App Package Editor becomes unusable after importing manually updated manifest (static tab removed)

[showtarow18]

Describe the bug
After importing a Teams app package that was manually updated (manifest edited locally), the Developer Portal stopped functioning properly for the app. The App Package Editor no longer displays the manifest content, the "Download app package" action fails with an error, and "Preview in Teams" also fails.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Export app PKG from Developer Portal
2. Edit the manifest.json manually to remove static tabs
3. Repackage and re-import the app using "Import App"
4. Open App Package Editor – nothing is displayed
5. Try "Download app package" – fails with error
6. Try "Preview in Teams" – results in error

Expected behavior
After importing a modified package, the app should still be editable/viewable in App Package Editor, the PKG should be downloadable, and previewing in Teams should work properly.

Additional context
The static tab was not properly removed using App Package Editor, so we manually edited the manifest and re-imported it. The tab was successfully removed, but Developer Portal became unusable for this app.
We were directed to create this issue by the Microsoft Teams App submissions team.

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🤖 AI-Generated Preliminary Analysis:

Issue Summary:

Title: App Package Editor becomes unusable after importing manually updated manifest (static tab removed)

Describe the Bug:
After manually updating the manifest to remove static tabs and re-importing the app package, the Developer Portal stopped functioning correctly. The App Package Editor no longer displays the manifest content, and actions like "Download app package" and "Preview in Teams" fail.

Steps to Troubleshoot:

1. Reproduce the Issue:

   • Export the app package from the Developer Portal.
   • Edit the manifest.json to remove static tabs manually.
   • Repackage and re-import the app.
   • Open App Package Editor and check its functionality.
   • Try "Download app package" and "Preview in Teams".

2. Check for Known Issues:

   • Review related cases for similar symptoms indicating possible manifest issues or Developer Portal bugs.

3. Provide Detailed Context:

   • Development environment (VS Code/VS/CLI).
   • Teams Toolkit version.
   • Steps to reproduce.
   • Error logs.

Proposed Solution:

• Verify Manifest Consistency: Ensure that the manual changes to the manifest adhere to the schema and do not introduce inconsistencies.
• Use Developer Portal for Edits: Prefer using the Developer Portal to make such changes to avoid prospective issues with manually editing the manifest.
• Re-import and Test: If importing manually edited manifests is necessary, double-check the structure and fields of the manifest.json file.

Next Steps for Support:

• Investigate further into this being a potential bug in the Developer Portal.
• Report the issue to the Microsoft Teams Developer support if it persists.

For further assistance, make sure to provide complete details about your development setup and the edited manifest.json.

References/Similar Issues:

• For related issues and solutions, please check: GitHub Issue #510, and GitHub Issue #2271.

✨We'd love your feedback! Please take a moment to fill out our survey.

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Note: This is an automated first response generated by AI. A human team member will review your issue and provide a more detailed response soon. We appreciate your patience!

[Nivedipa-MSFT]

@showtarow18 - Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. We will check this and update you soon.

[anchenyi]

Hi @showtarow18 , could you provide the manifest.json before removing the static tabs? Thanks.

[showtarow18]

Thank you for your response.

As requested, I’ve attached two versions of the manifest.json file:

The version used for v1.0, in which the static tabs were removed based on the validation requirements.

The version used for v2.0, where we have re-added the static tabs as part of a new feature implementation.

The v1.0 manifest was manually edited and uploaded via the Developer Portal, which later caused issues (as reported earlier).
The v2.0 manifest is currently under review in a new submission.

Please let me know if you need any additional context or assistance.

ver1.0
manifest.json

ver2.0
manifest.json

[anchenyi]

Hi @showtarow18, I downloaded ver2.0 manifest.json, removed the static tab, zipped the package, imported it in the Teams Developer Portal, but I could not reproduce the issue. The "App Package Editor" showed all files and I could successfully download the zip package. Could you provide your zip package after removing the static tab?

[showtarow18]

I've attached the zip package.

アーカイブ.zip

[showtarow18]

To help clarify the issue, I’ve attached a ZIP archive containing two screen recordings that demonstrate the behavior we encountered in the Developer Portal.

App Package Editor does not apply changes
This recording shows an attempt to remove a static tab via the App Package Editor and save the changes. However, the deletion was not applied — the static tab remained after saving. At this point, all files including the manifest and icons were still properly listed.

Manually edited package breaks the editor
Since the above change didn’t take effect, I downloaded the ZIP, manually removed the static tab from the manifest, and re-imported it. After that:

The App Package Editor no longer displayed any files.

Even if I uploaded new files and saved, they would not appear in the file list.

Additionally, when trying to preview the app using “Preview in Teams” in this state, the installation fails with an error, making it impossible to verify the app behavior.

I hope this helps clarify the issue.
Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

bug_video.zip

[anchenyi]

Hi @showtarow18 , I can reproduce the issue: "App Package Editor does not apply changes." However, when I manually deleted the static tabs and re-imported the package, the static tab was still there, and the preview worked successfully. This seems to be an issue with the Teams Developer Portal. I’ll reach out to the relevant team and get back to you ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[showtarow18]

We’ve encountered another issue during development.

When clicking the Chat icon from the left-hand navigation in Microsoft Teams, we receive a modal stating “This app cannot be found”, and the app fails to load.

This behavior did not occur previously, and we are unsure what exactly triggered it. It may be related to uninstalling and reinstalling the app manually as part of our development process.

As mentioned earlier, Preview in Teams is currently not functioning properly, so we’ve been downloading the .zip package and installing it through the Teams UI instead.

We suspect this issue may be caused by a cached entry or broken reference due to repeated uninstalls/reinstalls during development.

We've attached a screen recording and a screenshot to show the behavior.

App development has become increasingly difficult due to these issues, and we would greatly appreciate your support in resolving them as soon as possible.

Thank you!

teams_chat_bug 2025-04-10 20.13.49.zip

[anchenyi]

Hi @showtarow18 , thank you for providing the details. The issues you encountered are related to Teams and the Teams Developer Portal. Teams Toolkit appears to be working as expected. I’ve reported your issues to the relevant engineering teams and will keep you updated once I receive any results.