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[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]
Agents powered by the Customer Conversation harness support several types of tools that you can add to your agent. Each tool type connects your agent to different kinds of external capabilities and data sources.
Tool types
Choose a tool type based on the systems your agent needs to access and the kind of work it should perform.
System tools
Prebuilt tools built specifically for contact center scenarios, such as escalating a conversation or transferring a call to Teams Phone.
Learn more in Prebuilt contact center tools (Customer Conversation).
Note
Biometric Authentication is a related contact center capability, but it's enabled from the Voice capabilities section of the agent's configuration panel instead of the Tools section. Learn more in Prebuilt contact center tools (Customer Conversation).
Prompts
Prompts let your agent invoke a reusable, natural-language AI Builder prompt as a callable tool, such as summarizing content, categorizing data, or extracting entities.
Learn more in Overview of prompts.
Connectors
Power Platform connectors expose actions from hundreds of external services, letting your agent read from and write to line-of-business systems, productivity tools, and more. If a prebuilt connector doesn't already exist for the service you need, you can build a custom connector to expose it as a tool.
Learn more in Use connectors as tools and Custom connectors overview.
MCP servers
Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers provide tools through a standardized protocol. They can expose capabilities from custom services, databases, or internal APIs.
Learn more in Add an MCP server to your agent as a tool (Customer Conversation).
REST APIs
You can add tools backed directly by a REST API, giving your agent access to services that don't have a prebuilt connector or MCP server available.
Learn more in Extend your agent with tools from a REST API (preview).
Workflows
Workflows are automated flows that let your agent execute multi-step processes, such as approval flows, data transformations, and complex business logic. Use workflows for repeated, deterministic processes that your agent can run on demand.
Learn more in Add a workflow to your agent as a tool (Customer Conversation).
Choose the right tool type
Use this guidance to choose the tool type that best matches your scenario.
| Tool type | Best for |
|---|---|
| System tools | Prebuilt contact center actions, such as escalation |
| Prompts | Single-task, natural-language instructions |
| Connectors | Integrating with well-known services that have prebuilt connectors |
| MCP servers | Custom or internal services using the MCP standard |
| REST APIs | Services without a prebuilt connector or MCP server |
| Workflows | Multi-step, automated, deterministic processes |
Related information
- Tools overview for agents
- Add a tool to an agent (Customer Conversation)
- Manage and delete tools (Customer Conversation)
- Prebuilt contact center tools (Customer Conversation)
- Add an MCP server to your agent as a tool (Customer Conversation)
- Add a workflow to your agent as a tool (Customer Conversation)
- Overview of prompts
- Use connectors as tools
- Extend your agent with tools from a REST API (preview)