Skip to content

Lab E0 - Setup

Table of Contents

In this lab, you will set up the development environment to build, test, and deploy the Copilot agents, that will help you achieve tailor made AI assitance using Microsoft 365 Copilot.

In this lab you will learn:

  • How to configure your Microsoft 365 tenant's Teams upload policy for lab use
  • How to install and configure Teams toolkit for Visual Studio Code

Disclaimer

These samples and labs are intended for instructive and demonstration purposes and are not intended for use in production. Do not put them into production without upgrading them to production quality.

Exercise 1 : Configure Teams upload policy

Step 1: Enable Teams custom application uploads

By default, end users can't upload applications directly; instead an Teams Administrator needs to upload them into the enterprise app catalog. In this step you will ensure your tenant is set up for direct uploads by Teams Toolkit.

1️⃣ Navigate to https://admin.microsoft.com/, which is the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

2️⃣ In the left panel of the admin center, select Show all to open up the entire navigation. When the panel opens, select Teams to open the Microsoft Teams admin center.

3️⃣ In the left of the Microsoft Teams admin center, open the Teams apps accordion. Select Setup Policies, you will see a list of App setup policies. Then, select the Global (Org-wide default) policy.

4️⃣ Ensure the first switch, Upload custom apps is turned On.

5️⃣ Be sure to scroll down and select the Save button to persist your change.

The change can take up to 24 hours to take effect, but usually it's much faster.

Exercise 2: Install Teams Toolkit and prerequisites

You can complete these labs on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine, but you do need the ability to install the prerequisites. If you are not permitted to install applications on your computer, you'll need to find another machine (or virtual machine) to use throughout the workshop.

Step 1: Install Visual Studio Code

It should be no surprise that Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code requires Visual Studio Code! You can download it here: Visual Studio Code.

Step 2: Install NodeJS

NodeJS is a program that allows you to run JavaScript on your computer; it uses the open source "V8" engine, which is used in popular web browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. You will need NodeJS to run the web server code used throughout this workshop.

Browse to https://nodejs.org/en/download/ and install version 18 or 16 for your operating system. This lab has been tested using NodeJS version 18.16.0. If you already have another version of NodeJS installed, you may want to set up the Node Version Manager (or this variation for Microsoft Windows), which allows you to easily switch Node versions on the same computer.

Step 3: Install Teams Toolkit

These labs are based on Teams Toolkit version 5.0. Follow the steps as shown in the screen shot below.

1️⃣ Open Visual Studio Code and click on the Extensions toolbar button

2️⃣ Search for "Teams" and locate Teams Toolkit

3️⃣ Click Install

If you have Teams Toolkit installed but hidden

If you previously installed Teams Toolkit, and then hid it on the Visual Studio sidebar, you might wonder why you can't see it. Right-click on the left sidebar and check off Teams Toolkit to bring it back into view.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Now you are all set to create your first extensibility feature for Copilot for Microsoft 365. Proceed to create a Declarative Agent in the next lab.