maker workflow itself. Not just something you add to an app, but something that helps you build the app. Sometimes that will speed things up. Sometimes it will still need careful review. But if the tools keep improving, it could change how we approach solution design in the Power Platform over the next few years.