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Get started with Bot Framework Composer

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Note

This article applies to classic chatbots only. To extend copilots created in Copilot Studio, you don't need to use Bot Framework Composer. All features described in this article are available for copilots, directly in Copilot Studio.

To use Bot Framework Composer to extend your Copilot Studio bot, you need to first import your bot into a Composer project.

Prerequisites

Open your bot in Composer

Important

You should always open Composer from within Microsoft Copilot Studio. This will ensure that Composer has all the necessary plug-ins needed for integration with Microsoft Copilot Studio.

  1. Go to the Topics page for the bot you want to edit and select the down-arrow symbol next to + New topic.

  2. Select Open in Bot Framework Composer in the dropdown menu to open your bot in Composer.

    Screenshot of the button used to open a bot in Composer.

  3. If you don't have Composer installed already:

    1. Select download Composer.

      Screenshot of the download Composer link highlighted.

    2. In the Download Bot Framework Composer window, select Download Composer.

      Screenshot of the Microsoft Copilot Studio Composer window indicating that Composer is not installed.

    3. When the download completes, run it to install Composer.

    4. Once you've installed Composer, go back to Microsoft Copilot Studio. Go to the Topics page and select the down-arrow symbol next to + New topic.

      Note

      In some cases, a firewall might be blocking some features in Composer and you might need to explicitly allow access. Check with your admin for details.

  4. If Microsoft Copilot Studio is unable to launch Composer automatically, you can launch it manually:

    1. Select Copy Link to copy the link to your clipboard.

      Screenshot of copy link button.

    2. Open a new tab and paste the link in your web browser's address bar.

  5. The first time you open a Microsoft Copilot Studio bot in Composer, it will be imported into a new Composer project. The name you specified in Microsoft Copilot Studio will automatically be used as the name for the project, but you can also enter a custom name.

    Screenshot of the import screen in Composer.

  6. Select Create to finish importing your bot into Composer.

    Screenshot of the import screen in Composer with the create button highlighted.

Test Composer content within Microsoft Copilot Studio

You can't use the Bot Framework Emulator to test Composer content created for Microsoft Copilot Studio bots. Instead you'll need to publish your Composer content to your Microsoft Copilot Studio bot, then use the Test bot pane.

Important

Selecting Publish in Composer makes the changes available for testing, but doesn't automatically publish your bot.

Publish your bot in Microsoft Copilot Studio to update your bot across all the channels it's connected to.

  1. Go to the Publish page.

    Screenshot of the publish tab in Composer.

  2. Select your bot in the Bot list, then select Publish selected bots.

    Screenshot of the bot selected for publish.

  3. Optionally enter a message for Comments, then select Okay.

    Screenshot of the publish window.

  4. Once publishing completes, go to Microsoft Copilot Studio. You may need to refresh the page to see the new topics you've added in Composer.

  5. Open the Test bot pane and start a conversation by typing in a trigger phrase.

View the publish log

If you're having trouble publishing your Composer content to Microsoft Copilot Studio, you can troubleshoot by reviewing the publish log. The publish log provides a detailed description of any warnings or errors encountered during validation and suggestions on how to fix them.

Note

If you're having trouble with your Microsoft Copilot Studio bot, use the topic checker instead.

  1. In Composer, go to the Publish page.

  2. Select the right arrow (>) next to your bot. You may need to increase the size of the Composer window to make the arrow visible.

    Screenshot of the right arrow button.

  3. Under Publish history, select View log.

    Screenshot of the View log button under Publish history.

  4. In the Publish log window, review logs for any errors or warnings.

    Screenshot of the public log.

If you encounter issues developing in Composer, you can:

Next steps

To help you get started using Composer, we've created four examples that detail different scenarios: