Overview of the Declarative Agent template

With the declarative agent, you can build a custom version of Copilot that can be used for specific scenarios, such as for specialized knowledge, implementing specific processes, or simply to save time by reusing a set of AI prompts. For example, a grocery shopping Copilot declarative agent can be used to create a grocery list based on a meal plan that you send to Copilot.

Get started with the template

Prerequisites

To run this app template in your local dev machine, you will need:

• Node.js, supported versions: 18, 20, 22
• A Microsoft 365 account for development.
• Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit Visual Studio Code Extension version 5.0.0 and higher or Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit CLI
• Microsoft 365 Copilot license

1. First, select the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit icon on the left in the VS Code toolbar.
2. In the Account section, sign in with your Microsoft 365 account if you haven't already.
3. Create app by clicking Provision in "Lifecycle" section.
4. Select Preview in Copilot (Edge) or Preview in Copilot (Chrome) from the launch configuration dropdown.
5. Once the Copilot agent is loaded in the browser, click on the "…" menu and select "Copilot chats". You will see your declarative agent on the right rail. Clicking on it will change the experience to showcase the logo and name of your declarative agent.
6. Ask a question to your declarative agent and it should respond based on the instructions provided.

What's included in the template

Folder	Contents
.vscode	VSCode files for debugging
appPackage	Templates for the application manifest, the GPT manifest and the API specification
env	Environment files

The following files can be customized and demonstrate an example implementation to get you started.

File	Contents
appPackage/declarativeAgent.json	Define the behaviour and configurations of the declarative agent.
appPackage/manifest.json	application manifest that defines metadata for your declarative agent.

The following are Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit specific project files. You can visit a complete guide on Github to understand how Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit works.

File	Contents
m365agents.yml	This is the main Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit project file. The project file defines two primary things: Properties and configuration Stage definitions.

Extend the template

• Add conversation starters: Conversation starters are hints that are displayed to the user to demonstrate how they can get started using the declarative agent.
• Add web content for the ability to search web information.
• Add OneDrive and SharePoint content as grounding knowledge for the agent.
• Add Microsoft Copilot connectors content to ground agent with enterprise knowledge.
• Add API plugins for agent to interact with REST APIs.

Addition information and references

• Declarative agents for Microsoft 365