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[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]
Tools extend what your agent can do beyond answering questions from knowledge sources. They let your agent call APIs, run automated flows, interact with external services, and retrieve real-time data.
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.
What are tools?
Tools are external capabilities your agent can invoke during a conversation.
When a user asks the agent to do something that requires an action, the agent orchestrator selects a tool based on the conversation context and the tool's description.
The new experience uses enhanced orchestration to automatically determine when to invoke a tool.
Why add tools to your agent?
Without tools, your agent can only answer questions based on its instructions and knowledge sources.
With tools, your agent can:
- Look up real-time data from external systems, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), IT Service Management (ITSM), and databases
- Take actions on your behalf, such as creating records, sending notifications, and updating data
- Integrate with third-party services and APIs
- Run automated workflows
How the agent decides to use a tool
The agent orchestrator evaluates each user message and decides whether a tool is needed.
The tool's name and description are critical. Well-described tools are invoked more accurately.
Your agent's instructions also influence when tools are used.
For conversational tool use in the new experience, you don't need to create explicit triggers or topic flows for each tool call.