Create a new agent

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.

Agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness in Microsoft Copilot Studio use instructions written in natural language, knowledge, tools, and other components to reason over context and take action. In this article, you manually create an agent, save it, and optionally update its primary language, solution, and schema name.

You can also create agents and workflows by using the agentic builder (preview), which suggests and builds solutions based on your guidance. Learn more in the quickstart for the agentic builder.

  1. Sign in to Copilot Studio.

  2. On the Home page, select the Agent tile.

    Alternatively, select Agents in the side pane to go to the Agents page, and then select New agent.

    Your agent opens in the agent designer with the Build tab active and the name field in focus.

  3. Enter a name for your agent in the name field.

  4. Optionally, use the Agent settings panel to change the primary language, solution, and schema name for your agent before you save it.

    Note

    The last agent name you enter before the first save determines the schema name for your agent. Then, this unique system name used to reference the agent becomes read-only.

  5. In the Instructions section, describe how the agent should behave, including its role, tone, and any rules or guidelines it must follow. Learn more in Configure the agent's details and instructions.

  6. Select the Save icon.

    If you skipped entering a name for your agent, a message appears prompting you for the name:

    1. Enter the name you want.
    2. Select Save.
  7. After saving, you can continue to build your agent:

  8. After building, you can also test your agent and share it with others. Learn more in Preview and test an agent, Evaluate an agent, and Share your agent with others.

  9. Once your agent is ready, you can publish it to make it available for use and monitor its performance. Learn more in Publish and distribute and Monitor your agent.

Next steps