Configure sharing agents with embedded maker credentials

The Sharing agents with embedded maker credentials setting is an environment-level control for Microsoft Copilot Studio agents. It lets administrators warn makers about unsafe credential use or block unsafe sharing. Configure the setting in the Power Platform admin center.

An agent can use a connection that authenticates with the credentials of the person who created or configured the agent. These embedded maker credentials are supplied at design time and can be used when the agent runs. If the agent is shared, another user might cause an action to run with the maker's access instead of their own.

The setting evaluates whether an agent relies on a connection that isn't intended to be shared and whether that connection uses design-time credentials. Depending on the configured mode, Copilot Studio either informs makers about the risk or prevents an unsafe agent from being newly shared.

The control doesn't retroactively unshare or disable existing agents.

An agent is considered unsafe for sharing when both of the following conditions are true:

The agent uses at least one connection that doesn’t allow credential sharing.
The connection uses credentials supplied at design time instead of asking each user to authenticate with their own credentials.

Copilot Studio can also evaluate dependencies. For example, an agent might call a flow or another agent that uses a nonshareable connection. As dependency-based enforcement becomes available, an unsafe dependency can cause the calling agent to be treated as unsafe for sharing.

To configure Sharing agents with embedded maker credentials, you need permission to manage settings for the target Power Platform environment. Review the agents and flows in the environment before you enable enforcement, especially solutions that use maker-owned connections, service principals, API keys, or managed identities.

The setting applies per environment. Configure each environment according to its sharing and governance requirements.

The control provides two modes. Choose the mode that matches the environment's risk tolerance and rollout stage.

Mode	What happens	Recommended use
All sharing allowed	Copilot Studio detects and informs makers about unsafe credential use, but doesn’t block sharing.	Use to assess impact, educate makers, and prepare an environment before enforcement.
Safe sharing enforced	Copilot Studio blocks applicable publish or share paths when an agent is unsafe for sharing.	Use when the organization requires preventive control over credential sharing.

Use the following steps to configure the control for an environment.

Sign in to the Power Platform admin center.
Go to Manage > Environments, and then select the environment that you want to configure.
Select Settings, and then select Features.
Find Sharing agents with embedded maker credentials.
To provide detection and guidance without blocking, select All sharing allowed. Or, to block unsafe sharing paths, select Safe sharing enforced.
Select Save to save the environment settings.

What makers experience when enforcement is enabled

The enforcement point depends on how the agent is distributed.

Explicit sharing occurs when a maker deliberately shares an agent with authenticated users through a supported Microsoft 365 or Copilot Studio sharing experience. If the agent uses end-user credentials, sharing is allowed because each user authenticates with their own identity.

When Safe sharing enforced is selected, makers can still edit and save an unsafe agent, but they can't newly share it. Publishing can also be blocked if it would expose an already-shared agent that still contains unsafe maker credentials.

Enforcement when publishing an agent

Some channels make an agent available as part of publishing and don’t provide a separate Share action. In these scenarios, enforcement occurs primarily when the maker publishes the agent.

If the agent uses the maker’s user credentials at runtime, Copilot Studio marks the agent as unsafe and disables publishing while enforcement is active. Agents that use an approved system identity, such as a service principal, API key, or managed identity, can be published when the associated connection supports the scenario.

When Copilot Studio identifies an unsafe agent, review the connection and credential information shown to the maker. Use the following approaches to remove the unsafe condition:

Use end-user authentication when the action should run with each user's permissions.
Replace a maker-owned connection with an organization-approved system identity when a shared service identity is required.
Remove or reconfigure the action, flow, or connected agent that introduces the nonshareable connection.
Check called flows and agents, because an unsafe dependency can affect whether the parent agent can be shared.

After you update the connection or dependency, validate the agent again, publish it, and retry sharing.

Use warnings and recommendations in Copilot Studio and administrative experiences to identify agents that use unsafe connections. The information can include the affected connector, the credential type, and whether the risk comes from a related agent or flow.

When enforcement is enabled, prioritize credential-sharing findings because they can block publishing or sharing. When enforcement isn't enabled, use the findings to prepare makers and resolve unsafe connections before enabling enforcement.

Start in a development or validation environment and select All sharing allowed. Use the resulting guidance to understand which agents and flows rely on embedded maker credentials.
Work with makers to move user-specific actions to end-user authentication and to replace shared maker connections with approved system identities where appropriate.
Test both explicit sharing and publish-based distribution paths for representative agents.
After you review the environment's high-priority agents and resolve unsafe connections, enable Safe sharing enforced.
Monitor blocked sharing and publishing attempts, and update maker guidance when you identify recurring connection patterns.

The sharing agents with embedded maker credentials control governs sharing and publishing. It doesn’t block an agent while the agent is running.
Enabling enforcement doesn’t retroactively unshare or disable agents that were previously shared.
A later publish of an already-shared agent can be blocked if the agent still contains unsafe embedded maker credentials.
Evaluate each environment separately. Agents and flows that depend on components in other environments or tenants can require additional validation.
Dependency-based enforcement can expand over time. Include called agents and flows in your governance and testing process.

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Last updated on 2026-11-04

How the embedded maker credentials sharing control works

When is an agent considered unsafe for sharing?

Prerequisites for configuring agent sharing

Choose a sharing mode