The Power Automate cloud flow designer is good for building flows. It is not always good for understanding them. Once a flow grows beyond twenty or thirty actions, branches multiply, parallel runs appear, and error handling paths weave through the canvas. FlowLens gives you a second view: a clean, interactive dependency graph that shows exactly how every action connects to every other.
What is FlowLens?
FlowLens is a browser extension for Microsoft Edge and Chrome that adds a dependency graph panel to the Power Automate cloud flow designer. When you open a flow, FlowLens reads the flow definition and renders a visual map of every action as a node, with directed edges showing run-after relationships.
Everything runs locally in the browser. No data is sent to any external service.
The Problem with Reading Large Flows
Power Automate flows are displayed as a vertical list of cards in the designer. Actions that run in parallel appear side by side, and conditions create branches. But as flows grow, this layout becomes hard to navigate. The designer requires scrolling up and down and in and out of scopes to see the full picture.
Specific problems that makers encounter:
- Hard to see which actions run after a failed step
- Difficult to identify orphaned actions that never execute
- Branches inside Apply to Each loops are easy to lose
- Understanding the happy path requires tracing every success connection manually
- Parallel branches are not always obvious from the vertical layout
FlowLens solves these problems by rendering the flow as a directed graph where the structure is immediately visible.
What the FlowLens Graph Shows
Action Nodes
Every action in the flow appears as a labelled node. The label shows the action's display name. Nodes are colour-coded by type: triggers, standard actions, conditions, Apply to Each loops, scopes, and termination steps each have a distinct colour.
Run-After Edges
Directed edges connect actions based on their run-after configuration. An edge from Action A to Action B means Action B is configured to run after Action A. Edge labels indicate whether the connection is on success, failure, skip, or timeout.
Conditions and Branches
When a condition action branches into a yes and no path, FlowLens shows both branches as separate subgraphs with clear entry points. This makes it immediately obvious which actions belong to which outcome.
Apply to Each Loops
Actions inside Apply to Each loops are grouped visually. You can see what enters the loop, what happens inside it, and what continues after it.
Scope Groupings
Scope actions, commonly used to group related steps or implement try-catch patterns, are shown as containers around their member actions.
Use Cases
Debugging a Failing Flow
When a flow fails at an unexpected step, the FlowLens graph shows you the full execution path leading up to that action. You can trace backwards from the failure to understand which actions ran before it and what conditions were evaluated.
Reviewing a Flow Before Making Changes
Before modifying a complex flow, FlowLens gives you a complete picture of what exists. You can identify which actions downstream depend on the one you want to change.
Onboarding to an Inherited Flow
When you take ownership of a flow built by someone else, the FlowLens graph is the fastest way to understand its structure. A five-minute review of the graph replaces an hour of scrolling through the designer.
Governance Reviews
When IT governance teams review flows for approval or audit, a graph representation communicates the flow's logic more clearly than the designer view. FlowLens graphs can be used as supporting material in governance documentation.
How to Read the Graph
The graph flows from top to bottom, matching the logical execution order of the flow. The trigger appears at the top. Terminal actions (end, terminate, or the last action in the flow) appear at the bottom. Branches spread horizontally.
When you hover over a node, the panel shows the action's full configuration details including the connector, operation, and key settings. This lets you dig into specific actions without leaving the graph view.
Installation
Install FlowLens from the Chrome Web Store or the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store. Open any Power Automate cloud flow in the designer. The FlowLens panel opens in the browser side panel. Select a flow and the graph renders automatically.
Understanding a Power Automate flow used to require reading it line by line in the designer. FlowLens makes the structure visible at a glance.