Available knowledge sources for agents

The new agent experience supports several types of knowledge sources. Each type connects your agent to different kinds of content and data.

Note

Features in this article are powered by the GitHub Copilot harness, which uses Copilot Credits for usage-based billing. Learn more about Copilot Credits in Overview of billing for agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.

Usage-based billing applies to using, building, testing, and evaluating agents. These actions might consume Copilot Credits.

Note

A knowledge source is content the maker makes available to the agent at design time, so every user gets the same grounding. If instead you want an end user to bring their own file into a single conversation - for example, a PDF to summarize - that's an attachment, not a knowledge source. See Attach files to a conversation.

Knowledge source types

When you select Add knowledge on the Build tab, the dialog presents sources organized into Featured and Advanced tabs, plus a file upload area.

Uploaded files

• Drag and drop or upload documents directly to the agent. Supported file types include PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• The file upload area appears at the top of the Add knowledge dialog.
• Upload files as a knowledge source

Public websites (Featured)

• Add public website URLs. The agent can reference publicly accessible web content.
• Add a public website as a knowledge source

SharePoint (Featured)

• Connect to SharePoint sites, document libraries, and specific files. The agent can search and reference content stored in SharePoint.
• Add SharePoint as a knowledge source

ServiceNow (Featured)

• Connect to ServiceNow to let the agent reference service management content.

Confluence (Advanced)

• Connect to Confluence workspaces to let the agent reference team documentation and knowledge base articles.

Jira (Copilot connector)

• Connect to Jira to let the agent reference issues, bugs, and project tracking content.

Azure DevOps Work Items (Copilot connector)

• Connect to Azure DevOps to let the agent reference work items, bugs, and backlog content.

Note

Other knowledge source types, such as Dataverse, Azure AI Search, and Copilot connectors, might be available depending on your environment and licensing. The sources shown in the Add knowledge dialog can vary.

Dataverse

• Connect to Dataverse tables to let the agent query structured business data.
• Add Dataverse as a knowledge source

Azure AI Search

• Connect to an Azure AI Search index for enterprise-scale search over large document collections.
• Use Azure AI Search as a knowledge source

Copilot connectors

• Use Copilot connectors to bring in data from non-Microsoft services indexed for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Use Copilot connectors as a knowledge source

Choose the right knowledge source

Source type	Best for
Uploaded files	Specific documents you want the agent to reference directly
Public websites	Product documentation, FAQs, public reference material
SharePoint	Internal documents, policies, and team content
ServiceNow	Service management content and knowledge base articles
Confluence	Team documentation and collaboration content
Dataverse	Structured business data (records, tables)
Azure AI Search	Large document collections needing enterprise search
Copilot connectors	Non-Microsoft data indexed for Microsoft 365
Jira	Issues, bugs, and project tracking content
Azure DevOps Work Items	Work items, bugs, and backlog content

Related information

• Knowledge overview for agents
• Add knowledge to an agent
• Manage knowledge sources in an agent