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🚨 Mission 02: Build a Declarative Agent ​

🕵️ CodenameOPERATION AGENT DECLARE⭐ Difficulty⏱️ Time 45 min 🧩 ProductsMicrosoft 365copilotSharePoint🏷️ TagsDeclarative Agents🏭 IndustriesIT

🎯 Mission Brief ​

Welcome back, Agent. This mission puts you in the command seat of the fastest way to ship an agent: building one with natural language right where your users already work in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

This isn't another chatbot. You're building a declarative agent, one that uses the Copilot orchestrator, layered with your own instructions, knowledge, and starter prompts. You describe what you want, Agent Builder drafts it, you test it, and you deploy it in minutes, not hours.

Your weapon of choice? Natural language. Your mission? Design, test, and deploy an IT helpdesk agent that answers questions using internal and external knowledge sources, all inside Copilot.

In future missions, you'll export this same agent to Copilot Studio to customize it further. Let's get started.

🔎 Objectives ​

In this mission, you'll learn:

  1. What a declarative agent is and how it differs from a custom engine agent
  2. How to create an agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot using Agent Builder
  3. How to describe an agent in natural language and let AI draft the instructions
  4. How to ground the agent with a website knowledge source
  5. How to test and deploy the agent so others can use it

🤔 What is a declarative agent? ​

A declarative agent runs on the existing Microsoft 365 Copilot infrastructure using the same large language model and orchestrator that M365 Copilot uses and you simply declare how it should behave. You provide:

  • Instructions - the agent's purpose, tone, and rules.
  • Knowledge - websites, files, or SharePoint sources it can reference.
  • Starter prompts - example questions to get users going.

You don't manage a model, orchestration, or hosting. That makes declarative agents the quickest way to put a focused assistant in front of users, right inside Teams, Outlook, and Word via Microsoft 365 Copilot.

TIP

When you outgrow a declarative agent and need custom tools, topics, multi-agent orchestration, or your own model, you graduate to a custom engine agent in Copilot Studio. That's exactly what Mission 04 covers by exporting this agent.

🧪 Lab 02: Build a declarative agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot ​

✨ Use case ​

As an employee, you want to get quick and accurate help from an IT helpdesk agent for issues like device problems and network troubleshooting, so that you can stay productive and resolve technical issues without delays.

✨ Prerequisites ​

2.1 Open Agent Builder ​

  1. Go to Microsoft 365 Copilot and sign in.

  2. In the left navigation, under Agents, select New agent. This opens Agent Builder.

    Select New agent

2.2 Describe your agent in natural language ​

  1. In the Describe the agent you want to create box, paste the following description.

    text
    You are an IT Help Desk assistant that helps employees resolve common IT issues. Be polite, concise, and helpful. Use Microsoft Support as the primary source: https://support.microsoft.com. Ask one focused question if details are missing, try quick fixes first, then give numbered step-by-step instructions. Never ask for passwords. Include relevant Microsoft Support links.

    Describe the agent

  2. Press Enter to submit. Agent Builder drafts your agent by generating a name, description, instructions, and suggested prompts. This takes a few moments.

    AI-generated content varies

    The drafted name, description, instructions, and starter prompts can differ each session.

2.3 Name and review your agent ​

  1. The builder switches to the Configure view. In Enter agent name, replace the suggested name with:

    text
    Contoso Helpdesk Agent

    Review the AI-generated instructions below the name. You'll see the role, tone, and numbered troubleshooting flow reflected from your description.

    Set agent name and review instructions

2.4 Add a website knowledge source ​

  1. In the Knowledge section, select the Enter a URL or name or drop files here box and add the following, then press Enter:

    text
    https://support.microsoft.com

    The site appears under Websites. To keep the agent grounded only on your sources, you can turn on Only use specified sources.

    Add website knowledge source

2.5 Create and deploy the agent ​

  1. Select Create. Agent Builder saves the agent and confirms it was created. It's private to you by default but you can select Share to deploy it to teammates, or Go to agent to start using it.

    Agent created and deploy options

  2. Select Go to agent. Your declarative agent opens in Microsoft 365 Copilot, ready with its suggested prompts.

    Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot

2.6 Test the agent ​

  1. In the Message Copilot box, enter:

    text
    How can I check the warranty status of my Surface?

  2. The agent responds with numbered, step-by-step instructions and references a https://support.microsoft.com link, exactly as defined in the instructions, grounded in your website knowledge source.

    Agent test response with support links

🎉 Congratulations! You built, tested, and deployed a declarative agent entirely inside Microsoft 365 Copilot.

✅ Mission Complete ​

You forged a declarative agent that speaks your language, references Microsoft Support, and lives right inside Copilot. In Mission 04: Creating a Custom Engine Agent, you'll export this agent into Copilot Studio to add tools, custom knowledge, and deeper orchestration. But before that, you need to learn more about Copilot Studio.

⏭️ Move to the Copilot Studio Fundamentals mission

📚 Tactical Resources ​

🔗 Build agents with Agent Builder

🔗 Declarative agents overview

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