Connected agents overview (preview)

[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

Connected agents are agents your primary agent can invoke during a conversation. When a user's request falls within a connected agent’s domain, the orchestration runtime can route the request to that agent. This lets you build modular solutions where each agent handles a specific domain or task.

Note

This article reflects the new agent experience in Microsoft Copilot Studio, which is currently available as a production-ready preview. Learn about the two experiences in Classic vs. new agent experience.

  • Production-ready previews are subject to supplemental terms of use.
  • Some capabilities available in the classic experience aren't yet available in the new experience.
  • Agents created in the new experience can't be converted to the classic experience.

In the new agent experience, you can currently only connect other agents built in Copilot Studio.

Why use connected agents?

Connected agents are useful when you have multiple agents, each specialized in a different area, and you want a single front-door agent that routes users to the right specialist. Connected agents provide:

  • Specialization: Each agent focuses on a specific domain, making it easier to build and maintain.
  • Reusability: A specialized agent can be connected to multiple primary agents.
  • Separation of concerns: Different teams can own and manage different agents independently.
  • Scalability: Add new capabilities by connecting new agents rather than expanding a single agent's instructions.

How connected agents work

  • The primary agent's orchestration runtime evaluates each user message.
  • If the request aligns with a connected agent's domain, the primary agent delegates the request.
  • The connected agent runs in its own orchestration context, with its own instructions, knowledge, and tools. For runtime details, see How the orchestrator routes to connected agents.
  • The primary agent sends the relevant conversation history and user message to the connected agent.
  • The connected agent processes the request and returns a response to the primary agent.
  • The primary agent presents the response to the user.
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