· 9 min
Scaffold a Grounded Declarative Agent from a Business Brief
Use Work IQ and WIQD to turn an HR business brief into a reviewable declarative agent with scoped SharePoint grounding, validation, and smoke tests.
TAG
copilot
68 items tagged with "copilot"
· 12 min
Adding Validation and Eval Gates to CI with WIQD
Run WIQD unattended in GitHub Actions: validate manifests, build packages, gate a bounded eval suite, and keep tenant credentials away from untrusted pull requests.
· 9 min
Build Smarter Declarative Agents with Skills and WIQD
Build custom skills for declarative agents with WIQD, load focused expertise on demand, and give users more reliable, repeatable outcomes at work.
· 15 min
Generating Evals with WIQD: Setting a Quality Bar That Holds
Generate an eval suite from your agent manifest with WIQD, review it like a specification, diagnose failures, and set a quality bar you can defend.
· 10 min
Localize a Declarative Agent with WIQD Without Behavioral Drift
Add French to an HR policy agent with WIQD while preserving grounding, citations, refusals, action behavior, and a reviewable bilingual eval suite.
· 17 min
Validating an Inherited Declarative Agent with WIQD
A manifest can be valid JSON and describe a dead agent. Use WIQD static and deep validation to triage, repair, and gate an inherited declarative agent.
· 3 min
Context Is Everything: Building Agents That Know Your Work Context
A video walkthrough of grounding agents with Work IQ so they can reason over the people, projects, conversations, and information that shape your work.
· 8 min
Import Agent Builder Agents into WIQD Projects Safely
Use WIQD to move Agent Builder prototypes into reviewable projects with reference-backed manifests, parity checks, validation, and evals before changes.
· 12 min
Promote a Copilot Agent Across Environments with WIQD
Use WIQD to package one validated Copilot agent, promote it through named environments, and share it safely with an explicitly approved pilot audience.
· 9 min
The Declarative Agent Lifecycle, End to End with WIQD
Build, Improve, Preview, Publish. WIQD runs the whole declarative agent lifecycle as one conversation, from scaffolding through evals to store submission.
· 8 min
Building Reusable Plugins with WIQD: Skills and Connectors
WIQD makes plugins a first-class deliverable. Compose skills, MCP agent connectors, and declarative agents into one packageable, validatable unit.
· 8 min
Creating Declarative Agents with WIQD: From Idea to Code
WIQD turns declarative agent creation into a conversation. Describe the agent, get an opinionated project with externalized instructions and live diagnostics.
· 9 min
Work IQ Developer Tools for Copilot Plugins and Agents
WIQD turns plugin work into a conversation: describe the MCP capability you want, and the tooling handles discovery, validation, provisioning, and evals.
· 10 min
Dynamic Client Registration for MCP Plugins
Dynamic client registration lets MCP plugins negotiate OAuth clients through a dedicated DCR auth configuration, removing the manual client ID and secret setup from the Copilot plugin workflow.
· 9 min
Dynamic Tool Discovery for MCP Plugins
Dynamic tool discovery lets Microsoft 365 Copilot resolve MCP server tools at runtime, so new capabilities can appear without repackaging and republishing the agent.
· 6 min
Meeting Actions: Let Declarative Agents Run the Calendar
The MeetingActions capability in manifest v1.8 lets declarative agents schedule events, create time-finding polls, and surface calendar time insights.
· 6 min
Email Actions: Let Declarative Agents Manage the Inbox
The EmailActions capability in manifest v1.8 gives declarative agents write access to email: triage, supervised send, inbox rules, and folder management.
· 3 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: Agents Stopped Just Talking
June was when declarative agents got interactive UI. MCP Apps put real widgets in Copilot chat, and one MCP server now lights up every Copilot surface.
· 2 min
Using Coding Agents to Build Declarative Agents
A video walkthrough of using Agents Toolkit skills and a coding agent to scaffold, wire MCP, generate instructions, validate, and deploy a declarative agent.
· 2 min
Publishing and Governing Declarative Agents at Scale
A video walkthrough of moving a declarative agent from local development to org-wide publishing, admin approval, distribution, and CI/CD automation.
· 2 min
Testing and Debugging Your Declarative Agent
A video walkthrough of developer mode, debug cards, capability tracing, and versioning to test and troubleshoot a Copilot Chat declarative agent.
· 2 min
Connecting Declarative Agents into an Ecosystem
A video walkthrough of composing an agent ecosystem: worker agents that split broad scenarios into focused specialists you can reuse across teams.
· 8 min
Conditional Conversation Starters for Declarative Agents
Manifest schema v1.7 adds depends_on to conversation starters, so prompts only show up when the capabilities they need are configured.
· 4 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: The Runtime Grew Up
May traded splashy demos for real declarative agent infrastructure: evals landed, MCP got operational, and government cloud support started catching up.
· 7 min
Editorial Answers Make Declarative Agents Predictable
Editorial answers in declarative agent manifest v1.7 let you reserve exact responses for known questions, with semantic matching catching natural language variations.
· 2 min
Advanced Manifest Capabilities for Declarative Agents
A video walkthrough of advanced manifest options: disclaimers, behavior overrides, and environment configuration for more polished, governed declarative agents.
· 2 min
Extending Declarative Agents with API Plugins and MCP
A video walkthrough of adding actions to a declarative agent with API plugins and MCP, moving beyond read-only answers to create, update, and retrieve data.
· 8 min
Your M365 Developer Tenant and Licenses for Copilot Agents
Set up your first Microsoft 365 developer tenant and the minimum licenses you need to start building declarative agents for M365 Copilot today.
· 2 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with Microsoft 365 Data
A video walkthrough of grounding a declarative agent in real Microsoft 365 data: SharePoint, Teams conversations, email, and people knowledge.
· 7 min
Shipping Declarative Agents Across Environments and Versions
How to use environment variables in the Agents Toolkit to target dev, staging, and prod tenants while running multiple agent versions side by side.
· 10 min
Agents Without Evals Are Just Vibes: Agents Evaluations CLI
The Agents Evaluations CLI turns declarative agent quality into repeatable tests, scored reports, and PR evidence using @microsoft/m365-copilot-eval.
· 12 min
Advanced Instruction Engineering for Declarative Agents
Go beyond basics with advanced patterns for persona engineering, scope boundaries, error handling, and iterative testing of declarative agent instructions.
· 12 min
Authentication Deep Dive for MCP Plugins in Declarative Agents
Configure OAuth, Entra ID SSO, and anonymous authentication for MCP plugins in declarative agents, including Teams Developer Portal setup and runtime flow.
· 4 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: MCP Apps Goes Live
April was the month MCP Apps stopped being a preview and started being a product. Here is what shipped, what landed in the docs, and what it means.
· 11 min
Authentication Deep Dive for API Plugins in Declarative Agents
Configure OAuth, API key, and anonymous authentication for API plugins in declarative agents, including Entra ID setup and runtime flow.
· 2 min
Configuring Copilot Chat Declarative Agent Capabilities
A video walkthrough of adding embedded knowledge, the code interpreter, and image generation to turn a basic declarative agent into a capable assistant.
· 10 min
From Conversations to Agents: Work Context Meets Code
Turn your Microsoft 365 conversations into working declarative agents by combining Work IQ work context with Agents Toolkit Skills in one session.
· 18 min
Building Agents with Coding Agents and Agents Toolkit Skills
Combine the meta-workflow of using coding agents with Agents Toolkit Skills from the Work IQ marketplace to scaffold, configure, deploy, and localize declarative agents through natural language.
· 6 min
Set a Default Response Mode for Your Declarative Agent
Use the new default_response_mode manifest property to control whether your declarative agent starts in Auto, Quick response, or Think deeper mode.
· 19 min
Pro-Code for Copilot Agents: Beyond the Low-Code Ceiling
Learn why production Copilot agents need pro-code tooling: source control, CI/CD, testing, and engineering discipline beyond low-code platforms.
· 2 min
Creating Your First Copilot Chat Declarative Agent
Watch the full walkthrough of scaffolding your first Copilot Chat declarative agent with the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit, from empty folder to deployed persona.
· 8 min
CI/CD Pipelines for Declarative Agents with Agents Toolkit
Automate provisioning, deploying, and publishing declarative agents using GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, and the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit CLI.
· 8 min
Localizing Declarative Agents: Multi-Language Agents That Actually Work
Build declarative agents that work across languages with tokenized manifests, localizationInfo, and culturally adapted instructions.
· 6 min
Managing Environment Variables in the M365 Agents Toolkit
Learn how environment variables, .env files, and multi-environment configuration work in the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit for declarative agents.
· 3 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: Interactive UIs Land
March brought MCP Apps, GPT-5.2, and Agents Toolkit v6.6.0. Declarative agents aren't just talking anymore, they're rendering dashboards in chat.
· 6 min
Publishing and Governing Declarative Agents
Ship declarative agents to production in Microsoft 365 Copilot: admin approval, access control, staged rollouts, and governance best practices.
· 9 min
Debugging Declarative Agent Failures in Microsoft 365 Copilot
Troubleshoot the four most common declarative agent failure patterns in Microsoft 365 Copilot: from ignored APIs to auth errors and permission issues.
· 8 min
Connected Agents: The Delegation Pattern for Declarative Agents
Learn how to scale your declarative agent with connected agents: delegate to specialist worker agents using a microservices architecture for AI assistants.
· 5 min
Behavior Overrides in M365 Copilot Declarative Agents
Configure behavior overrides in declarative agents to prioritize knowledge sources, reduce hallucination, and control follow-up suggestions in M365 Copilot.
· 7 min
Adding AI Disclaimers to Declarative Agents
Add AI disclaimers to declarative agents to build user trust and satisfy compliance requirements. Includes full manifest config and writing tips.
· 7 min
MCP Servers for Declarative Agents
Connect existing MCP servers to your declarative agents as plugins, with OAuth authentication, and let Copilot orchestrate them alongside knowledge sources.
· 10 min
API Plugins for Declarative Agents: Calling Live APIs
Connect your declarative agent to REST APIs using OpenAPI specs and API plugin manifests to read live data and take real actions with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
· 5 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with Web Search
Learn how to give your declarative agent access to external websites, from unscoped web search to curated site lists, and why scoping matters for quality results.
· 4 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: JSON Is the New C#
February was quiet, but one community walkthrough reframed the entire declarative agents developer story. Plus: scanned PDF grounding shipped.
· 7 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with Teams Conversations
Learn how to ground your declarative agent in Teams messages using the TeamsMessages capability to surface peer wisdom from group chats, 1:1 conversations, and channel threads.
· 5 min
People Intelligence in Declarative Agents
Add org chart awareness, colleague skills, and collaboration context to your declarative agent using the zero-config People capability.
· 7 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with Copilot Connectors
Connect your declarative agent to structured data from HRIS systems, databases, and external platforms using Copilot connectors (formerly Graph connectors).
· 7 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with Email and Shared Mailboxes
Configure the Email capability to ground your declarative agent in personal mailboxes, shared mailboxes, and specific folders for precise, scoped answers.
· 5 min
Adding Image Generation to Declarative Agents with GraphicArt
Add image generation to your declarative agent using the GraphicArt capability for welcome cards and creative content.
· 6 min
Code Interpreter for Declarative Agents
Enable Code Interpreter in your declarative agent for precise calculations, data analysis, and visualizations: all with a single line of JSON.
· 3 min
This Month In Declarative Agents: MCP Gets Real
January was quiet post-Ignite, but the first hands-on MCP auth tutorial for declarative agents landed and GPT-5.1 rolled out under the hood.
· 6 min
Grounding Declarative Agents with SharePoint
Connect your declarative agent to SharePoint document libraries for cited, grounded answers with automatic permission enforcement.
· 6 min
Bundle Documents with Embedded Knowledge in Declarative Agents
Learn how to bundle documents directly in your declarative agent's app package using the EmbeddedKnowledge capability: no SharePoint or cloud storage required.
· 6 min
Designing Conversation Starters for Declarative Agents
Create conversation starters that showcase your declarative agent's capabilities and guide users to high-value interactions from the very first message.
· 7 min
Crafting Effective Instructions for Declarative Agents
Master the 5-part instruction framework that turns a generic declarative agent into a purpose-built AI assistant, with real examples from Zava Insurance.
· 6 min
Scaffolding Your First Declarative Agent with the Agents Toolkit
Learn how to scaffold your first declarative agent using the Agents Toolkit: from project creation to a working deploy in minutes.
· 7 min
What Are Declarative Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Understand what declarative agents are, how they work, and when to use them: the foundational guide to building AI agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
· 4 min
Welcome to The Manifest: Why Declarative Agents Matter
Introducing The Manifest, a blog dedicated to Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility, declarative agents, and the hidden gem of the M365 platform.