Publish an agent

Prerequisites

  • You drafted and saved your agent after configuring its name, description, and instructions.
  • You tested your agent in the Preview pane before publishing.
  • To learn more about testing your agent before publication, see Preview overview for agents.

Publish your agent for the first time

  1. Open your agent in Copilot Studio.
  2. Select the chevron next to Publish.
  3. In the Publish agent dialog, review the agent details. Select and configure each channel you want to publish your agent to.
  4. If your agent isn't ready because it's missing a name, description, or instructions, the dialog shows what needs to be completed. Address the issues before continuing.
  5. Select Publish to confirm.
  6. Wait for the publish process to complete. The dialog shows the progress.
  7. When publishing succeeds, the dialog shows a confirmation with options to share your agent or add it to the organization catalog.

Publish updates to your agent

After you publish your agent for the first time, any changes you make require republishing before users can access them.

Note

Features in this article are used by agents or workflows powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.

Usage-based billing applies to using, building, testing, and evaluating agents. These actions might consume Copilot Credits. Learn more in Manage costs for agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.

  1. Make your changes in the Build tab.
  2. Select Publish in the upper-right corner.
  3. In the Publish your changes dialog, review the changes.
  4. Select Publish to confirm.
  5. The new version replaces the previous published version.

Handle publish failures

  • If publishing fails, the dialog shows an error with a Retry option.
  • Select Retry to attempt publishing again.
  • If the issue persists, check your agent configuration and try again.

How data policies affect publishing

Your organization can use data policies to restrict which connectors and channels an agent can use. When a data policy applies to a channel your agent publishes to, the publish flow evaluates the policy alongside the other readiness checks.

Channels restricted by your organization's data policies aren't available for your agents. If a channel's usage is restricted but not outright blocked, the publish flow evaluates the policy alongside the other readiness checks and notifies you if it's failing.

The built-in test channel doesn't block publishing

Note

This feature is in public preview.

Every new agent gets a built-in test channel that powers the Preview pane. This channel is provisioned automatically and can be affected by organization data policies. Copilot Studio doesn't count a policy violation on only the built-in test channel toward the publish-blocking gate.

The behavior is as follows:

  • The channel status in the Publish agent dialog can still show the violation on the built-in test channel so you know it's there.
  • The Publish button remains enabled unless another channel you use to distribute the agent is blocked by policy, or every distribution channel is blocked.
  • The published agent still follows your organization's data policies. This publish behavior doesn't give the built-in test channel access to blocked connectors or endpoints.

Publishing is still blocked when your agent uses another channel that's blocked by policy, or when every channel your agent publishes to other than the built-in test channel is blocked. In either case, the publish dialog shows the block and the connectors or channels that need attention. Ask your administrator to review the policy, or reconfigure the agent to use a channel and connector combination that's allowed.

Limitations

  • Some channels might behave differently or have limited availability.
  • Changes you make after publishing don't take effect until you publish again.
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