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What you’ll learn

Agent Builder — now officially called Copilot Studio Lite — is built directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot. No extra licence, no extra software. This guide shows you how to go from idea to working agent.

Understand agents

What agents are and when to use one

Plan your agent

Define the right scope and instructions

Build and connect

Set up your agent with knowledge and tools

Share and scale

Publish and hand off to your team

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What is an agent?

An agent is a custom version of Copilot with a specific job. You give it a name, a set of instructions, and optionally a knowledge source — and it behaves consistently every time you or your team uses it, without you needing to re-explain the context. Think of it as building a specialist assistant that already knows your processes, your tone, and your reference material. The difference between a regular Copilot conversation and an agent:
Regular CopilotAgent
You explain context every timeInstructions are baked in
One-off tasksRecurring, consistent tasks
Personal useShareable with your team
No persistent knowledgeCan reference your documents

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What agents are good for

Not everything needs an agent. Agents work best for tasks that are:
  • Repetitive — the same type of task you do multiple times per week
  • Context-heavy — the task requires background knowledge your team shouldn’t have to re-explain
  • Multi-person — the task is done by multiple people who should get consistent results

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Where to find Agent Builder

Agent Builder is now called Copilot Studio Lite and is built into Microsoft 365 Copilot. You do not need a separate Copilot Studio licence.

The Agents panel

All Agents tab in Microsoft 365 CopilotIn Microsoft 365 Copilot (web or desktop), click the Agents icon in the right panel. This opens the Agents tab, where you can browse available agents and create new ones.Click Create agent to open Copilot Studio Lite.

The builder interface

Agent Mode Panel in Copilot Studio LiteInside the builder, you will see a Configure tab and a Test panel. The Configure tab is where you set up your agent’s name, instructions, knowledge sources, and capabilities.
Agent Builder was previously called “Agent Builder” in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft officially renamed it to Copilot Studio Lite in early 2026. Both names refer to the same tool — the no-code agent builder included in your Microsoft 365 Copilot licence.

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Planning your agent

Before you open the builder, spend five minutes answering these three questions. Agents built without clear planning are harder to test and rarely work well on the first try.
1

What does the agent do?

Write one sentence describing the task. Example: “This agent helps people managers write consistent performance review summaries using our company template.”If you cannot write it in one sentence, the scope is too broad. Narrow it down.
2

What does it need to know?

List the documents, policies, or data sources your agent should draw from. These become your knowledge sources. Examples: an SOP document, a policy PDF, a SharePoint folder, or a past project brief.
3

Who will use it?

If it is just for you, save it privately. If your whole team will use it, you will need to share it — plan for this before you build so you set up permissions correctly.

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Building your agent

Step 1 — Name and instructions

Microsoft 365 Copilot agent setupGive your agent a clear, specific name. In the Instructions field, describe:
  • What the agent does
  • What tone or format to use
  • What it should and should not do
Example instruction:
You are a performance review assistant for managers at [Company]. 
When asked, help the user write a performance summary using the 
standard STAR format. Always keep summaries under 300 words. 
Do not make assumptions about the employee's performance — only 
work from what the user tells you.

Step 2 — Add knowledge

App Skills Panel showing knowledge sourcesClick Add knowledge and connect:
  • A SharePoint site — for team documents and wikis
  • A OneDrive folder — for personal or departmental files
  • An uploaded document — for a specific PDF, Word doc, or policy
New in 2026: Agents can now accept file uploads from users mid-conversation — not just at build time. This means your agent can analyse a document a user drops in during the chat, without you having to pre-load everything.

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Testing and refining

Before you share your agent, test it properly. A quick test protects your reputation and your team’s time.
1

Use real tasks

Send the agent a task you would actually give it in real life. Do not test with “Hi” or simple greetings — test with the kind of complex request it was built to handle.
2

Check the format

Does the response use the right structure? Is it the right length? Does it match the tone in your instructions?
3

Test the edges

Try asking the agent something it should not do. Does it stay within scope, or does it go off-topic? If it drifts, tighten the instructions.
4

Ask a colleague

Before sharing broadly, ask one person who was not involved in building it to test it. Fresh eyes find gaps faster than the builder does.

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Sharing your agent

Share with your team

Share agent option in Copilot Studio LiteClick Share in the builder and enter the names or email addresses of colleagues you want to give access to. They will see the agent in their Agents panel inside Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Publish to new channels

Channels to deploy agentsNew in 2026: Agents built in Copilot Studio Lite can now be published to WhatsApp and SharePoint pages — not just Microsoft Teams. This means your agent can be embedded in a SharePoint intranet page that your whole organisation visits.
If you want more advanced control — lifecycle management, approval workflows, or publishing to more channels — you can upgrade your agent to full Copilot Studio with one click. Look for the “Upgrade” option in the builder. Your agent and its settings carry over automatically.

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Quick checkpoint

You are done with this module when you can do the following:

Scope your agent

You can describe your agent in one clear sentence

Write instructions

You have written instructions that constrain the agent’s scope and tone

Connect knowledge

You have connected at least one knowledge source

Share it

You have shared the agent with at least one colleague

Ready to build?

Complete the challenge to build and test your first Copilot agent