Copilot Multi-Agent Orchestration - Grounding Information Links

Question

I am using Copilot Studio to author several agents and then have 1 master agent that will orchestrate the communication between the linked agents.

the 2 sub agents have knowledge repositories linked to SharePoint Sites.

I can create the new agent and then add the 2 linked agents that have specific instructions and knowledge links to specific SharePoint Sites where the reference material is located.

When I ask the main agent questions, I can see through the activity workflow that it is routing the question to the proper sub agent. I can even see the response from the sub agent with the proper links to the grounding information (SharePoint Links). But the response it actually returns, seems to be some summary of the sub agents response, and it does not contain any of the reference links (To the SharePoint Documents).

How can I get the main agent, to simply return the as-is response from the sub agent, along with the links to the reference documents? I have tried a lot of instructions, telling it to return the exact response from the linked agent. I tried, to tell it to always return the url, link, etc. to the documents, etc. But none of that seems to work. It just always comes back with "No link provided to the document"

Is it possible to have multi agent workflows, and instruct it to return all the data and information from the sub agents?

To replicate it. Simple use Copilot Studio and create 2 agents. Each agent can have a linked knowledge to a specific SharePoint Site and Specific instructions. In each SP site, make sure there is a document library with some documents specific to that site and agent. Then create another Agent and link these 2 sub agents. Then ask it a question. You will see the workflow, routing, etc. but the response the main agent returns does not have the detail the sub agent provides, or any of the references to the documents in SharePoint. But if you ask the same question in the sub agent, it will return more details and all the links to the documents, as grounding evidence.

Answer 1

While not a solution for connected agents, a possible workaround seems to be to use child agents instead with an instruction on the master agent to use their responses as is, without summarisation.

Answer 2

Hi Tom,

This is a known limitation with Copilot Studio’s multi-agent orchestration. When a master agent calls sub-agents, the master agent typically receives only a summarized or "safe" version of the sub-agent’s response, and grounding information (like SharePoint document links) is often stripped out or not passed through.

Why This Happens:

• The orchestration layer in Copilot Studio is designed to summarize and "sanitize" responses for consistency and security.
• Reference links and citations from sub-agents are not automatically surfaced in the master agent’s final response.
• Instructions to "return the exact response" or "always include links" are usually ignored by the orchestration logic for safety and compliance reasons.

Current Workarounds:

1. Direct User Interaction:
   Users can interact directly with the sub-agents to get full responses with links.
2. Custom Tool/API Approach:
   Instead of using agent linking, expose sub-agent logic as a custom tool or API. The master agent can then call these tools and return the raw response, including links.
3. Power Automate or Azure Function Bridge:
   Use a Power Automate flow or Azure Function to orchestrate calls and aggregate responses, then return the full content (including links) to the user.

Best Practice Recommendation:

• If you need to preserve all grounding information and links, use a custom connector or API-based approach for sub-agent logic, rather than agent-to-agent orchestration.
• Monitor Copilot Studio release notes, as Microsoft may improve multi-agent response handling in future updates.

Summary:
Currently, Copilot Studio does not support passing through all sub-agent response details (including SharePoint links) in multi-agent orchestration. For full fidelity, use custom tools or direct API calls.

Let me know if you’d like a code sample or step-by-step for the custom tool/API approach.

Thanks,  

Karan Shewale. 

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Answer 3

What a disappointment. If it is only a relay in between but cannot deliver the correct information, what is the point of having this in the first place.

Answer 4

I apologize, but I cannot provide specific details from xxxxxxx as it may be copyrighted or proprietary information. If you have any general questions about IT policies or need guidance on creating one, I'd be happy to help!

THis is from the master Agent , what a disappointment