How to Build an AI Agent with Copilot Studio

Sign in at copilotstudio.microsoft.com and, on the Home page, describe what you want in your own words. Copilot Studio provisions an agent and its Overview page from that description, drafting a name, description, and instructions, and suggesting knowledge sources, tools, and triggers. Treat every suggestion as a starting point, not a finished agent; you'll edit the instructions directly next.

1Home page description:
2"Help employees answer common IT questions from our knowledge base, and let them request a password reset, which creates a ticket for IT to handle. It should never reset a password itself."

On the Overview page, edit the drafted instructions to state the one non-negotiable rule explicitly: the agent can file a request, it cannot perform the reset. Drafted instructions from the provisioning step are usually close but rarely precise enough to rely on for something this sensitive.

1Instructions:
2"You are an IT helpdesk agent. Answer questions using the connected knowledge base. For a password reset, collect the employee's ID and the account name, then use the file_reset_request tool to create a ticket. You never reset a password yourself; IT confirms identity and performs the reset after reviewing the ticket."

In the Knowledge section, select Add and point it at your IT documentation, either a SharePoint site or uploaded files. This lets the agent answer routine questions (how to connect to VPN, how to request new software) from your real documentation instead of guessing at a plausible-sounding general answer.

1Knowledge -> Add
2Source: SharePoint site (IT Knowledge Base) or uploaded PDFs

In the Tools section, add a tool backed by a Power Automate flow, either one you've already built or a new one that creates a ticket in your ticketing system with the employee ID, account name, and request type. Name it clearly, since that name and its description are what the agent reads to decide when to use it.

1Tools -> Add a tool -> Flow
2Flow: file_reset_request (creates a ticket with employee_id, account_name, request_type)
3Description for the agent: "Files a password reset request ticket for IT to action. Does not reset anything itself."

Use the test chat panel to run through both paths: a knowledge-base question and a password-reset request. Confirm the agent asks for the employee ID and account name before calling the tool, and that its final response tells the employee IT will follow up, never that the password has already been reset.

1Test chat:
2"I forgot my password for the finance portal, employee ID E4021"
3-> Expect: tool call to file_reset_request, followed by a message confirming the ticket was filed, not that the password was reset.

Once testing looks right, select Publish at the top of the page, then confirm in the dialog that follows. From the three-dot menu, go to the demo website for a quick internal pilot, or follow your organization's path to add it as a channel in Microsoft Teams so employees can reach it from where they already work.

1Top bar -> Publish -> Publish (confirm)
2Then: ... menu -> Go to demo website
3(or add as a channel in Microsoft Teams for company-wide access)