Create agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio - Applied Skills Workshop

Build practical skills for creating custom agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio. This intermediate course introduces the tools and techniques used to create, configure, test, and extend agents that can support organisational needs.

You’ll explore the Copilot Studio environment and learn how to create agents, design conversations using topics, and enhance agent responses with knowledge sources and generative artificial intelligence. You’ll also learn how to add structured automation by creating workflow tools and connecting them to agents and topics.

With practical exercises and knowledge checks throughout, this course helps you move from understanding Copilot Studio to applying its capabilities to create more intelligent and useful agents.

Prerequisites

You should have:

• Familiarity with Microsoft Copilot Studio
• An understanding of the role of agents in conversational and automated experiences

Target audience

This course is designed for professionals who want to build custom agents using Microsoft Copilot Studio, including:

• App makers
• Professionals working with artificial intelligence and automation
• Learners developing conversational solutions with Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Professionals looking to build practical skills in creating and extending custom agents

Get started with Microsoft Copilot Studio

Explore Microsoft Copilot Studio as a graphical, low-code environment for building and managing agents and workflows.

• Work with environments
• Explore the different agent harnesses
• Create agents
• Create and configure declarative agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Create and configure agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Work with topics
• Enhance productivity with generative artificial intelligence
• Test agents
• Publish agents and analyse performance
• Complete a practical exercise to create an agent with Microsoft Copilot Studio

Design agent conversations using topics

Learn how topics structure conversations between users and agents and how they can be used to create more effective conversational experiences.

• Understand the role of topics in Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Create and configure agent topics
• Add conversation nodes to topics
• Create branches within conversations
• Manage topics
• Work with entities
• Use variables in a Copilot Studio agent
• Work with system topics
• Explore topics in a Copilot Studio voice agent
• Apply topic-based conversation design through practical exercises

Build intelligent agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio

Learn how to use knowledge sources and generative artificial intelligence to create agents that provide contextual and relevant responses.

• Create a knowledge agent
• Add knowledge to an agent
• Understand generative answers
• Use generative answers in topics
• Explore how knowledge sources contribute to agent intelligence
• Build a knowledge-enabled agent through a practical exercise
• Test understanding with knowledge checks

Add structured automation to agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio

Extend agent capabilities by using deterministic workflows as tools. Learn how workflow tools can support structured automation and how they can be added to agents and topics.

• Understand Copilot Studio workflows as tools
• Create workflow tools
• Design Copilot Studio workflow tools
• Add workflow tools to agents
• Add workflow tools to topics
• Test workflow tools in Copilot Studio
• Validate workflow behaviour through practical testing

Exams and assessments

The course includes knowledge checks throughout the modules to reinforce understanding. The structured automation module also includes a module assessment. Practical exercises provide opportunities to apply the concepts covered and check understanding as you progress.

Hands-on learning

Practical exercises are integrated throughout the course, including creating an agent with Microsoft Copilot Studio and building a knowledge-enabled agent. You’ll also create and test workflow tools, helping you apply agent-building concepts in a practical environment.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the core capabilities of Microsoft Copilot Studio and its role in building and managing agents and workflows
• Create and configure agents using Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Design agent conversations using topics, conversation nodes, entities, variables, and system topics
• Add knowledge sources to create agents that provide more contextual and relevant responses
• Apply generative artificial intelligence capabilities to enhance agent conversations
• Create structured workflow tools and add them to agents and topics
• Test agents and workflow tools to validate their behaviour and performance