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Building Your First Agent

🤖 Copilot Studio Basics⏱ 15 min⭐ 100 BASE XP

From Zero to Deployed Agent

Copilot Studio (formerly Power Virtual Agents) is Microsoft's low-code platform for building conversational AI agents. In 2026, it has evolved far beyond simple FAQ chatbots — it now supports generative orchestration, multi-agent coordination, and enterprise tool integration via MCP.

Core Building Blocks

ComponentPurposeExample
TopicsConversation flows triggered by user intent"Track my order" topic with order lookup logic
EntitiesData types the agent recognises and extracts from user inputOrder numbers, dates, product names
Knowledge SourcesData the agent uses for generative answers (RAG)SharePoint sites, Dataverse, websites, uploaded files
Plugins/ActionsExternal capabilities — Power Automate flows, connectors, custom APIsLooking up CRM data, sending email confirmations
Generative AILLM-powered responses for open-ended questionsAnswering HR policy questions from a knowledge base

Publishing Channels

Once built, agents can be published to multiple channels simultaneously:

  • Microsoft Teams: Embedded as a chat bot in Teams channels and personal chat
  • Web Widget: Embeddable chat widget for any website
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot: Appears as a plugin inside M365 Copilot
  • Power Apps: Embedded within canvas and model-driven apps
  • Facebook, Slack, Twilio: Third-party messaging integrations
  • Custom API: Direct API integration for headless deployments

Getting Started

  1. Go to copilotstudio.microsoft.com and create a new agent
  2. Define 2-3 key topics covering your most common user questions
  3. Add a knowledge source (e.g., a SharePoint document library) for generative answers
  4. Connect a Power Automate flow for any actions the agent needs to perform
  5. Test in the built-in chat panel, then publish to Teams
💡 Key Insight: Start with knowledge sources + generative answers before building custom topics. In many cases, pointing the agent at your documentation covers 70-80% of user questions without any manual topic authoring.
SYNAPSE VERIFICATION
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What are Topics in Copilot Studio?
Data tables
Conversation flows triggered by user intent that define how the agent responds to specific requests
Security policies
Report templates
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Building Your First Agent | Copilot Studio Basics — Power Platform Academy