How to implement external URLs as markdown hyperlinks in Copilot Agent's response?

Question

How to implement external URLs as markdown hyperlinks in Copilot Agent's response?

Yash Bhatia 0

I am currently developing an agent using the Agents Toolkit that fetches issues from JIRA. However, I want the agent's response to include a markdown hyperlink to the actual issue where the end-user can view all the minor details too, this would help improve user experience.

However, the issue is that the API that fetches details related to an issue doesn't directly include a ready-to-use link. Hence, I have currently included instructions that help Copilot in generating the link with the base link and the dynamic element at the end in my instructions.txt file. Copilot is able to generate each hyperlink for each distinct issue correctly, however it isn't able to format it as a markdown link.

It would be great if someone could show me how this is down.

Note: I am solely using the agents toolkit to build the agent, and I do not have an active Copilot license that enables me to use "Power Automate" or "Copilot Studio".

Thanks in advance :)

Prasad-MSFT 10,481 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T11:18:53.69+00:00

Hi @Yash Bhatia , thanks for sharing the details. Could you please clarify what you mean by the agent’s response not including a markdown hyperlink? It would be helpful if you could share an example of how you expect the agent’s response to be rendered — both how it currently looks and how you would like it to appear. This will help us better understand the issue and guide you accordingly.
Yash Bhatia 0 Reputation points

2025-11-06T11:41:29.7333333+00:00
Hi @Prasad-MSFT thank you for your response.

For some more clarity, this is what the current response looks like, and what I expect it to render as:

Current Response Format (Incorrect):-
AB-XXXX (https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/XXXX) - The issue summary...

Explanation:

Not clickable: The URL isn’t actually hyperlinked to the issue key, so users can’t click to go directly to Jira.

The link is just shown as raw text in parentheses after the issue key.

OR

(https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/%60) - The issue summary....

Explanation:

Here, backticks or placeholders were embedded literally and got URL-encoded as %60.

Result: The link doesn't work, and isn't pointing to a real issue.

Expected/Desired Response Format (Correct):-
AB-XXXX - The issue summary....

Explanation:

The issue key 'AB-XXXX' is the clickable link text.

When users click on the issue key, they are taken directly to the correct Jira issue page.

This is done using standard markdown link syntax: [display-text](destination-url)

The actual issue key (e.g. AB-XXXX) must appear both in the displayed text and at the end of the URL.
Prasad-MSFT 10,481 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T12:12:09.2133333+00:00
If You’re Using instructions.txt or Prompt Templates

If your agent doesn’t format output in code but instead depends on Copilot’s reasoning, include explicit markdown formatting instructions in your instructions.txt (or similar prompt file).

Here’s what works best:

When listing Jira issues, format each issue as a Markdown hyperlink using this exact pattern: [ISSUE_KEY](https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/ISSUE_KEY) - ISSUE_SUMMARY Rules: - Do not include backticks (`) around URLs or text. - Do not enclose the link in quotation marks. - Ensure ISSUE_KEY appears both as the link text and inside the URL. - Do not wrap the entire response in a code block. - Example: - [AB-1234](https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/AB-1234) - Login page not loading

This tells the LLM exactly how to render links — not as escaped characters or code blocks.

Integrate with the Agent Definition

If your agent is defined in something like agent.yaml or a toolkit configuration, make sure the response step that surfaces the issues simply passes through the Markdown text without escaping or rendering it prematurely.

For example (YAML example):

tools:

- name: jira_issue_fetcher

description: "Fetches Jira issues and formats them as markdown hyperlinks."

instructions: |

Always display issue results as markdown hyperlinks.

Test it

After setup, run your agent and verify the output:

If the rendered result shows raw text like [AB-1234](...), it means your UI is not rendering Markdown — not that your code is wrong.
Yash Bhatia 0 Reputation points

2025-11-10T05:42:17.15+00:00

Understood, I will try this out. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and examples. I appreciate it!

1 answer

Your answer

Prasad-MSFT 10,481 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T11:18:53.69+00:00

Hi @Yash Bhatia , thanks for sharing the details. Could you please clarify what you mean by the agent’s response not including a markdown hyperlink? It would be helpful if you could share an example of how you expect the agent’s response to be rendered — both how it currently looks and how you would like it to appear. This will help us better understand the issue and guide you accordingly.
Yash Bhatia 0 Reputation points

2025-11-06T11:41:29.7333333+00:00

Hi @Prasad-MSFT thank you for your response.

For some more clarity, this is what the current response looks like, and what I expect it to render as:

Current Response Format (Incorrect):-
AB-XXXX (https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/XXXX) - The issue summary...

Explanation:

Not clickable: The URL isn’t actually hyperlinked to the issue key, so users can’t click to go directly to Jira.

The link is just shown as raw text in parentheses after the issue key.

OR

(https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/%60) - The issue summary....

Explanation:

Here, backticks or placeholders were embedded literally and got URL-encoded as %60.

Result: The link doesn't work, and isn't pointing to a real issue.

Expected/Desired Response Format (Correct):-
AB-XXXX - The issue summary....

Explanation:

The issue key 'AB-XXXX' is the clickable link text.

When users click on the issue key, they are taken directly to the correct Jira issue page.

This is done using standard markdown link syntax: [display-text](destination-url)

The actual issue key (e.g. AB-XXXX) must appear both in the displayed text and at the end of the URL.
Prasad-MSFT 10,481 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-07T12:12:09.2133333+00:00

If You’re Using instructions.txt or Prompt Templates

If your agent doesn’t format output in code but instead depends on Copilot’s reasoning, include explicit markdown formatting instructions in your instructions.txt (or similar prompt file).

Here’s what works best:

When listing Jira issues, format each issue as a Markdown hyperlink using this exact pattern: [ISSUE_KEY](https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/ISSUE_KEY) - ISSUE_SUMMARY Rules: - Do not include backticks (`) around URLs or text. - Do not enclose the link in quotation marks. - Ensure ISSUE_KEY appears both as the link text and inside the URL. - Do not wrap the entire response in a code block. - Example: - [AB-1234](https://domain.atlassian.net/browse/AB-1234) - Login page not loading

This tells the LLM exactly how to render links — not as escaped characters or code blocks.

Integrate with the Agent Definition

If your agent is defined in something like agent.yaml or a toolkit configuration, make sure the response step that surfaces the issues simply passes through the Markdown text without escaping or rendering it prematurely.

For example (YAML example):

tools:

- name: jira_issue_fetcher

description: "Fetches Jira issues and formats them as markdown hyperlinks."

instructions: |

Always display issue results as markdown hyperlinks.

Test it

After setup, run your agent and verify the output:

If the rendered result shows raw text like [AB-1234](...), it means your UI is not rendering Markdown — not that your code is wrong.
Yash Bhatia 0 Reputation points

2025-11-10T05:42:17.15+00:00

Understood, I will try this out. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and examples. I appreciate it!

Answer 1

Harish G 0

did it work for you Yash? Im still not getting hyperlins in chat response eventhought Agent response has the link

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How to implement external URLs as markdown hyperlinks in Copilot Agent's response?

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