Visual Framework

Interactive decision trees to guide Microsoft AI technology selection.

Use these diagrams after working through the Decision Framework and Evaluation Criteria. They reinforce the nine critical questions and are designed to support workshops, architecture reviews, and executive readouts.

Table of contents

  1. Diagram Index
  2. Complete Decision Flow
  3. Persona-Based Flow
  4. Data Grounding Decision
  5. Complexity Assessment Flow
  6. Budget & Timeline Tradeoffs
  7. Governance & Compliance Path
  8. Multi-Agent Orchestration
  9. Upgrade Paths
  10. Lifecycle Check
  11. IQ Layer Selection

Diagram Index

Diagram Purpose Maps To Framework
1. Complete Decision Flow End-to-end technology selection Phase 2: Q1-Q9 - All nine critical questions
2. Data Grounding Decision Data strategy and knowledge sources Phase 2: Q3 - Data grounding patterns
3. Persona-Based Flow Selection by role and skill level Phase 2: Q2 - Build approach + Scenarios
4. Complexity Assessment Technical complexity evaluation Evaluation Criteria: Complexity
5. Budget & Timeline Cost and time-to-production paths Evaluation Criteria: Budget & Time
6. Governance & Compliance Security and compliance requirements Evaluation Criteria: Governance
7. Multi-Agent Orchestration Multi-agent patterns and frameworks Quick Reference: Orchestration Complexity
8. Upgrade Paths Migration and progressive enhancement Implementation Patterns: Progressive Enhancement
9. Lifecycle Check Pre-flight readiness gate Evaluation Criteria: Lifecycle & Operational Readiness
10. IQ Layer Selection Knowledge grounding domain selection Microsoft AI Stack: Microsoft IQ

Complete Decision Flow

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes in the embedded explorer below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Start: Need AI Solution]) --> Q1{User interaction
pattern?} Q1 -->|Conversational/Chat UI| UI_Path[UI-Based Agent] Q1 -->|Autonomous/Event-driven| Auto_Path[Autonomous Agent] Q1 -->|API/Headless Service| API_Path[Headless Service] UI_Path --> Q2{Where will users
interact?} Q2 -->|M365 apps only| M365[M365 Copilot] Q2 -->|Teams + custom| Q3{Build approach?} Q2 -->|Multi-channel| Q3 Q3 -->|Low-code| Studio[Copilot Studio] Q3 -->|Pro-code| Q4{Primary platform?} Q4 -->|M365-centric| SDK[M365 Agents SDK] Q4 -->|Azure-centric| Q4Azure{Need custom UI
protocol?} Q4Azure -->|Yes| AGUI[Agent Framework + AG-UI
Preview] Q4Azure -->|No| Foundry[Microsoft Foundry - Azure] Auto_Path --> Q5{Build approach?} Q5 -->|Low-code| StudioAuto[Copilot Studio
with Event Triggers] Q5 -->|Pro-code| Q6{Primary workflow type?} Q6 -->|Enterprise integration| LogicApps[Azure Logic Apps
agentic workflows
Consumption Preview] Q6 -->|Custom orchestration| Foundry API_Path --> Q7{Hosting preference?} Q7 -->|Managed PaaS| AgentService[Foundry Agent Service] Q7 -->|Self-hosted| Foundry Q7 -->|Local/Edge| WinAI[Microsoft Foundry - Windows
Local] M365 --> DataQ{Need custom data?} Studio --> DataQ StudioAuto --> DataQ SDK --> DataQ AGUI --> DataQ Foundry --> DataQ LogicApps --> DataQ AgentService --> DataQ DataQ -->|M365 data| GraphConn[Graph Connectors] DataQ -->|Documents| AISearch[Azure AI Search
Agentic retrieval GA via REST
portal Preview] DataQ -->|Structured data| VectorDB{Vector DB choice?} DataQ -->|Analytics data| Fabric[Microsoft Fabric] DataQ -->|No grounding| DirectDeploy VectorDB -->|Global scale NoSQL| CosmosDB[Cosmos DB
IVF/HNSW/DiskANN] VectorDB -->|Relational, OSS| PostgreSQL[PostgreSQL
pgvector] VectorDB -->|SQL Database Engine| SQLFamily{Where does
SQL run?} SQLFamily -->|Cloud PaaS| AzureSQL[Azure SQL Database
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview] SQLFamily -->|Lift-and-shift PaaS| SQLMI[Azure SQL MI
Verify vector features
per update policy] SQLFamily -->|On-prem / VM| SQLServer[SQL Server 2025
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview
PREVIEW_FEATURES required] SQLFamily -->|Fabric-native| SQLFabric[SQL database in Fabric
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview] GraphConn --> DeployConfig AISearch --> DeployConfig CosmosDB --> DeployConfig PostgreSQL --> DeployConfig AzureSQL --> DeployConfig SQLMI --> DeployConfig SQLServer --> DeployConfig SQLFabric --> DeployConfig Fabric --> DeployConfig DirectDeploy --> DeployConfig DeployConfig[Configure Deployment] --> Q8{Deployment needs?} Q8 -->|M365 Copilot| Deploy_M365[Publish to M365 Copilot] Q8 -->|Teams| Deploy_Teams[Publish to Teams] Q8 -->|Web/Mobile| Deploy_Web[Web/Mobile Channels] Q8 -->|Multiple channels| Deploy_Multi[Multi-channel:
10+ channels via SDK] Q8 -->|Azure service| Deploy_Azure[Azure Container Apps/
App Service/AKS] Deploy_M365 --> Monitor[Monitor & Govern] Deploy_Teams --> Monitor Deploy_Web --> Monitor Deploy_Multi --> Monitor Deploy_Azure --> Monitor Monitor --> End([Production]) style M365 fill:#004578,color:#fff style Studio fill:#004578,color:#fff style StudioAuto fill:#004578,color:#fff style SDK fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style Foundry fill:#a52617,color:#fff style AGUI fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style LogicApps fill:#004578,color:#fff style AgentService fill:#a52617,color:#fff style WinAI fill:#004578,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

Read the status column, not the product name. Copilot Studio’s GitHub Copilot harness is GA as of 2026-08-03, as are generative orchestration (within the standard harness), computer use, A2A, and scheduled prompts. Its autonomous/triggered agents, child agents, connected agents, Foundry agents, and M365 Agents SDK agents are not documented as GA, and memory remains preview. Treat every trigger-driven design as Preview until you confirm the specific feature. (Copilot Studio what’s new)

UI-Based Agents (GA unless noted)

Technology Action Safety Proactive Description
M365 Copilot 🔒 User-in-the-loop always 🔄 Reactive only Conversational chat in M365 apps (docs)
Copilot Studio ⚠️ Actions can execute (add approval workflows) 🔄 Reactive (conversational) or ✅ Autonomous (event triggers) Low-code, 13+ channels (docs)
M365 Agents SDK ⚠️ Custom action safety design ✅ Proactive capable Pro-code, 10+ channels, C#/JS/Python, BYO orchestrator (docs)
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) ⚠️ Autonomous planning loops ✅ Proactive capable Custom UI deployment (docs)
Agent Framework + AG-UI (Preview) ⚠️ Approvals via AG-UI middleware ✅ Proactive capable (inherits host orchestration) Protocol bridges agents to web/mobile UI with SSE streaming, backend tool rendering, shared state, and CopilotKit components (docs)

Autonomous Agents

Technology Action Safety Proactive Description
Copilot Studio (event triggers) ⚠️ Actions can execute ⚠️ Triggered execution, not documented as GA Event triggers: SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, Recurrence. Scheduled prompts reached GA 2026-07-01; triggered/autonomous agents carry no GA statement (docs)
Logic Apps agentic workflows ⚠️ Autonomous execution ✅ Proactive (event-driven) Official terms are “agentic workflows” and “agent loop”. Consumption is explicitly in preview. Standard carries no preview banner on the agent loop, but Microsoft never states Standard is GA and specific Standard capabilities are marked preview. Check the exact capability (docs)
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) Agent Service ⚠️ Autonomous planning loops ✅ Proactive capable Custom orchestration (docs)

API/Headless Services (GA)

Technology Action Safety Proactive Description
Foundry Agent Service ⚠️ Autonomous planning loops ✅ Proactive capable REST API, managed PaaS (docs)
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) ⚠️ Autonomous planning loops ✅ Proactive capable REST API deployment (docs)

Vector Databases

Technology Status Capabilities
Cosmos DB GA date not stated in docs Flat/kNN, quantized flat, DiskANN index types; must be enabled as a feature. Ultra-high-throughput vector search is Private Preview (docs)
PostgreSQL pgvector GA azure_ai extension also enables in-database embedding generation and LLM calls (docs)
Azure SQL Database VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Native vector type and VECTOR_DISTANCE() ship alongside it. Their status is documented separately, so verify before you assume. TOP_N is deprecated (docs)
Azure SQL MI Not covered by the VECTOR_SEARCH preview note Same SQL Database Engine; requires Always-up-to-date or SQL Server 2025 update policy. Verify vector feature availability for your update policy (docs)
SQL Server 2025 VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Additionally requires the PREVIEW_FEATURES database scoped configuration (docs)
SQL database in Fabric VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Fabric-native SQL, same engine capabilities (docs)

Sources: Complete Decision Flow

Persona-Based Flow

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Who are you?]) --> P1{Your role?} P1 -->|End user| User[Use M365 Copilot] P1 -->|Business maker| Maker{Dev support?} P1 -->|Developer| Dev{Focus area?} P1 -->|Data scientist/analyst| DS{Primary workload?} P1 -->|Integration specialist| IntSpec[Azure Logic Apps
agentic workflows
Consumption Preview] Maker -->|No devs| MakerStudio[Copilot Studio] Maker -->|Occasional help| MakerPlus[Studio + Custom Actions] Dev -->|M365 integration| DevM365[M365 Agents SDK] Dev -->|Azure services| DevAzure[Microsoft Foundry - Azure] Dev -->|Multi-agent orchestration| DevOrch[Agent Framework] Dev -->|Multi-platform| DevChoice{Skill level?} Dev -->|Autonomous agents| DevAuto{Event-driven?} Dev -->|Custom UI streaming| DevAGUI[Agent Framework + AG-UI
Preview] Dev -->|My own codebase| DevLoop{Which rung of
the developer loop?} DevLoop -->|Stay in the editor| DevIDE[GitHub Copilot agent mode
in VS Code or Visual Studio] DevLoop -->|Delegate a whole issue| DevCloud[Copilot cloud agent
GA on paid plans
not on Copilot Free] DevLoop -->|Specialize the agent| DevCustom[Custom agents
plus AGENTS.md
agent instructions] DevLoop -->|Build on the harness| DevGHSDK[GitHub Copilot SDK
GA - six languages
Foundry hosting Python and C sharp only] DevChoice -->|Mid-level| DevStudio[Copilot Studio
+ Custom Actions] DevChoice -->|Senior| DevSDK[M365 SDK or Foundry] DevAuto -->|Yes| DevLogic[Logic Apps
agentic workflows
Consumption Preview] DevAuto -->|Custom orchestration| DevFoundry[Microsoft Foundry - Azure
+ Agent Service] DS -->|Analytics/BI| DSFabric[Fabric data agents
GA - needs F2+ or P1+] DS -->|ML/Custom models| DSFoundry[Microsoft Foundry - Azure] User --> UserEnd([Start using Copilot]) MakerStudio --> MakerEnd([Build in Studio]) MakerPlus --> MakerPlusEnd([Studio + code]) DevM365 --> DevM365End([Build with SDK]) DevAzure --> DevAzureEnd([Build in Foundry]) DevOrch --> DevOrchEnd([Multi-agent workflows]) DevStudio --> DevStudioEnd([Studio with code]) DevSDK --> DevSDKEnd([Full code solution]) DevLogic --> DevLogicEnd([Event-driven agent]) DevFoundry --> DevFoundryEnd([Custom agent]) DevAGUI --> DevAGUIEnd([Custom streaming UI]) DevIDE --> DevIDEEnd([Inner loop assist]) DevCloud --> DevCloudEnd([Issue in, pull request out]) DevCustom --> DevCustomEnd([Repo-scoped specialists]) DevGHSDK --> DevGHSDKEnd([Agent as a product]) DSFabric --> DSFabricEnd([Data agent]) DSFoundry --> DSFoundryEnd([ML pipeline]) IntSpec --> IntSpecEnd([Enterprise workflows]) style User fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style MakerStudio fill:#004578,color:#fff style MakerPlus fill:#004578,color:#fff style DevM365 fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevAzure fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevOrch fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevLogic fill:#004578,color:#fff style DevFoundry fill:#a52617,color:#fff style DevAGUI fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevIDE fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevCloud fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevCustom fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style DevGHSDK fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style DSFabric fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style DSFoundry fill:#a52617,color:#fff style IntSpec fill:#004578,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary - Persona-Based Flow

P1 is a node id, not a taxonomy. Microsoft does not use “1P/3P” as documented terminology. The documented ownership taxonomy is the Agent Registry four types: Microsoft agents (“built and maintained by Microsoft”) · External partner-built agents (“built by trusted non-Microsoft developers”) · Published by your org (“custom agents approved and published by your organization… might be referred to as LOB agents”) · Shared by creator (“created and shared by individual users or developers at your organization”). Learn those four; map the slang once if you must. (Agent Registry)

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

End User (GA)

Technology Description Documentation
M365 Copilot Built-in AI in M365 apps, no setup required M365 Copilot

Business Maker (GA)

Technology Description Documentation
Copilot Studio Low-code platform, no dev support needed Copilot Studio
Copilot Studio + Custom Actions Low-code with occasional developer support for custom connectors/flows Add tools to custom agents

Developer (GA unless noted)

Technology Description Documentation
M365 Agents SDK Pro-code for M365-centric solutions, C#/JavaScript/Python, 10+ channels, BYO orchestrator M365 Agents SDK
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) Pro-code for Azure-centric solutions, custom models, full control Microsoft Foundry
Microsoft Agent Framework Microsoft’s investment direction - Microsoft describes it as the “direct successor” and “next generation of both” Semantic Kernel and AutoGen. Orchestration patterns: Sequential, Concurrent, Handoff, Group Chat, Magentic. Languages: Python, C#/.NET, and Go (Public Preview). No sunset date has been announced for Semantic Kernel or AutoGen. Agent Framework
Agent Framework + AG-UI (Preview) Protocol layer for web/mobile clients, supports SSE streaming, backend tool rendering, human approvals, shared/predictive state, and CopilotKit components. AG-UI Integration
Copilot Studio + Custom Actions Mid-level developers, low-code with custom code extensibility Add tools to custom agents
Logic Apps agentic workflows Event-driven agent loop, 1,400+ connectors. Consumption is explicitly in preview. Standard shows no preview banner on the agent loop, but Microsoft never states Standard is GA and some Standard capabilities are marked preview. Logic Apps agentic workflows

Developer: The Codebase Loop (Bucket 3)

The Trade-off: Speed of the inner loop vs. ownership of the harness. The four rungs below are the developer-loop journey from the Capability Model. Each rung buys asynchrony and costs governance.

Rung Technology Status and limits Documentation
1. Assist in the editor GitHub Copilot agent mode GA in VS Code and Visual Studio Copilot agents in VS Code
2. Delegate the issue Copilot cloud agent (renamed from “coding agent”) GA on all paid plans including Student; NOT available on Copilot Free About Copilot cloud agent
3. Specialize the agent Custom agents (.md + YAML frontmatter) and AGENTS.md, which GitHub calls “agent instructions” Custom agents are GA for the cloud agent, VS Code, and Visual Studio; Public Preview for JetBrains, Eclipse, and Xcode. GitHub’s own caveat on agent instructions: “currently not supported by all Copilot features.” Custom agents
4. Build on the harness GitHub Copilot SDK GA. Python, TypeScript, Go, .NET, Java, Rust. Wraps the Copilot CLI engine over JSON-RPC. BYOK: OpenAI, Microsoft Foundry, Anthropic. Copilot SDK

The seam has a hard edge. Microsoft Foundry Agent Service explicitly lists the GitHub Copilot SDK as a supported framework for Hosted agents, but Foundry Hosted agents support Python and C# only. The SDK ships six language bindings; Foundry hosting accepts two. A Go, Rust, Java, or TypeScript Copilot SDK agent is not directly hostable as a Foundry Hosted agent. Pick the language at rung 4 with rung 5 already in mind.

Data Scientist/Analyst

Technology Description Documentation
Fabric data agents GA (formerly “AI skill”). Analytics/BI focus, Python SDK, evaluation capabilities, Power BI/semantic models. Requires F2+ or P1+ capacity. Fabric data agent | Python SDK
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) ML/custom models, full AI/ML pipeline control Microsoft Foundry

Integration Specialist

Technology Description Documentation
Logic Apps agentic workflows Enterprise integration focus, 1,400+ connectors, workflow automation. Consumption agentic workflows are explicitly in preview; Standard has no preview banner on the agent loop, but Microsoft never states Standard is GA. Verify the exact capability you plan to use. Logic Apps Overview | Agentic workflows

Sources: Persona-Based Flow

Data Grounding Decision

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes in the embedded explorer below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Need to ground AI]) --> Q1{Where is
your data?} Q1 -->|M365 only| M365Data{Data type?} Q1 -->|Azure only| AzureData{Data type?} Q1 -->|Both| Hybrid{Primary
location?} Q1 -->|Analytics platform| FabricData[Microsoft Fabric] M365Data -->|SharePoint, OneDrive| Graph[Microsoft Graph Connectors] M365Data -->|Teams messages| GraphTeams[Graph Connectors] M365Data -->|Custom M365 app| GraphCustom[Custom Graph Connector] AzureData -->|Documents, PDFs| Q2{File count?} AzureData -->|Structured DB| DB{Database?} AzureData -->|Unstructured| Blob[Blob Storage with AI Search] Q2 -->|Under 10,000 files
Simple setup| FileSearch{Platform?} Q2 -->|Production scale
Custom chunking| Search[Azure AI Search] Q2 -->|Multimodal content| ContentUnderstanding[Azure AI Content Understanding
with AI Search
Preview] FileSearch -->|Azure Agent Service| AgentFileSearch[Agent Service File Search
Auto chunk and embed] FileSearch -->|Copilot Studio| StudioKnowledge[Studio Knowledge Base
Up to 1,000 files
SharePoint or OneDrive] DB -->|Global scale, NoSQL| Cosmos{Vector algorithm?} DB -->|Relational, OSS| Postgres[PostgreSQL with pgvector] DB -->|SQL Database Engine| SQLFamily{Where does
your SQL run?} SQLFamily -->|Cloud PaaS| AzureSQL[Azure SQL Database
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview] SQLFamily -->|Lift-and-shift PaaS| SQLMI[Azure SQL MI
Verify vector features
per update policy] SQLFamily -->|On-prem / VM| SQL[SQL Server 2025
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview
PREVIEW_FEATURES required] SQLFamily -->|Fabric-native| SQLFabric[SQL database in Fabric
VECTOR_SEARCH Preview] Cosmos -->|Flat index| CosmosIVF[Cosmos DB flat kNN] Cosmos -->|Quantized| CosmosHNSW[Cosmos DB quantized flat] Cosmos -->|Disk-optimized| CosmosDiskANN[Cosmos DB DiskANN] Hybrid -->|M365 primary| HybridM365[Graph with BYOK] Hybrid -->|Azure primary| HybridAzure[AI Search with Graph API] FabricData --> Q3{Access method?} Q3 -->|Direct platform access| FabricPlatform[Fabric Lakehouse and Warehouse
OneLake with SQL endpoint] Q3 -->|Conversational agent| FabricAgent[Fabric data agents
GA - needs F2+ or P1+] Graph --> Platform{Which
platform?} GraphTeams --> Platform GraphCustom --> Platform AgentFileSearch --> Platform StudioKnowledge --> Platform Search --> Platform ContentUnderstanding --> Platform CosmosIVF --> Platform CosmosHNSW --> Platform CosmosDiskANN --> Platform Postgres --> Platform AzureSQL --> Platform SQLMI --> Platform SQL --> Platform SQLFabric --> Platform Blob --> Platform HybridM365 --> Platform HybridAzure --> Platform FabricPlatform --> Platform FabricAgent --> Platform Platform -->|M365 Copilot| PlatformM365([Use built-in]) Platform -->|Copilot Studio| PlatformStudio([Configure Studio]) Platform -->|M365 SDK| PlatformSDK([Code integration]) Platform -->|Microsoft Foundry Azure| PlatformFoundry([Configure Foundry]) Platform -->|Logic Apps| PlatformLogicApps([MCP Server
Connector]) style Graph fill:#004578,color:#fff style AgentFileSearch fill:#004578,color:#fff style StudioKnowledge fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style Search fill:#004578,color:#fff style ContentUnderstanding fill:#006192,color:#fff style CosmosIVF fill:#004578,color:#fff style CosmosHNSW fill:#004578,color:#fff style CosmosDiskANN fill:#004578,color:#fff style Postgres fill:#004578,color:#fff style AzureSQL fill:#004578,color:#fff style SQLMI fill:#004578,color:#fff style SQL fill:#004578,color:#fff style SQLFabric fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style FabricPlatform fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style FabricAgent fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary - Data Grounding Decision

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

M365 Data Sources (GA)

Technology Capabilities Documentation
Microsoft Graph Connectors M365 data sources (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams) Graph Connectors Overview

Document Processing - File Search (GA)

Technology Capabilities Documentation
Foundry Agent Service File Search Tool Built-in file search with automatic parsing, chunking (800 tokens/400 overlap), embedding (text-embedding-3-large), keyword + semantic search, reranking. Supports up to 10,000 files per vector store (max 512 MB/file). Two modes: Basic (Microsoft-managed) vs Standard (BYO Azure AI Search + Blob Storage). Supported formats: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .pptx, .py, .md, .txt, .json, .html, .java, .cs, .cpp, and more. Service handles entire ingestion automatically. Agent Service File Search
Copilot Studio Knowledge Base File upload from local/OneDrive/SharePoint. Supports .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .pdf, .xls, .xlsx, .txt, .md, .html, .csv, .xml. Max 512 MB per file. Direct uploads allow up to 500 files per agent, while each SharePoint/OneDrive document source supports up to 1,000 files. Automatic chunking and vectorization into Dataverse with semantic indexing. OneDrive/SharePoint: Auto-sync (updates reflected automatically) vs Upload: Static files. SharePoint: User-scoped permissions (only files user has access to). Copilot Studio Knowledge | File Upload | SharePoint Files | Quotas and limits

Document Processing - Production Scale (GA)

Technology Capabilities Documentation
Azure AI Search Document indexing, full-text search, vector search, hybrid queries, custom chunking strategies (fixed-size, variable-size, Document Layout skill). Requires manual setup of indexers, skillsets, chunking strategy. Production-scale scenarios with millions of documents. AI Search Overview | Chunking Strategies

Document Processing - Multimodal (Preview)

Technology Capabilities Documentation
Azure AI Content Understanding Multimodal processing (documents/images/audio/video), RAG-ready Markdown output, AI Search custom skill integration, built-in chunking, standard/pro modes. API version: 2025-05-01-preview. Content Understanding Overview | Multimodal Search

Structured Databases - Vector Search

Technology Status Capabilities Documentation
Cosmos DB Vector Search GA date is not stated in the docs. Treat the silence as silence Three index types: flat/kNN, quantized flat, DiskANN. Must be enabled as a feature. Ultra-high-throughput vector search is Private Preview Cosmos DB Vector Search
PostgreSQL pgvector GA The azure_ai extension additionally enables in-database embedding generation and LLM calls. There is no “PostgreSQL agent” product PostgreSQL Vector Search
Azure SQL Database VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Native vector type and VECTOR_DISTANCE() are documented separately. Do not assume they inherit the same status. TOP_N is deprecated VECTOR_SEARCH
Azure SQL Managed Instance Not named in the VECTOR_SEARCH preview note Same SQL Database Engine; requires Always-up-to-date or SQL Server 2025 update policy. Verify feature availability for your policy SQL MI Update Policy
SQL Server 2025 VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Additionally requires the PREVIEW_FEATURES database scoped configuration SQL Server Vector
SQL database in Fabric VECTOR_SEARCH() Preview Fabric-native SQL, same engine as Azure SQL Database SQL database in Fabric

Analytics Platform (GA with Preview features)

Technology Status Capabilities Documentation
Microsoft Fabric Platform GA Direct knowledge source access via Lakehouse (Delta tables, Spark), Warehouse (T-SQL), OneLake (ADLS Gen2 APIs), KQL databases. Microsoft Foundry (Azure) integration for RAG Fabric Overview | Microsoft Foundry (Azure) FAQ
Fabric data agents GA Formerly “AI skill”. Analytics data grounding (warehouses, lakehouses, Power BI semantic models, KQL databases), consumable from Copilot Studio and Foundry Agent Service. Requires F2+ or P1+ capacity Fabric data agent | Copilot Studio Integration
Fabric IQ Preview Documented Fabric workload for ontologies, graph models, semantic models, and operations agents, a different job from the data agent Fabric IQ
Foundry Tools in Fabric Preview Billed to Fabric capacity units Fabric Overview

Sources: Data Grounding Decision

MCP Integration (Preview)

Technology Capabilities Documentation
Logic Apps MCP Server Standard logic apps as remote MCP servers, 1,400+ connectors, OAuth 2.0 auth, Streamable HTTP/SSE transports Logic Apps MCP Server | API Center Integration
Solution Use When Cost
File Search (Agent Service/Copilot Studio) Up to 10,000 files, simple setup (no manual indexer/chunking config), automatic embedding, suitable for smaller document sets, internal knowledge bases, rapid prototyping Included in Agent Service consumption or Copilot Studio credits
Azure AI Search Production scale (millions of documents), custom chunking strategies required, advanced features (analyzers, scoring profiles, faceting), complex indexing pipelines, enterprise search Dedicated AI Search tier (Basic ~$75/mo to S3 ~$3K/mo)

Complexity Assessment Flow

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Assess Use Case]) --> Q1{How many
data sources?} Q1 -->|1| Simple Q1 -->|2 to 3| Q2{Workflow
complexity?} Q1 -->|4 or more| Complex Q2 -->|Linear| Medium Q2 -->|Branching| Complex Simple[Low Complexity] --> S_Tech{Skills?} S_Tech -->|Makers| S_M365[M365 Copilot with Graph] S_Tech -->|Devs| S_Studio[Copilot Studio] Medium[Medium Complexity] --> M_Tech{Skills?} M_Tech -->|Makers| M_Studio[Copilot Studio] M_Tech -->|Devs| M_SDK[Studio with Custom Actions] Complex[High Complexity] --> C_Tech{Need custom
models?} C_Tech -->|No| C_SDK[M365 Agents SDK] C_Tech -->|Yes| C_Foundry[Microsoft Foundry Azure] S_M365 --> Timeline1[Days to deploy] S_Studio --> Timeline2[1 to 2 weeks] M_Studio --> Timeline3[2 to 4 weeks] M_SDK --> Timeline4[1 to 2 months] C_SDK --> Timeline5[2 to 3 months] C_Foundry --> Timeline6[3 to 6 months] style Simple fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style Medium fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style Complex fill:#a52617,color:#fff ```

Budget & Timeline Tradeoffs

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Project Constraints]) --> Q1{AI setup
budget?} Q1 -->|Existing M365| M365Only[M365-Only Path] Q1 -->|USD 200 to 500 per month| Starter[Starter Budget] Q1 -->|USD 1K to 5K per month| Growth[Growth Budget] Q1 -->|USD 5K or more per month| Enterprise[Enterprise Budget] M365Only --> M365T{Timeline?} M365T -->|Days| M365_Fast[M365 Copilot Chat
0 addl cost included with M365
Instruction-based agents] M365T -->|1 to 2 Weeks| M365_Med[M365 Copilot with Graph
0 addl cost
Knowledge grounding] M365T -->|1 Month or more| M365_Slow[Declarative Agents
0 addl cost or PAYG
Custom instructions and data] Starter --> StarterT{Timeline?} StarterT -->|1 to 2 Weeks| S_Fast[Copilot Studio PAYG
USD 200 to 500 per month avg
USD 0.01 per credit, low-code] StarterT -->|1 to 2 Months| S_Med[Studio with AI Builder
USD 200 to 500 per month
Document processing] StarterT -->|3 or more Months| S_Slow[Logic Apps agentic workflows
Approx 200 to 400 per month
Consumption Preview] Growth --> GrowthT{Timeline?} GrowthT -->|2 to 4 Weeks| G_Fast[Copilot Studio Capacity
200 or more per month prepaid
25K credits per pack] GrowthT -->|1 to 3 Months| G_Med[M365 SDK with Azure Basic
USD 1 to 3K per month
Custom agents, Azure hosting] GrowthT -->|3 to 6 Months| G_Slow[Microsoft Foundry Azure Starter
USD 1 to 5K per month
PAYG tokens with AI Search Basic] Enterprise --> EntT{Timeline?} EntT -->|4 to 8 Weeks| E_Fast[Foundry Serverless
Approx 5 to 15K per month est
PAYG with AI Search Standard] EntT -->|3 to 6 Months| E_Med[Foundry with Agent Service
USD 10 to 30K per month est
Managed orchestration] EntT -->|6 or more Months| E_Slow[Foundry PTU with Premium
30K or more per month
PTU reservation with S2 or S3 Search] style M365_Fast fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style M365_Med fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style S_Fast fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style G_Fast fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style G_Med fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style E_Med fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style M365_Slow fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style S_Med fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style G_Slow fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style S_Slow fill:#9a4300,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary - Budget & Timeline Tradeoffs

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

M365-Only ($0 AI infrastructure add’l)

Solution Monthly Cost Documentation
M365 Copilot Chat Free (included) with eligible M365 subscription Web-grounded chat and instruction-based agents (docs)
M365 Copilot + Graph Connectors $30/user/month M365 Copilot license Graph Connectors included at no extra charge (docs)
Declarative Agents $0 or PAYG Instruction-based or public-web grounded = $0; shared tenant data = PAYG (docs)

Starter ($200-500/mo)

Solution Monthly Cost Documentation
Copilot Studio PAYG $200-500/mo (typical) $0.01 per Copilot Credit (docs)
AI Builder Included in Power Platform Document processing (invoices, receipts, contracts) (docs)
Logic Apps agentic workflows $200-400/mo (typical) Consumption agentic workflows are explicitly in preview. Event-driven agent loop (docs)

Growth ($1K-5K/mo)

Solution Monthly Cost Documentation
Copilot Studio Capacity Packs $200/month per 25,000 credits Prepaid (docs)
M365 SDK + Azure $600-2.3K/mo SDK free; Azure hosting (App Service ~$100-300/mo) + Azure OpenAI PAYG (~$500-2K/mo tokens) (docs)
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) Starter $1-5K/mo estimate PAYG tokens + AI Search Basic (~$75/mo) (OpenAI pricing) | (AI Search pricing)

Enterprise ($5K+/mo)

Solution Monthly Cost Documentation
Foundry Serverless $5-15K/mo PAYG tokens at scale + AI Search Standard S1 (~$250/mo) (docs)
Foundry + Agent Service $10-30K/mo Managed orchestration PaaS + AI Search S2 (~$1K/mo) (docs)
Foundry PTU + Premium $30K+/mo PTU reservations (50+ PTUs minimum) + AI Search S2/S3 (docs)

Timeline Estimates

Timeline Use Case Example Scenario
Days M365 built-in features, no development (scenarios)
1-2 Weeks Low-code platforms (Copilot Studio Employee Self-Service, Logic Apps) (HR Knowledge Base scenario)
1-3 Months Custom agents with SDKs, moderate complexity (Customer Support scenario)
3-6 Months Microsoft Foundry (Azure) custom solutions, complex orchestration (evaluation-criteria)
6+ Months Enterprise-scale with PTU, fine-tuning, advanced patterns  

Cross-Tier: The Two Prepurchase Plans

The Trade-off: One invoice vs. two different currencies. There is no single “unified” prepurchase. Microsoft ships two distinct Azure Reservations, and buying the wrong one is an expensive way to learn the difference.

One plan covers Copilot Credit usage only; the other spans Foundry, Copilot Studio, Fabric, and GitHub. Both are prepaid, both are non-refundable, and the narrow one always burns first. See Microsoft AI Stack for why that ordering decides what a broad commitment is actually worth.

  Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan Microsoft Agent Prepurchase Plan
Unit CCCU (Copilot Credit CUs) ACU (Agent CUs)
Covers “eligible Copilot Credit usage” “select services across Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Fabric, and GitHub costs”, where the Copilot Studio entry also spans Dynamics 365 first-party agents and Copilot
Value 1 CCCU pays down US$1 of qualifying retail cost, purchased at a tiered discount (~5 to 6% in Microsoft’s worked examples) 1 ACU pays down US$1 of qualifying retail cost, purchased at a tiered discount (~5 to 6% in Microsoft’s worked examples)
Docs Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan Microsoft Agent Prepurchase Plan

Both are 1-year terms with auto-renew on by default, and all purchases are final: no cancel, exchange, split, or merge.

Precedence: narrow benefits burn before broad benefits. Microsoft states it plainly: “Reservations always apply before prepurchase plans.” The order is:

  1. Microsoft Foundry PTU Reservations
  2. Microsoft Fabric Capacity Reservations
  3. Copilot Credit Prepurchase Plan
  4. Microsoft Agent Prepurchase Plan: “Applied last to remaining AI usage across all platforms.”

Do not assume coverage. Whether Copilot Cowork and Work IQ consumption draws down these plans is inferred, not stated in Microsoft’s documentation. Confirm with your account team before you model it into a business case.

See Evaluation Criteria: Budget.

Cost Calculation Notes

  • M365 per-user costs ($30/user/month) NOT included in bands - these are AI infrastructure costs only
  • Estimates assume moderate usage (not high-scale production)
  • Azure consumption highly variable based on tokens, requests, storage
  • PTU (Provisioned Throughput Units) require Azure Reservations for cost optimization

Sources

Governance & Compliance Path

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Governance Requirements]) --> Q1{Data residency
requirement?} Q1 -->|M365 tenant only
Strict boundary| R1[M365 Tenant Boundary] Q1 -->|Azure region
Configurable| R2[Azure Region Control] Q1 -->|Flexible
Multi-region OK| R3[Flexible Residency] R1 --> Q2{Built-in DLP
sufficient?} Q2 -->|Yes, inherit M365| G1[M365 Copilot
M365 Boundary with DLP] Q2 -->|Need custom agents| G2[Copilot Studio
Power Platform Governance] R2 --> Q3{Network
isolation?} Q3 -->|VNet with private
endpoints required| G3[Microsoft Foundry Azure
VNet with Private Endpoints] Q3 -->|Managed runtime
with VNet needed| G4[AI Agent Service
Full Azure Governance] Q3 -->|Power Platform
governance sufficient| G5[AI Builder
Power Platform DLP] R3 --> Q4{Development
model?} Q4 -->|Enterprise workflows
with integration| G6[Logic Apps Standard
Azure RBAC with VNet] Q4 -->|Multi-channel
custom agents| G7[M365 Agents SDK
Custom Auth with Hosting] Q4 -->|Orchestration
library only| G8[Agent Framework
Host inherited governance] style G1 fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style G2 fill:#004578,color:#fff style G3 fill:#004578,color:#fff style G4 fill:#004578,color:#fff style G5 fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style G6 fill:#004578,color:#fff style G7 fill:#4b2070,color:#fff style G8 fill:#a52617,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary: Governance & Compliance Path

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

M365 Tenant Boundary Technologies

Technology Action Safety Proactive Data Grounding/Memory/Analytics Key Governance Features Documentation
M365 Copilot (GA) ✅ User-in-the-loop (drafts only) ❌ Reactive only Grounding only (M365 Graph per-request), no extractable memory M365 trust boundary, auto DLP/sensitivity labels, user-scoped permissions, Purview audit, no training on tenant data M365 Copilot Security
Copilot Studio (GA) ⚠️ Actions execute (flows/connectors) ✅ Autonomous (event triggers) Grounding + Dataverse persistence (transcripts, variables), full analytics Power Platform RBAC + DLP, environment-level governance, connector controls, ⚠️ web search leaves boundary, ⚠️ dual auth (user/service) Copilot Studio Security

Azure Region Control Technologies

Technology Action Safety Proactive Data Grounding/Memory/Analytics Key Governance Features Documentation
Microsoft Foundry (Azure) (GA) ⚠️ Tool calling with autonomous planning ✅ Proactive (Azure Functions, Logic Apps) Grounding + BYO thread storage (Cosmos DB), Azure Monitor + OpenTelemetry Azure RBAC (control + data plane), VNet + private endpoints, managed identity, CMK optional, ⚠️ API key OR Entra ID (Entra recommended) Microsoft Foundry security
AI Agent Service ⚠️ Autonomous with action tools (Logic Apps, Functions, MCP) ✅ Proactive (event triggers) BYO thread storage (Cosmos DB), Azure Monitor project-scoped Full RBAC (project + resource), VNet + private endpoints, BYO storage, no public egress by default, container injection for VNet Agent Service Security
AI Builder (GA) Varies by model type ❌ Reactive Dataverse storage Power Platform DLP, Dataverse RBAC, environment location AI Builder Governance

Flexible Residency Technologies

Technology Action Safety Proactive Data Grounding/Memory/Analytics Key Governance Features Documentation
Logic Apps Standard (workflow platform) ⚠️ Autonomous execution (workflows) ✅ Proactive (event-driven, 1,400+ connectors) Workflow state + connector data Granular Azure RBAC, VNet + private endpoints (Standard), managed identity, Customer Lockbox, FedRAMP/HIPAA/ISO 27001 Logic Apps Security
M365 Agents SDK (GA) ⚠️ Custom design (full developer responsibility) ✅ Proactive (custom event handling) Custom (developer implements) Custom auth (MSAL, Entra ID), hosting platform RBAC, ⚠️ delegated OR application permissions, self-hosted = full network control M365 SDK Auth
Agent Framework (GA) Inherits from host app Inherits from host app Inherits from host app No built-in governance (library only), inherits from hosting platform Agent Framework

Key Decision Criteria:

  • M365 tenant boundary required → M365 Copilot (strict) or Copilot Studio (custom agents)
  • Azure region control + VNet isolation → Microsoft Foundry (Azure) or Foundry Agent Service
  • Enterprise workflow automation → Logic Apps Standard
  • Custom multi-channel agents → M365 Agents SDK (full control, full responsibility)
  • Orchestration library only → Agent Framework (no built-in governance)

The Logic Apps status trap. The rows above describe the workflow platform, not the agent loop. Microsoft explicitly marks Consumption agentic workflows as preview. Standard carries no preview banner on the agent loop itself, but Microsoft never states Standard is GA, and specific Standard capabilities are marked preview. Absence of a banner is silence, not a guarantee. Check the exact capability you plan to ship. (Agentic workflows concepts, verified 2026-07-29)

Identity for agents has a product name now. Microsoft Entra Agent ID is a formally named product within Microsoft Entra that provides the platform for creating and managing agent identities and agent identity blueprints, and Microsoft states it is now generally available. Microsoft Agent 365 reached GA on 2026-05-01, is licensed per user, and is included in Microsoft 365 E7; its Shadow AI component remains preview. (Entra Agent ID | Agent 365 overview)

Multi-Agent Orchestration

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Need coordination?]) --> IsMulti{More than one agent?} IsMulti -->|No| SingleExit[Single-agent event trigger
Not multi-agent orchestration] IsMulti -->|Yes| Q1{Pattern Type?} Q1 -->|Connected agents
Mesh A2A| Connected[Connected mesh pattern] Q1 -->|Sequential or parallel
workflows| Workflows[Agent Workflow Orchestration] Connected --> C_Platform{Platform?} C_Platform -->|Low-code| C_Studio[Copilot Studio
A2A GA April 2026
Connect other agents Preview] C_Platform -->|Azure| C_Foundry[Foundry Agent Service
Incoming A2A endpoint
Preview] Workflows --> W_Framework{Framework?} W_Framework -->|Microsoft| W_AgentFW[Microsoft Agent Framework
Python and .NET GA
Go Public Preview] W_Framework -->|Open source| W_SK[Semantic Kernel
Superseded by Agent Framework
no sunset date announced] W_Framework -->|Bring your own| W_SDK[M365 Agents SDK
Integrate Agent Framework or SK] W_Framework -->|Third-party state| W_LangGraph[LangGraph Third-Party
State graphs] C_Studio --> Note1[Can connect Fabric data agents
GA as data grounding participants] C_Foundry --> Note2[Direct delegation is not
deterministic workflow orchestration] C_Studio --> Deploy1([Deploy]) C_Foundry --> Deploy2([Deploy]) W_AgentFW --> Deploy3([Deploy]) W_SK --> Deploy4([Deploy]) W_SDK --> Deploy5([Deploy]) W_LangGraph --> Deploy6([Deploy]) SingleExit --> Deploy7([Choose single-agent trigger path]) style Connected fill:#0b6a0b,color:#fff style Workflows fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style SingleExit fill:#4b2070,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary: Multi-Agent Orchestration

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

Connected Agents / Sub-Agent Pattern

Technology Status Capabilities Documentation
Copilot Studio A2A GA (April 2026); “Connect other agents” is Preview Agent-to-agent mesh, connected agents, and what Microsoft’s guidance calls “inline agents, also known as child agents.” Do not read A2A’s GA as a blanket GA for the multi-agent surface Connected Agents
Foundry Agent Service Preview (incoming A2A endpoint) Lightweight direct delegation; direction and protocol support must be validated A2A integration
Fabric data agents GA Consumed by other agents for data grounding (NOT an orchestrator). Requires F2+ or P1+ capacity Fabric integration

Agent Workflow Orchestration

Foundry Workflows is retiring. Microsoft’s wording, quoted exactly:

“Microsoft Foundry is retiring workflows on December 1, 2026. If you’re looking to build new workflows, use Microsoft Agent Framework. To migrate existing workflows, see the Migration guide section of this article for all supported paths.”

Three documented migration paths, each with a different center of gravity:

  • Microsoft Agent Framework: the recommended path; exported YAML is reusable with minimal changes.
  • Azure Logic Apps: keeps a visual designer, aimed at business-process automation.
  • Agent-to-agent (A2A): lightweight handoffs.

Exported YAML definitions remain executable when deployed as Hosted Agents. After 2026-12-01, the visual designer and in-portal execution are unsupported.

Technology Status Orchestration Patterns Documentation
Microsoft Agent Framework GA (Python, C#/.NET); Go is Public Preview Microsoft’s stated “direct successor” to Semantic Kernel and AutoGen: Sequential, Concurrent, Handoff, Group Chat, Magentic Agent Framework
Semantic Kernel Superseded by Agent Framework; no sunset date announced Sequential, Concurrent, Group Chat, Handoff, Magentic. Migration guides exist for both SK and AutoGen Semantic Kernel Agents
M365 Agents SDK GA BYO orchestrator (integrate Agent Framework or third-party) M365 SDK
LangGraph Third-party State graph management for complex workflows Third-party framework

Event-Driven Agents (Single Agent Triggering)

Technology Status Event Handling Documentation
Logic Apps agentic workflows Consumption explicitly Preview; Standard has no preview banner on the agent loop, but Microsoft never states Standard is GA Event triggers + MCP Server (triggers a SINGLE agent, NOT multi-agent orchestration) Agentic workflows
Azure Functions + Agent Service GA Event-driven single agent invocation (event routing, NOT coordination) Agent Service
Event Grid + Foundry GA Event routing to trigger agents independently (NOT orchestration) Azure Event Grid

Sources: Multi-Agent Orchestration

Key Distinctions:

  • Connected/Mesh: Agents discover and invoke each other (A2A) or delegate to inline/child agents
  • Workflow Orchestration: Sequential/parallel/concurrent agent coordination patterns
  • Event-Driven: Single agent triggered by events (NOT multi-agent orchestration)

Upgrade Paths

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Start: Low-Code Agent]) --> Q1{Need more
capability?} Q1 -->|No| Stay[Copilot Studio
Standard] Q1 -->|Yes| Q2{What kind of
capability?} Q2 -->|Better Reasoning/LLM| Path1[Enhance
BYO Model - Foundry
Preview] Q2 -->|Complex Orchestration| Path2[Extend
Handoff to Agent Service
Preview] Q2 -->|Custom UI/Protocol| Path3[Migrate
M365 Agents SDK
or Foundry] Path1 --> Result1([Copilot Studio
+ Specialized Model]) Path2 --> Result2([Copilot Studio UI
+ Azure Agent Brain]) Path3 --> Result3([Full Pro-Code
Solution]) style Stay fill:#004578,color:#fff style Path1 fill:#8c5e00,color:#fff style Path2 fill:#a52617,color:#fff style Path3 fill:#4b2070,color:#fff ```

Validation Summary: Upgrade Paths

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

Progressive Enhancement Mechanisms

Mechanism Status Description Documentation
BYO Model Preview Swap the default Copilot Studio model for a specialized model from the Microsoft Foundry catalog, which lists over 10,000 models BYO Model
Agent Handoff Preview Copilot Studio delegates to a Foundry agent for complex tasks. Foundry agents are not documented as GA in Copilot Studio Connect to a Foundry agent
Shared Knowledge GA Both Copilot Studio and custom apps can consume the same Azure AI Search index. Azure AI Search was not renamed in the Foundry rebrand Azure AI Search

Using This Guide

How to navigate: Start with Complete Decision Flow for end-to-end guidance, or jump to specific sections: Persona-Based Flow (by role), Data Grounding (data architecture), Complexity Assessment (effort estimate), Budget & Timeline (cost/time), Governance Path (compliance), or Multi-Agent (orchestration).

Diagram conventions: Diamonds = decisions, Rectangles = technologies, Circles = start/end. Colors: Blue = Microsoft core, Purple = developer tools, Green = low complexity, Orange = medium complexity, Red = high complexity/enterprise.

Lifecycle Check

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([Start: Pre-Flight Check]) --> Q0{Technology status?} Q0 -->|GA| GA_Path[✅ Production-safe] Q0 -->|Preview / RC| Preview_Path[⚠️ Plan for change] Q0 -->|Deprecated| Dep_Path[🚫 Identify successor] GA_Path --> Timeline{Retirement date
within horizon?} Preview_Path --> Timeline Dep_Path --> Successor{Successor
identified?} Timeline -->|No deadline| Proceed[✅ Proceed to
Decision Framework] Timeline -->|Deadline exists| Urgency{Go-live BEFORE
deadline?} Urgency -->|Yes| Proceed Urgency -->|No| Migrate[⚠️ Build on successor
or migrate first] Successor -->|Yes| Migrate Successor -->|No| Block[🚫 Block. Research
successor path] Migrate --> Proceed style GA_Path fill:#1a6b3c,color:#fff style Proceed fill:#1a6b3c,color:#fff style Preview_Path fill:#8b6914,color:#fff style Migrate fill:#8b6914,color:#fff style Dep_Path fill:#8b1a1a,color:#fff style Block fill:#8b1a1a,color:#fff ```

Active Deadlines (as of July 29, 2026):

  • Foundry Workflows → retires December 1, 2026. Verbatim: “Microsoft Foundry is retiring workflows on December 1, 2026. If you’re looking to build new workflows, use Microsoft Agent Framework.” Paths: Microsoft Agent Framework (recommended) · Azure Logic Apps (visual designer) · A2A (lightweight handoffs)
  • Copilot Studio for Teams app → after end of June 2026, verbatim: “it will no longer be possible to use the Copilot Studio for Teams app to create classic chatbots. The app will redirect you to the Copilot Studio web app instead.” Scope: makers on a Teams plan, who are “limited to creating agents that use classic orchestration… and they can only publish these agents to Microsoft Teams.” Standalone Copilot Studio subscriptions are unaffected
  • Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise + Enterprise Flash → retire 2027-03-31 (disabled 2027-04-01); Basic/Standard/Premium retire 2028-09-30 (disabled 2028-10-01)
  • azure-ai-inference SDK → retires May 30, 2026 (successor: openai SDK)
  • Bot Framework → retired Dec 31, 2025 (successor: M365 Agents SDK)
  • Assistants API → a sunset is documented, but ⚠️ the exact date is unconfirmed against current Foundry documentation. Plan the migration to the Responses API and Foundry Agents Service; verify the date yourself before you build a program plan around it

IQ Layer Selection

Interactive version available. Pan, zoom, and click nodes below, or open the full explorer.

View as static Mermaid diagram ```mermaid %%{init: {'theme':'dark'}}%% flowchart TD Start([What knowledge
does the agent need?]) --> Domain{Primary data domain?} Domain -->|Enterprise docs,
files, blobs, indexes| FIQ[Foundry IQ
GA via 2026-04-01 REST API
portal Preview] Domain -->|M365 collaboration
emails, meetings, chats| WIQ[Work IQ
APIs GA 2026-06-16
MCP Preview] Domain -->|Analytics, semantic
models, dashboards| FBIQ[Fabric IQ
Preview] Domain -->|Public web,
real-time information| WEBIQ[Web IQ
Limited Access] Domain -->|Multiple domains| Multi[Combine IQ layers] FIQ --> FIQ_Detail[Azure AI Search underneath
knowledge bases via MCP
ACL + Purview labels] WIQ --> WIQ_Detail[Chat, Context, Tools and
Workspaces API domains
Entra delegated auth only] FBIQ --> FBIQ_Detail[Ontologies, graph models,
semantic models,
operations agents] WEBIQ --> WEBIQ_Detail[Grounding with Bing
real-time web search,
custom domain scoping] Multi --> Combine[Each IQ layer is
standalone. Agents
can combine any subset] Combine --> FIQ_Detail Combine --> WIQ_Detail Combine --> FBIQ_Detail Combine --> WEBIQ_Detail FIQ_Detail --> License1[Azure consumption] WIQ_Detail --> License2[Billed in Copilot Credits
access independent of
M365 Copilot licensing] FBIQ_Detail --> License3[Fabric capacity
data agent needs F2+ or P1+] WEBIQ_Detail --> License4[Grounding API consumption;
Limited Access application required] style FIQ fill:#264f78,color:#fff style WIQ fill:#4a3278,color:#fff style FBIQ fill:#783228,color:#fff style WEBIQ fill:#0e5a6f,color:#fff style Multi fill:#1a6b3c,color:#fff style Combine fill:#1a6b3c,color:#fff ```

Key distinction: These four Microsoft IQ capabilities are not interchangeable. Each grounds agents in a different data domain: enterprise documents (Foundry IQ), collaboration signals (Work IQ), analytics and business logic (Fabric IQ), or live web information (Web IQ). Choose based on data domain, not brand preference.

Validation Summary: IQ Layer Selection

Last Validated: July 29, 2026

Layer Status: read the qualifier, not the brand What it actually is
Foundry IQ Agentic retrieval is GA via the 2026-04-01 REST API; portal experiences remain preview-only Knowledge bases over Azure AI Search, which was not renamed in the Foundry rebrand. The 2026-05-01-preview API adds remote sources: MCP Server, Work IQ, Fabric data agent, Fabric ontology
Work IQ APIs GA 2026-06-16. ⚠️ Work IQ MCP is Preview Four API domains: Chat, Context, Tools, Workspaces. Billed in Copilot Credits. Entra delegated auth only; app-only is NOT supported. Workspaces use SharePoint Embedded storage. Access is independent of M365 Copilot licensing
Fabric IQ Preview workload Ontologies, graph models, semantic models, and operations agents. Distinct from the Fabric data agent, which is GA and requires F2+ or P1+ capacity
Web IQ Limited Access, requires a separate application Grounding with Bing, real-time web search, custom domain scoping

Sources: IQ Layer Selection

Last Updated: July 29, 2026 Next: Evaluation Criteria - Score complexity, skills, budget, and governance after selecting a path

Next Steps

Detailed comparisons: → Feature Comparison

Real-world examples: → Scenarios

Evaluate readiness: → Evaluation Criteria

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