Extend bot-based message extension as plugin for Copilot for Microsoft 365

Note

• Ensure that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available for your organization. You have two ways to get a developer environment for Copilot:
  • A sandbox Microsoft 365 tenant with Copilot (available in limited preview through TAP membership).
  • An eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 production environment with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license.
• Bot-based search message extension plugin is available in public developer preview.
• Only bot-based message extensions with search commands can be extended as plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, powered by an advanced processing and orchestration engine, integrates Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Graph, and large language models (LLMs) to transform your words into a potent productivity tool. Although Copilot for Microsoft 365 can utilize apps and data within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, many users rely on various external tools and services for work management and collaboration. By extending your message extension as a plugin in Copilot for Microsoft 365, you can enable users to interact with third-party tools and services, therefore empowering them to achieve more with Copilot for Microsoft 365. You can achieve this extension by developing a plugin or connecting to an external data source.

See the video to learn more about extending Copilot for Microsoft 365 using Teams message extensions:

What is a plugin?

A plugin allows Copilot for Microsoft 365 to interact directly with third-party data, apps, and services, enhance its capabilities, and broaden its range of capabilities. Plugins allow Copilot for Microsoft 365 to:

• Fetch real-time information, such as the latest news coverage on a product launch.
• Retrieve knowledge-based information, such as a team’s design files in Figma.
• Perform actions on behalf of the user, such as creating a Contoso ticket.

Descriptions enhance the usability and effectiveness of a message extension plugin. The follwoing description offer a clear and concise summary of the app’s features:

• App description: App description helps improve your app discoverability in the Teams Store.
• Command description: Command description maps user intent and utterance to search command inside a plugin and must be built based on the analysis of the user intent and keywords.
• Parameter description: Parameter description explains the requirements of the system in a natural language with output format.
• Semantic description: Semantic description helps Copilot for Micrososft 365 generate content by providing a conceptual understanding of the plugin's capabilities and scenarios where it can help achieve user goals and match user’s intent with the plugin's capabilities.

For more information, see define descriptions.

All bot-based search message extensions are eligible for plugin support, subject to validation to ensure the plugin meets quality, security, privacy, and usefulness expectations. You can create a bot-based search message extension using Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, Teams Toolkit command line interface (CLI), or Developer Portal for Teams and extend the message extension to function as a plugin in Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, ensure that you're familiar with the following standards and guidelines for building message extension plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365:

• Standards for compliance, performance, security, and user experience outlined in Teams Store validation guidelines.

• Guidelines to create or upgrade a message extension plugin for Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Create bot-based message extension

Important

Plugins for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 are in preview and only work in Microsoft 365 Chat in Microsoft Teams.

Let's create a bot-based search message extension that can search npm registries in Teams and Copilot and share results through the compose message area of the Microsoft Teams client.

Visual Studio Code

Before you get started, ensure that you install the following tools to build and deploy your message extension:

• Install the latest Teams Toolkit prerelease version.
• Ensure that the Develop Copilot Plugin feature flag is enabled. To enable the feature flag, follow these steps:
  1. Open Visual Studio Code.
  2. Go to Manage > Settings.
  3. Enter Teams Toolkit in the Search settings search box.
  4. Under Extensions, select the Fx-extension: Develop Copilot Plugin checkbox.

To create a bot-based search message extension plugin using Visual Studio Code, follow these steps:

1. Open Visual Studio Code.

2. From the left pane, select Teams Toolkit.

3. Select Create a New App.

4. Select Message Extension.

5. Select Custom Search Results.

6. Select Start with a Bot.

   

7. Select a programming language.

8. Select Default folder.

9. Enter the name of your app and select Enter. Teams Toolkit scaffolds your app and creates a message extension.

To run your message extension in Teams, follow these steps:

1. From the left pane, select Teams Toolkit.

2. Under ACCOUNTS, perform the following steps:

   1. Select Sign in to Microsoft 365 and enter your Microsoft 365 credentials.

   2. Select Sign in to Azure and enter your Azure credentials.

      

3. From the left pane, select Run and Debug (Ctrl+Shift+D).

4. Select Debug in Teams (Edge) or Debug in Teams (Chrome). Teams Toolkit launches your app in Teams using a web browser.

5. Select Add. The app is installed on Teams.

6. Go to a chat and select Actions and apps.

7. From the message extension fly-out menu, enter the name of your message extension in the search box.

8. Select your message extension and enter your search query.

9. Select a product from the list. Teams unfurls the product as an Adaptive Card in the message compose area.

10. Select Send.

Trigger message extension in M365 Chat

To trigger the message extension as plugin in M365 Chat, follow these steps:

1. Select Apps.

2. Search for M365 Chat and open the M365 Chat app.

3. Select Plugins.

4. From the list of plugins, turn on the toggle for your message extension.

   

5. From the message compose area, send a message to M365 Chat to search for npm package information in Teams and Copilot. For example, find the npm package info on teamsfx-react in npm-searchlocal.

   

Note

This prompt might not always make M365 Chat include a response from your message extension. If it happens, try some other prompts or leave feedback to us by downvoting the M365 Chat response and leave a message.

Visual Studio

Before you get started, ensure that you install the following tools to build and deploy your message extension:

• Install the Visual Studio Enterprise 2022 Preview version 17.9.0 Preview 1.0 or later and install the Microsoft Teams development tools under ASP.NET and web development workload.
• Ensure that the Copilot feature flag is enabled. To enable the feature flag, follow these steps:
  1. Open Visual Studio.
  2. Go to Tools > Options.
  3. Enter Teams Toolkit in the Search Settings search box.
  4. Under Preview Features, select the Teams Toolkit: Develop Copilot Plugin checkbox.

To create a bot-based search message extension plugin using Visual Studio, follow these steps:

1. Open Visual Studio.

2. Go to File > New > Project... or Create a new Project.

3. Search for Teams and select Microsoft Teams App.

4. Select Custom Search Results.

   

5. Select Create. The project is scaffolded.

6. In the debug dropdown menu, select Dev Tunnels > Create a Tunnel.

   
   

   1. Select the account to create the tunnel. Azure, Microsoft Account (MSA), and GitHub are the account types that are supported.
   2. Name: Enter a name for the tunnel.
   3. Tunnel Type: Select Persistent or Temporary.
   4. Access: Select Public.
   5. Select OK. Visual Studio displays a confirmation message that a tunnel is created.

   The tunnel you created is listed under Dev Tunnels > (name of the tunnel).

7. Go to Solution Explorer and select your project.

8. Right-click the project menu and select Teams Toolkit > Prepare Teams App Dependencies.

   

   If prompted, sign in with a Microsoft 365 account.

9. In the debug dropdown menu, select Microsoft Teams (browser). Visual Studio launches Teams web client.

10. Select Add. The message extension is added to Teams.

    

11. Go to a chat and select Actions and apps.

12. From the message extension fly-out menu, enter the name of your message extension in the search box.

13. Select your message extension and enter your search query.

    

14. Select a product from the list. Teams unfurls the product into an Adaptive Card in the message compose area.

15. Select Send. The Adaptive Card is sent to the chat.

    

Trigger message extension in M365 Chat

To trigger the message extension as plugin in M365 Chat, follow these steps:

1. Go to Visual Studio.

2. In the debug dropdown, select Copilot (browser). Visual Studio launches Teams web client.

   

3. Go to Teams web client > Apps.

4. Search for M365 Chat and open the M365 Chat app.

5. Select Plugins.

6. From the list of plugins, turn on the toggle for your app.

   

7. From the message compose area, send a message to M365 Chat to search for npm package information in Teams and Copilot. For example, find the npm package info on teamsfx-react in npmsearchlocal.

   

Note

This prompt might not always make M365 Chat include a response from your message extension. If it happens, try some other prompts or leave feedback to us by downvoting the M365 Chat response and leave a message.

Toolkit CLI

Before you get started, ensure that you set the environment variable DEVELOP_COPILOT_PLUGIN to true. To set the environment variables, follow these steps:

1. On your computer, select the Windows + X key.

2. Select System.

3. Under About > Device specifications, select Advanced system settings.

4. Under System Properties, select Environment Variables...

5. Under User variables, select New... A New User Variable dialog opens.

6. Update the following fields:

   1. Variable name: DEVELOP_COPILOT_PLUGIN
   2. Variable value: true

7. Select OK.

   

To create a bot-based search message extension plugin using Teams Toolkit CLI, follow these steps:

1. Go to Command Prompt.

2. Enter the following command:

   npm install -g @microsoft/teamsfx-cli@beta
   

3. Enter teamsfx new in the terminal.

4. Select Message Extension. Use the arrow keys to switch between options.

   

5. Select Custom Search Results.

6. Select Start with a Bot.

   

7. Enter the location for your project and select Enter.

8. Enter the name of your application and select Enter.

   Teams Toolkit scaffolds and creates a project in the specified location.

9. Go to the folder path where your project is created and enter the following command to provision your app in Azure:

    teamsfx provision --env dev
   

   Teams Toolkit CLI opens a browser window and requests you to sign in to your Microsoft Account.

10. Sign in to your Microsoft account. Teams Toolkit CLI executes validation and provisions your app on Azure.

11. From the list, select a subscription.

    

12. From the list, select a resource group.

13. If you receive a message, which reads Cost may incur according to the usage. Do you want to provision resources in dev environment using accounts listed above?, enter Y.

    

    Teams Toolkit validates your app manifest and provisions your app on Azure.

14. In the command prompt window, enter the following command to preview your app in Teams:

     teamsfx preview --env dev
    

    A new browser window with Teams web client opens. You can add your app to Teams.

15. Select Add. The message extension is added to Teams.

16. Go to a chat and select Actions and apps.

17. From the message extension fly-out menu, enter the name of your message extension in the search box.

18. Select your message extension and enter your search query.

Trigger message extension in M365 Chat

To trigger the message extension through M365 Chat, follow these steps:

1. Select Apps.

2. Search for M365 Chat and open the M365 Chat app.

3. Select Plugins.

4. From the list of plugins, turn on the toggle for your app.

   

5. From the message compose area, send a message to M365 Chat to search for npm package information in Teams and Copilot. For example, find the npm package info on teamsfx-react in npm-searchlocal.

   

Note

This prompt might not always make M365 Chat include a response from your message extension. If it happens, try some other prompts or leave feedback to us by downvoting the M365 Chat response and leave a message tagged with [MessageExtension].

Developer Portal for Teams

To create a bot-based search message extension plugin using Developer portal for Teams, follow these steps:

1. Go to Teams Developer Portal.

2. Go to Apps.

3. Select + New apps.

4. Under Configure, select App features.

5. Select Messaging extension.

   

6. Under Message extension type, select Bot.

   1. If you get a disclaimer, which reads API Message extension is already in use by users. Would you like to change message extension type to bot?. Select Yes, change.

   

7. If you have an existing bot, select Existing bot or if you have a bot ID, select Enter Bot ID.

   1. If you don't have a Bot ID, you can select Create a new bot, to create a new bot and enter the bot ID of the new bot that you've created.

   

8. Select Save.

9. Under Command, select + Add a command.

   Add a command page appears.

10. In the Add a command page, select the Search as the type of command and update the following fields:

    • Command ID
    • Command title
    • Command description
    • Context in which the command works
    • Parameter name
    • Parameter title
    • Parameter description

11. Select Save. The command is added to the message extension.

12. Select Save.

A bot-based search message extension is created.

To test your bot-based message extension created in the Developer Portal for Teams, you can use the following methods:

• Preview in Teams: In Developer Portal, open your message extension and select Preview in Teams in the upper-right corner. You'll be redirected to Teams, where you can add the app to Teams to preview the app.

• Download app package: On the message extension page, select App package from the left pane and then, in the upper-left corner of the window, select Download app package. The app package is downloaded to your local machine in a .zip file. You can upload the app package to teams and test the message extension.

For more on testing your plugin in Copilot for Microsoft 365 chat, see Debugging plugin selection.

Step-by-step guide

Follow the step-by-step guide to build a bot-based search message extension plugin for M365 Chat.

See also

• Build message extensions using API
• Define message extension action commands
• Extend Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365