Create a flow

Learn how to use a cloud flow in Copilot Studio by giving an agent the ability to produce a weather forecast on request. In this first example, you create a flow that fetches a weather forecast. In the next example, you set up a topic to call the flow as an action so the agent can respond with the forecast when a customer asks about the weather.

To work with agents, a Power Automate flow requires the following flow trigger and response action:

• Flow trigger: Run a flow from Copilot
• Response action: Respond to Copilot

When you create a flow from Copilot Studio, the required flow trigger and response action are added for you. You can modify an existing flow for use with agents by updating it to use these trigger and action.

მნიშვნელოვანი

To use cloud flows in custom agents in Copilot Studio, the flows must:

• Have the Run a flow from Copilot trigger.
• Be located in a solution within the same environment as the agent. Existing flows can be added to a solution to be available when adding actions to your agent.
• Return a response synchronously with the Respond to Copilot action, within the 100-second action limit. To avoid timeouts, optimize the flow logic, queries, and the amount of data returned so that a typical run is below this limit. Actions that need to run longer can be placed after the Respond to Copilot action to continue executing for up to the flow run duration limit, which is typically 30 days.

Prerequisites

• Access to Copilot Studio with a license that includes the use of flows in Copilot Studio.

Create a flow to use with an agent

1. Go to the Topics page for your agent.

2. Open the topic from which you want to call a flow.

3. Select the Add node icon below any node, and select Add an action.

4. On the Basic actions tab, select New Power Automate flow.

   The Power Automate portal opens in a new tab, with a starter flow template open for editing. The portal opens in the same environment as the agent and uses the same user credentials.

   Now add actions to your flow. In this example, you add an action that fetches the current forecast from MSN Weather.

5. Select the name of the flow and replace it with "Get weather forecast".

6. Select the Run a flow from Copilot flow trigger and add the following input parameters:

   • City (Text)
   • ZIP code (Number)

   

7. Select the Add icon below the Run a flow from Copilot flow trigger.

8. In Add an action, search for "MSN weather", and select the Get forecast for today action.

9. In the Get forecast for today panel, in the Location box, enter a slash (/), select Insert dynamic content, and then select your City input parameter.

10. Proceed in the same fashion to add your ZIP code input parameter.

11. In the Respond to Copilot action, add the following output parameters and variables:

    Output parameter	Type	Variable
    day_summary	Text	Day Summary
    location	Text	Location
    chance_of_rain	Number	Day Rain Chance

    

12. Save and publish the flow.

13. Go back to your topic in Copilot Studio and follow the instructions in Call a flow from a topic.

Manage which connections are used by the flow

In a supported authenticated agent, cloud flows can be configured to use user credentials when they're run as part of a generative orchestration plan or called from a topic. Using the flow in a supported channel doesn't require any special configuration in your agent. Customers are able to manage their connections while using the agent.

Cloud flows in environments using customer-managed keys (CMK) can't yet be run with customer credentials as part of generative orchestration plans or from topics. Ensure the run-only settings for cloud flows in CMK environments are set to specific connections instead of Provided by run-only user.

Modify an existing flow to use with an agent

If you have a flow with a different trigger that you wish to use with your agent, you can change the flow to use the Run a flow from Copilot trigger and Respond to Copilot response action, and make sure it's in a solution in the same environment as the custom agent.

1. Go to the Power Automate portal and use the environment selector at the top right to choose the environment where your flow is stored.

2. Select My flows in the left navigation pane and search for the flow you want to modify.

3. Select your flow, and select Edit.

   

Add the Copilot trigger and response action

If your flow doesn't already include the required flow trigger and response action, you must add them before you can use the flow with your agent.

1. Select New step.

2. Search for Copilot and select Run a flow from Copilot.

3. Select New step.

4. Search for the Copilot connector and select Respond to Copilot. The response action can be used at multiple branches in the flow, but must have the same outputs at each usage.

5. Save and publish the flow.

Ensure response action is set to return in real time

Flows that you want to use in an agent must return values in real time, or synchronously. Flows that run in the background, or asynchronously, might cause an error when your agent tries to run them. Instead of running the flow, the agent says, "Something unexpected happened. We're looking into it. Error code: 3000."

When you create a flow from Copilot Studio, asynchronous responses are turned off by default. If you modified an existing flow that has asynchronous responses turned on, follow these steps to check the setting and ensure it's turned off:

1. Open your flow and find the Respond to Copilot actions.

2. Select the Settings tab.

3. Set Asynchronous Response to Off, and then select Save.

   

Add the flow to a solution

To be available to agents, flows must be stored in a solution in the same Power Platform environment. If a flow is in a solution, a Solutions tile is visible on the flow's detail page that lists which solutions the flow is in. Flows can be added to the Default Solution for use with agents, or moved into a different solution using the below steps:

1. Go to Power Automate.

2. Go to Solutions and either select an existing solution or create a solution for your flow.

3. If you want to create a new solution:

   1. Select New solution.

   2. Give your new solution a name, select CDS Default Publisher in the Publisher field, and enter a Version number.

      

   3. Select Create.

4. If you want to add your flow to an existing solution, select the desired solution, and select Edit.

5. Select Add existing > Automation > Cloud flow.

   

   The Add existing flows panel appears.

6. Select your flow, and then select Add.

   

Related content

• Call a flow as an action
• Use input and output variables to pass information
• Add user authentication to topics