Agent Builder: Simplified Publishing, Governance and Skills Coming Soon

Agent Builder, the agent creation tool integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot, has just received a series of updates that tangibly change how to publish, govern and enrich an agent in the enterprise. From the end of manual ZIP file tinkering, to the redesign of attachments and the announced arrival of "skills", here's what's changing for administrators and agent creators.

Agent publishing no longer requires ZIP file manipulation

Until now, transforming an Agent Builder agent into an enterprise-managed application — an "enterprise agent" published in the Agent Store — required an unintuitive workflow: download the agent's ZIP file via the ellipsis menu, extract it, manually edit a JSON file to enter metadata (description, creator's website, privacy statement, terms of use), repackage everything, then re-upload the result.

This workflow, poorly documented and often overlooked by agent creators, is disappearing. A new Agent details button, accessible from the agent's dropdown menu, now allows you to enter directly:

• the agent's short description;
• the creator's website;
• the privacy statement;
• the terms of use.

These fields are saved with the agent and automatically reused for any subsequent submission to the organization's catalog.

Submit an agent to the organization's catalog in a few clicks

Once the details are filled in, simply return to the same menu and click Submit to org catalog (or the M365 publishing option, depending on the interface). This workflow reproduces the already-known process in Copilot Studio: the creator submits the agent, an administrator receives it in the queue and approves or rejects it.

When submitting, the pre-filled fields (description, website, legal notices) reappear — this is where the preparatory work done in Agent details becomes important. You must then adjust two additional fields before validating:

• the display name of the agent as it will appear in the catalog;
• the developer name, typically the name of the organization or IT team responsible (for example "Contoso IT" or "Corporate Communications").

Once validated, the agent goes into pending review by an administrator, who will find it on their next connection to the Agent 365 registry.

Validation by administrators in the Microsoft 365 admin center

On the administration side, the review is done in the Microsoft 365 admin center, Agents > Agent 365 section, Requests tab. The submitted agent appears there with the status Pending review, accompanied by useful information:

• the creation platform (Agent Builder);
• information about the submitter;
• the agent's declared capabilities.

The publishing workflow that follows is common to all types of agents submitted via Agent 365, regardless of their origin:

1. Define who can install the agent (for example "all users").
2. Choose whether it should be pre-installed for the relevant users.
3. Apply a configuration template — the default values work in most cases.
4. Click Publish to finalize, or Reject to deny the request.

Attachments and Knowledge: two different update mechanisms

The section previously called Uploaded files is now called Attachments. It's not just a name change: it clarifies an important technical distinction that already existed but remained poorly understood.

Concretely, if you attach a file from your OneDrive via Attachments, the agent preserves the version at the time of upload — any subsequent modification of the source file requires manual re-upload. Conversely, a file added via Knowledge remains synchronized with its M365 source: updates propagate automatically to the agent.

Tools now enabled by default, but relocated

The Code Interpreter and image generator are no longer in a separate "Tools" section at the bottom of the page. They have been moved — with no obvious placement logic — under the gear-shaped icon in the Knowledge section. Another notable change: these two tools are now enabled by default on any new agent, whereas they previously had to be enabled manually.

You will also find two options to know:

• People data: gives access to M365 profile data (organizational chart, declared expertise, etc.), useful for building an "expert search" type agent that identifies a knowledgeable contact on a given subject.
• Discourage model knowledge: replaces the old wording "Prevent model knowledge".

Discourage vs Prevent model knowledge: the nuance to know

This change in wording is not trivial. "Discourage" means that the model deprioritizes knowledge from its general training in favor of organizational data provided via Knowledge or Attachments — but without absolute guarantee that the agent will never use its internal knowledge.

Migrate an agent to Copilot Studio in one click

The Copy to Copilot Studio function allows you to recreate an Agent Builder agent directly in Copilot Studio, to add capabilities that go beyond the scope of Agent Builder. A few points to keep in mind before using it:

• SharePoint knowledge copying still seems unstable at the time of writing; inconsistent behaviors have been observed.
• The recreated agent does not use the GitHub Copilot orchestrator: it remains on the classic chat harness, which means no additional licensing is required beyond the M365 Copilot license already in place.
• This migration is relevant once Agent Builder limits are reached (complex orchestration, advanced connectors, multi-step workflows).

Skills: the feature that will bring Agent Builder closer to Copilot Studio

The most structural change is still to come: the arrival of skills in Agent Builder, in the form of markdown files, on the same principle as the Anthropic skills already present in SharePoint and Copilot Studio. This evolution closes an important parity gap between the two Microsoft agent creation platforms.

Key point for organizations concerned about their consumption: skills require no Copilot credits, making them an additional value lever within an existing M365 Copilot license. Deployment is announced for the coming weeks.

Troubleshooting: common watchpoints

• Publishing fields remain empty despite a previous submission: verify that information has been properly saved via Agent details before resubmitting — they do not propagate retroactively.
• An agent remains stuck in "Pending review": the Agent 365 registry requires manual refresh on the admin side in the Microsoft 365 admin center; the queue does not always update in real time.
• An attached file does not reflect recent changes: this is expected behavior for Attachments, not a bug — use Knowledge if continuous synchronization is necessary.
• Copying to Copilot Studio fails partially on SharePoint knowledge: manually verify knowledge sources after migration before putting the agent into production.

Key takeaways

• Publishing an agent to the Agent Store is now done entirely from Agent Builder, without ZIP manipulation or JSON editing.
• Review and approval remain centralized in the Microsoft 365 admin center, Agent 365 section.
• Attachments and Knowledge meet two distinct needs: static data versus synchronized data.
• Code Interpreter and image generator are now active by default — verify if this aligns with your governance policy.
• "Discourage model knowledge" is not equivalent to guaranteed blocking of the model's general knowledge.
• Coming skills promise richer agents without Copilot credit consumption: watch closely over the coming weeks.

If your organization already uses Agent Builder in production, start by auditing your existing agents to fill in missing Agent details fields: this is the prerequisite to take advantage of the new publishing workflow to the Agent Store as soon as an IT governance need arises.