Create a new agent

Agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness in Microsoft Copilot Studio use instructions written in natural language, knowledge, tools, and other components to reason over context and take action. In this article, you manually create an agent, save it, and optionally update its primary language, solution, and schema name.

You can also create agents and workflows by using the agentic builder (preview), which suggests and builds solutions by using a maker's guidance. Learn more in the quickstart for the agentic builder.

1. Sign in to Copilot Studio.

2. On the Home page, select the Agent tile.

   Alternatively, select Agents in the side pane to go to the Agents page, and then select New agent.

   Your agent opens in the agent designer with the Build tab active and the name field in focus.

3. Enter a name for your agent in the name field.

4. Optionally, change the primary language, solution, and schema name under Agent Details in Settings before you save your agent.

   Note

   The last agent name you enter before the first save determines the schema name for your agent. Then, this unique system name used to reference the agent becomes read-only.

5. In the Instructions section, describe how the agent should behave, including its role, tone, and any rules or guidelines it must follow. Learn more in Configure the agent's details and instructions.

6. Select the Save icon.

   If you skipped entering a name for your agent, a message appears prompting you for the name:

   1. Enter the name you want.
   2. Select Save.

7. After saving, you can continue to build your agent:

   • Add knowledge sources. Knowledge is the data your agent can access when answering user questions. Learn more about how to add knowledge to an agent.
   • Add tools. Tools are external capabilities your agent can invoke during a conversation. Learn more about how to add tools to an agent.
   • Add skills. Skills are reusable capabilities that extend what your agent can do. Learn more about how to add skills to an agent.
   • Add connected agents. Connected agents are agents your primary agent can invoke during a conversation. Learn more about how to add connected agents to an agent.
   • Configure the model for your agent.
   • Turn on and configure memory for your agent.

8. After building, you can also test your agent and share it with others. Learn more in Preview and test an agent, Evaluate an agent, and Share your agent with others.

9. Once your agent is ready, you can publish it to make it available for use and monitor its performance. Learn more in Publish and distribute and Monitor your agent.

Next steps

• Configure the agent's details and instructions
• Add knowledge to your agent
• Tools overview
• Skills overview
• Test your agent
• Share your agent with others

Build an agent from the Copilot chat (preview)

[This section is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

You can also start an agent from a natural-language description in the Copilot chat on the home page. When you do, the chat surfaces one or more artifact cards inline for each agent or workflow it generates for you.

Each artifact card carries the name and summary of the item it represents, a button to open it in the designer, and a … menu with these actions:

• Open the artifact in the designer.
• Preview (for agent artifacts) — publish any workflow the agent references, then open the agent in the Preview pane so you can chat with it.
• Publish and test (for workflow artifacts) — publish the workflow and open its canvas on the Activity tab so you can run a test.
• Settings (for agent artifacts, when available) — open the per-artifact settings dialog.
• Delete this artifact — remove the artifact permanently.

Delete a generated agent from the chat (preview)

1. On the agent artifact card in the Copilot chat, select the … menu.

2. Select Delete agent.

3. In the Delete this artifact dialog, review the artifact name and confirm.

4. Select Delete.

The agent is removed. It no longer appears in the chat's context for later turns, and it is removed from the artifact list on the right side of the designer.

The Delete agent item is only enabled after the agent is saved. While the agent is still saving, or before it has been saved for the first time, the menu shows the item disabled with a short tooltip explaining why. Deletion is permanent—there is no undo.