How to create a first Copilot Studio agent

Copilot Studio can create a first agent in a guided, no-code experience. You do not need data scientists or developers. This tutorial follows one Microsoft Learn page only: the quickstart for creating and deploying an agent with the standard harness. You will get the standard Home page, describe the agent, add a knowledge source from a suggestion, test an instruction change, replace the opening message, and publish to a demo website if your license allows it.

The page applies to makers with a standalone Copilot Studio subscription. If you have a Teams plan, available in select Microsoft 365 subscriptions, Microsoft points you to a different quickstart for a classic agent published to Microsoft Teams. Stay on the steps below only for the standard harness.

The quickstart was last updated on 22 September 2026. The first control it asks for is easy to miss if the home you land on is not the standard-harness home.

What you need before you describe the agent

Turn off New experience, then select Submit to dismiss the Feedback panel. The Home page for agents powered by the standard harness appears. The rest of this quickstart starts from that page.

If you do not see the box asking you to describe what your agent needs to do, your environment does not support agent creation with natural language. The quickstart points to other create options. It does not give a substitute sequence on this page.

Changing the primary language, solution, and schema name is optional, and those steps live on a separate authoring page. This quickstart does not list those fields.

A trial license lets you create agents and test them in the test chat panel. It does not let you publish.

Create the agent from a short description

The example agent is called Copilot Studio Guide. It helps users learn about Copilot Studio from the official documentation.

Enter a brief description of what you want the agent to do. The quickstart’s example is “Help users learn how to create agents with Copilot Studio.” The description can have up to 1,024 characters.

The Overview page appears. From your own words, Copilot Studio generates the name, description, and instructions. It also suggests triggers and channels, knowledge sources, and tools. You can ignore, accept, or dismiss those suggestions. They do not persist beyond the current session.

When provisioning finishes, you can change the name, description, and instructions, and you can add triggers, knowledge sources, tools, and suggested prompts. Test as you go.

Add the suggested knowledge source

Add the official documentation from the suggestion. That is the only knowledge procedure this page spells out.

In the Knowledge section, select Add next to the suggestion for https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio.
Select Add, and then select Add to agent.

Test how instructions change the answer

Test, change, test again. That is the improvement method the quickstart teaches.

In the test chat, ask a question. The example is “How do I add a knowledge source?”
On the Overview page, update the instructions to use a different tone, such as talking to users like Jane Austen.
Ask the same question again and compare the response.

The repeat is there so you can see the instruction change. The quickstart does not add more knowledge between the two asks.

Edit the Conversation Start message

Replace the default introduction so users know what the agent does and how to start.

In the Test your agent chat, select the introductory message. The Conversation Start topic opens, and the Message node for that message is in focus.
If you cannot see the introductory message, select the Start new test session icon at the top of the panel to restart the conversation.
On the Message node, select the text and replace the default. Greet users, say what the agent does, and say how to begin. You can also give an example question or prompt.

For Copilot Studio Guide, the quickstart uses this introduction:

Hello, I'm here to help you learn how to use Microsoft Copilot Studio. You can ask me all about agents: "What is an agent?" "How do I make an agent?" "How do agents work?"

Select Save.
Select Start new test session at the top of the Test your agent panel so the greeting you test is the one you just saved.

Suggested prompts are not part of the Studio test

If the agent is for Teams or Microsoft 365, you can configure up to 10 suggested prompts customers can choose to start a conversation.

On the Overview page, open Suggested prompts and select Add suggested prompts if you have none, or the Edit icon if you do. Revise or add titles and prompts, then select Save.

Suggested prompts are meant for Teams and Microsoft Copilot. They appear on the agent’s welcome page before a new chat. You cannot see or use them when you test the agent in Copilot Studio. A test chat that never offers those prompts is what the quickstart describes, not a failed save.

Set an icon only if the file already fits

Select the agent icon in the top bar.
Select Change icon.
Choose an image from your device. The file must be PNG, less than 72 KB, with a maximum resolution of 192 × 192 pixels.
Select Save.

The quickstart does not describe other formats, a larger file, or an in-product crop. Prepare a file that already meets those limits.

Publish, then open the demo website

Publishing is for when you are satisfied with the agent. You can publish to a live or demo website, depending on the platforms and channels you can access. You might need to change authentication for the demo website, depending on who should access the agent. Those authentication steps are not on this page. The quickstart points to separate publish guidance for them.

On this page, the publish sequence is short:

At the top of the page, select Publish, then select Publish again in the Publish this agent confirmation. If the operation succeeds, you see a green banner at the top of the page.
At the top of the page, select the three dots (…) and select Go to demo website.
Send that URL to others to demonstrate the agent.

If you are on a trial, do not expect this sequence to complete. Creating the agent and testing it in the test chat panel is the limit the quickstart states. You cannot publish.

Try this next

Work the example in order. Confirm you are on the standard-harness Home page, enter a description of at most 1,024 characters, add the documentation knowledge suggestion, and ask “How do I add a knowledge source?” before and after the tone change. Save the Conversation Start message and check it in a new test session. Publish and choose Go to demo website only if you are not on a trial. Before you share the URL, read the publish guidance the quickstart links, because authentication depends on who should reach the agent. For questions the documentation does not cover, or for feature ideas, use the community and Ideas board linked from the same page.

Sources

Quickstart: Create and deploy an agent with the standard harness