Publish agent to Microsoft Admin Center

Important

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The a365 publish command publishes your agent to the Microsoft 365 admin center, making it available for creating agent instances within your organization and also makes the agent easily governable.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

Required accounts and permissions

• Microsoft Entra tenant with one of the following roles:
  • Global Administrator
  • Agent ID Administrator
  • Agent ID Developer
• Azure subscription with contributor or owner access

Required tools

• Azure CLI installed and authenticated (Install Azure CLI)
• A365 CLI installed (Agent 365 CLI)

Required setup steps

Before publishing, ensure you complete these steps in order:

1. Agent blueprint created - Complete the setup step to create your agent blueprint.
2. Agent tested locally - Verify your agent works correctly with Agents Playground (see Test agents locally)
3. Configuration files ready - Ensure a365.config.json and a365.generated.config.json are up to date

Publish command

Run the following command:

a365 publish

Note

Running a365 publish -h shows all the options and sub-commands that this command supports.

What this command does:

1. Extracts manifest templates from embedded resources (if manifest folder doesn't exist)
2. Updates manifest - Updates manifest.json with agent blueprint ID
3. Customization pause - Allows you to customize version, names, descriptions, and icons
4. Creates package - Packages your agent app bundle as manifest.zip
5. Uploads to admin center - Publishes to Microsoft 365 admin center
6. Configures identity - Creates federated identity for Teams integration
7. Assigns permissions - Applies necessary Graph permissions

Expected output:

You should see progress messages for:

• Manifest extraction and updates
• Customization prompt (press Enter after reviewing)
• Package creation
• Upload to admin center
• Identity and permission configuration

Customize manifest

The CLI pauses during publishing to allow you to customize your agent manifest:

=== CUSTOMIZE YOUR AGENT MANIFEST ===

Your manifest has been updated at: [path]\manifest\manifest.json

When you're done customizing, type 'continue' (or 'c') and press Enter to proceed:

Manual steps:

1. Open manifest.json in your text editor

2. Customize the required fields:

   • Update version number. Increment from previous if reuploading.
   • Set meaningful agent name. The names should be equal to or fewer than 30 characters.
   • Write clear descriptions
   • Update developer information
   • Optionally replace icon files

3. Save the manifest file

4. Return to the CLI and type continue or c and press Enter.

Verify agent availability

If everything goes as expected, the CLI completes the publishing process and your agent is now available in Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

You can view your published agent here: Microsoft 365 Admin Center - Agents

Next steps

After you publish your agent, create an instance so it can be configured and used in your tenant.

Learn how to create an agent instance.