Using Send an HTTP request to SharePoint to send requests to Non-SharePoint sits

Question

I was really surprised that the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action in Power Automate can be used to send requests to https://presence.teams.microsoft.com:

I was really intregued to try it against other endpoints. For example, I tried to trigger a logic app, but it failed as expected;

Can someon explain what is going on here? Why is it possible to use this action for a non-sharepoint endpoint? What other useful endpoints can I safely call using this action?

More Info

Teams Status Update via Power Automate

Answer 1

The "Why" of this can probably only be answered by Microsoft.

Here's my take on interpretation:

When Flow started out, the HTTP request and HTTP trigger actions were not premium. People discovered that they could use these HTTP requests to do things that otherwise required premium connectors to other services. So, after only a short while, the HTTP actions became premium, too.

The exception is the action that sends and HTTP request to SharePoint, since SharePoint itself is not a premium functionality.

Seeing that SharePoint is deeply integrated into the Office 365 universe, and seeing that it has a very close link to Teams, it doesn't surprise me that aspects of Teams can be addressed with an HTTP request to SharePoint. They're in the same family of O365 apps.

However, using this HTTP request to SharePoint action to send commands to services outside of the Teams/SharePoint realm is a different licensing story, and that's probably why you can't use the free HTTP connector to do that.

It's a bit like the Office 365 family with a bunch of kids in a restaurant. When sister SharePoint says to brother Teams: "Pass the salt, please.", then that doesn't incur any extra cost. But if you order a meal for they guy at the next table, then you'd have to pay for that.

Now, don't spin that metaphor too far, it doesn't correctly reflect the licensing model. And also don't ask why it is possible to do X but it isn't possible to do Y. There are probably a lot of aspects that play a part in this scenario, but licensing comes to mind first when talking about HTTP request.