~/blog $ cat creating-your-first-copilot-chat-declarative-agent.mdx
An empty folder is the most honest starting point in software. So on a community call I opened one on purpose and built a Copilot Chat declarative agent live, from nothing to deployed, in about twenty minutes. No backend, no hosting, no glue code. Watch the full recording, then skim the recap below.
▶ Creating your first Copilot Chat declarative agent on the Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community channel. Open on YouTube.
What you’ll see
A declarative agent is a customized version of Microsoft 365 Copilot: same model and orchestrator, shaped by your instructions, knowledge, and conversation starters. This walkthrough takes the shortest path from idea to a working agent in Copilot Chat.
- Scaffolding a project with the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit in VS Code
- Reading the anatomy of the generated project: the manifest, the agent definition, and the instructions file
- Shaping the persona through instructions and conversation starters
- Running it locally in Copilot Chat and iterating on behavior
- Provisioning and deploying so the agent shows up in Copilot
The takeaway: the manifest is plumbing, the instructions are the product. Get the persona right and everything else, knowledge, capabilities, and actions, builds on this exact project shape.
Resources
Have questions or want to share what you're building? Connect with me on LinkedIn or check out more on The Manifest.