Create a new declarative agent project

Task 02: Create a new declarative agent project

Description

You’ll use the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit to scaffold a new declarative agent project, connect it to Zava’s MCP server, and select the tools the agent will have access to. By the end of this task you’ll have a working project structure with an action manifest pre-populated from the live MCP server.

Success criteria

You created a new Declarative Agent project named Zava Claims Assistant using the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit.
You connected the project to the hosted MCP server URL and fetched its tools.
You selected all 15 available tools and confirmed that appPackage/ai-plugin.json was populated with the correct functions and server URL.

Key steps

01: Create new agent using Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit

Go back to Visual Studio Code.
In the leftmost pane, select the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit () icon.
In the Agents Toolkit pane, select Create a New Agent/App.
Select Declarative Agent from the template options.
Select Add an Action.
Select Start with an MCP server (preview).

Enter the following publicly accessible MCP Server URL:

 https://claims-mcp-app.yellowcliff-c66c6908.eastus.azurecontainerapps.io/mcp/messages

Choose the Default folder to scaffold the agent.
Enter the following application name:

Zava Claims Assistant

You’ll be directed to the newly created project which should have the file .vscode/mcp.json open. If the file does not open automatically, you can open it manually. This is the MCP server configuration file for VS Code to use.
Select the checkbox for Trust the authors…, then select Yes, I trust the authors.

After a few moments, it should load .vscode\mcp.json.
In mcp.json, below “servers”, select the Start button to fetch tools from your server.

Once started, you’ll see the number of tools and prompts available.
Select ATK:Fetch action from MCP in the code, to select tools you want to add to the agent.
If you do not see the option ATK:Fetch action from MCP:
1. Close the VS Code window.
2. Relaunch the app by selecting File, then Open recent, and then C:\Users\LabUser\AgentsToolkitProjects\Zava Claims Assistant.
1. Select Start again.
2. Select ATK:Fetch action from MCP.
Select ai-plugin.json.
Select all the available tools.
Select OK.

This step will populate the action manifest ai-plugin.json with the required functions, MCP server URL, etc., which are needed for actions in an agent.

02: Understand the action manifest update from previous step

In appPackage/ai-plugin.json, examine the structure with your chosen tools and MCP server url pre-populated:

  {
      "$schema": "https://aka.ms/json-schemas/copilot-extensions/v2.1/plugin.schema.json",
      "schema_version": "v2.4",
      "name_for_human": "Zava Claims Assistant",
      "description_for_human": "Zava Claims Assistant$",
      "contact_email": "publisher-email@example.com",
      "namespace": "zavaclaimsassistant",
      "functions": [
          {
              "name": "create_claim",
              "description": "Create a new insurance claim",
              "parameters": {
                  ...
  }

You now have a basic declarative agent that is connected to your MCP Server with tools ready for use.