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Microsoft Copilot Studio

SaaS low-code agent platform on Power Platform (copilotstudio.microsoft.com). GA. Docs hub: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio/

Building blocks

• Topics — deterministic dialogs with trigger phrases and slot filling; still the right tool for flows that must behave identically every time.
• Generative orchestration — the LLM planner interprets intent (multi-intent, last 10 turns of history) and builds a plan across topics, tools, knowledge sources, child agents, and triggers. This is the default architecture for new agents. Guidance: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio/guidance/generative-orchestration
• Knowledge / generative answers — RAG over attached sources with citations.
• Tools — Power Platform connectors (1,400+), prompts, agent flows (flow-style automation), and MCP servers.
• Autonomous agents — event/scheduled triggers (e.g., Dataverse events) run the agent without a human in the loop; scope permissions tightly and use the built-in guardrails. Custom triggers like On Plan Complete; computer use; multi-agent via child/connected agents.

MCP integration

Tools tab → + Add a tool → Model Context Protocol wizard (server name/URL, OAuth). Supports MCP tools and resources; server-side changes reflect dynamically. Requires generative orchestration. Docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio/agent-extend-action-mcp

Publishing channels

Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, Power Pages, demo/custom websites, mobile apps, and custom clients via the Direct Line API (REST + WebSocket). Entra ID auth is the default for organizational channels.

Pricing — Copilot Credits

Copilot Credits are the common currency (renamed from "messages", effective 2025-09-01). Representative rates: classic answer 1 · generative answer 2 · agent action 5 · tenant graph grounding 10 · agent flow actions 13/100 actions · tiered AI-tool rates · voice 10/35/75 per minute. Purchase via prepaid packs, the Azure pay-as-you-go meter, or Copilot Credit prepurchase (CCCUs). M365 Copilot-licensed users are no-charge for most features. Monthly enforcement, no rollover — budget autonomous triggers especially, since nobody is watching the meter mid-run.

ALM and governance

Agents are Dataverse solution components:

• In-app solution manager: preferred solutions, export/import managed solutions
• Power Platform pipelines for dev → test → prod promotion; environment variables + connection references for per-environment config
• Native Git integration; Azure DevOps/GitHub CI/CD
• Governance via Power Platform admin center: DLP policies, RBAC, Purview integration

Never edit prod agents in place — all changes travel as solutions.

Pro-code extensibility

• Call Copilot Studio from code: Agent Framework's agent-framework-copilotstudio package provides CopilotStudioAgent (see skills/agent-framework); the M365 Agents SDK has on-behalf-of auth samples calling Copilot Studio agents.
• Call Foundry from Copilot Studio: connect an external Microsoft Foundry agent as a child agent (preview; new-Foundry-portal agents only).
• Custom clients: Direct Line API.

Practices

• Start from the instruction + knowledge + tools triad; add explicit topics only where determinism is required.
• Give every tool a crisp description with when to use it — the orchestrator's plan quality tracks tool-description quality.
• Watch credit burn per conversation in analytics before and after each change; generative answers and graph grounding dominate cost.
• For maker/pro-code hybrids, define the boundary explicitly: Copilot Studio owns the conversation and governance; code-side agents (Foundry/Agent Framework) own deep logic, reached as child agents or MCP tools. See skills/agent-interop.