Generative Pages: Building UI from a Sentence
Describing a page in natural language and having Power Apps generate it — plus the regional prerequisite, the refinement loop, and the boundaries that make this a genuinely testable feature.
The newest thing on this exam
You describe the page you want, and Power Apps builds it.
Not a template, not a wizard with fifteen dropdowns — you type a sentence like “show me a board of today’s runs grouped by depot, with delayed ones highlighted,” point it at your tables, and it produces a working page.
Then you talk to it to refine. “Make the delayed ones red.” “Add the driver’s name.” It is a conversation, not a properties panel.
The constraint that decides exam questions
Two hard boundaries you must know
1. Model-driven apps only. Generative pages are a model-driven app feature. They are not available in canvas apps and not in Power Pages. If a scenario describes a canvas app and offers “add a generative page” as an option, that option is wrong.
2. A regional prerequisite — but only for one of the two ways of building. Generative pages support two authoring experiences, and the region rule applies to just one of them.
- In-browser authoring at make.powerapps.com — the conversational designer experience. This one requires the environment to be located in the United States, Great Britain, Australia or Singapore.
- AI code generation tools such as GitHub Copilot CLI, working from a local development environment. Microsoft lists this as the recommended approach, and it is “available worldwide on public clouds – not limited to specific regions.”
Both produce the same kind of page. The difference, in Microsoft’s words, is “where you author and which AI model powers the generation.”
The four-region fact is still worth memorising — it is specific and checkable — but memorise it attached to in-browser authoring. An answer option that says generative pages are simply unavailable outside those four regions is now too broad.
This has a real consequence for Kite Freight. Their environment is in New Zealand, so Nadia cannot use the in-browser designer. That does not shut the door — she can author generative pages with AI code generation tools instead, which carry no regional restriction. But if her team wants the point-and-describe experience inside make.powerapps.com, that is an environment-strategy decision, tying straight back to Domain 1.
How the creation flow actually runs
Step by step
- In the model-driven app designer, choose Add page.
- Select Generative page, then Describe a page.
- Write the description in natural language.
- Specify which Dataverse tables the page should reference.
- Optionally attach an image showing the intended look.
- Review what was generated, then refine conversationally with the app agent.
The Add-page dialog has a filter that trips people up
When you add an existing generative page to an app, the dialog lists generative pages filtered to Published by default.
So a page you created but have not published simply will not be in the list. Switch the filter to All to see it.
”I created the page but I can’t find it” is a realistic troubleshooting scenario, and this is the answer.
Pages built during preview need a one-time migration
Generative pages created while the feature was in preview require a one-time migration the first time they are loaded in the designer. You will see an “Upgrading your page” message.
It is a one-off, and it happens on first load in the designer — not on every open, and not for pages created after preview.
What it generates, and why that matters
The system generates React code. That is worth pausing on, because it changes how you should read answer options about who writes what.
Generated code, and how much of it you touch
The maker does not have to write the React. They describe intent, and the platform produces both the front-end UX (component selection, layout) and the business logic behind it. That is the headline.
But do not over-rotate into “a maker never sees code here.” Both authoring experiences let you go further:
- In the browser, a Code tab shows the generated code, and you can “manually edit the code by selecting Edit on the Code tab”, then save the result as a new iteration.
- The recommended external route is explicitly a “code-first workflow” — you “work with TypeScript and React directly in your preferred IDE.”
The useful distinction for the exam is still generative page versus PCF component, where a developer hand-writes a custom control from scratch — that is PL-400 territory. If an exam option says “build a custom PCF control,” that is not the generative-page answer.
The Include images tool (in preview) draws from a curated library of 25,000 stock images, which is useful when the page needs visual content and you do not have assets ready.
Where generative pages fit
| Option | Reach for it when | Ruled out when |
|---|---|---|
| Standard model-driven pages (forms, views, dashboards) | The requirement is a normal record list or record page | The layout genuinely cannot be expressed by a form or view |
| Generative page | You want a bespoke layout inside a model-driven app, described in words rather than built by hand | The app is canvas or Power Pages (the in-browser designer also needs a US/GB/AU/SG environment) |
| Canvas app | You need pixel-level control over layout, or a mobile-first experience | The requirement is really just record management over Dataverse tables |
| PCF component | A genuinely custom control is needed — AB-410 includes "Recommend extensibility options", so recommending one can be the right answer | You are asked to actually build it — implementing a PCF control is PL-400 scope, not AB-410 |
Kite Freight, honestly
Ravi wants a dispatch board — a visual layout of today’s runs grouped by depot, with delays surfaced. A standard view cannot express that shape well.
Nadia’s reasoning:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is this a model-driven app? | Yes — Depot Dispatch |
| Would a generative page suit the requirement? | Yes. Bespoke layout, describable in a sentence, over Dataverse tables |
| Is the environment in a region supported by the in-browser designer? | No. Kite Freight’s environment is in New Zealand |
| So what now? | Author the page with AI code generation tools, which work worldwide — or provision an environment in a supported region if the team wants the in-browser experience |
That is a genuinely useful lesson: a capability being a good fit is not the same as every route to it being open to you. Check which authoring experience a constraint actually applies to before you rule the feature out.
Quick recall
Check yourself
A maker whose environment is located in New Zealand opens the model-driven app designer at make.powerapps.com and tries to create a generative page in the browser. What happens?
Which statement about how generative pages are built is accurate?
A maker created a generative page yesterday. Today, adding a page to the app, they cannot find it in the list. What should they check first?