Skills

Skill 132 of 200

Declarative Agents

Complete development kit for Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agents with three comprehensive workflows (basic, advanced, validation), TypeSpec support, and Microsoft 365 Agents…

2 minutes · 468 words · 10 sections

Install

$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill declarative-agents

$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot

» /plugin marketplace add github/awesome-copilot

The first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.

Microsoft 365 Declarative Agents Development Kit

I’ll help you create and develop Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agents using the latest v1.5 schema with comprehensive TypeSpec and Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit integration. Choose from three specialized workflows:

Workflow 1: Basic Agent Creation

Perfect for: New developers, simple agents, quick prototypes

I’ll guide you through:

Agent Planning: Define purpose, target users, and core capabilities
Capability Selection: Choose from 11 available capabilities (WebSearch, OneDriveAndSharePoint, GraphConnectors, etc.)
Basic Schema Creation: Generate compliant JSON manifest with proper constraints
TypeSpec Alternative: Create modern type-safe definitions that compile to JSON
Testing Setup: Configure Agents Playground for local testing
Toolkit Integration: Leverage Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit for enhanced development

Workflow 2: Advanced Enterprise Agent Design

Perfect for: Complex enterprise scenarios, production deployment, advanced features

I’ll help you architect:

Enterprise Requirements Analysis: Multi-tenant considerations, compliance, security
Advanced Capability Configuration: Complex capability combinations and interactions
Behavior Override Implementation: Custom response patterns and specialized behaviors
Localization Strategy: Multi-language support with proper resource management
Conversation Starters: Strategic conversation entry points for user engagement
Production Deployment: Environment management, versioning, and lifecycle planning
Monitoring & Analytics: Implementation of tracking and performance optimization

Workflow 3: Validation & Optimization

Perfect for: Existing agents, troubleshooting, performance optimization

I’ll perform:

Schema Compliance Validation: Full v1.5 specification adherence checking
Character Limit Optimization: Name (100), description (1000), instructions (8000)
Capability Audit: Verify proper capability configuration and usage
TypeSpec Migration: Convert existing JSON to modern TypeSpec definitions
Testing Protocol: Comprehensive validation using Agents Playground
Performance Analysis: Identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities
Best Practices Review: Alignment with Microsoft guidelines and recommendations

Core Features Across All Workflows

Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit Integration

VS Code Extension: Full integration with teamsdevapp.ms-teams-vscode-extension
TypeSpec Development: Modern type-safe agent definitions
Local Debugging: Agents Playground integration for testing
Environment Management: Development, staging, production configurations
Lifecycle Management: Creation, testing, deployment, monitoring

TypeSpec Examples

// Modern declarative agent definition
model MyAgent {
  name: string;
  description: string;
  instructions: string;
  capabilities: AgentCapability[];
  conversation_starters?: ConversationStarter[];
}

JSON Schema v1.5 Validation

Full compliance with latest Microsoft specification
Character limit enforcement (name: 100, description: 1000, instructions: 8000)
Array constraint validation (conversation_starters: max 4, capabilities: max 5)
Required field validation and type checking

Available Capabilities (Choose up to 5)

WebSearch: Internet search functionality
OneDriveAndSharePoint: File and content access
GraphConnectors: Enterprise data integration
MicrosoftGraph: Microsoft 365 service integration
TeamsAndOutlook: Communication platform access
PowerPlatform: Power Apps and Power Automate integration
BusinessDataProcessing: Enterprise data analysis
WordAndExcel: Document and spreadsheet manipulation
CopilotForMicrosoft365: Advanced Copilot features
EnterpriseApplications: Third-party system integration
CustomConnectors: Custom API and service integration

Environment Variables Support

{
  "name": "${AGENT_NAME}",
  "description": "${AGENT_DESCRIPTION}",
  "instructions": "${AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS}"
}

Which workflow would you like to start with? Share your requirements and I’ll provide specialized guidance for your Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agent development with full TypeSpec and Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit support.

About this skill

Trigger

Complete development kit for Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agents with three comprehensive workflows (basic, advanced, validation), TypeSpec support, and Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit integration

The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.

Colophon for this issue

Colophon

How this issue was made

Source

github.com/github/awesome-copilot, branch main, last pushed 24 September 2026.

Licence

MIT — the text of every skill is reproduced unmodified, frontmatter included, under the upstream licence.

Discovery

200 skills found by walking the repository tree for SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 2 distinct layouts observed: .github/skills/*/SKILL.md, skills/*/SKILL.md.

Authorship

3 of 200 skills are installed into the repository rather than published from it. They are shelved in the closing “Credited skills” part and remain the work of their own authors. A skill counts as credited when its only copy lives under one agent’s dot directory; visible directories, per-agent mirror sets, and skills installable from this repository on skills.sh all count as published.

Issue colours

Resolved from a curated brand profile — hue 295°, chroma 0.190. Two accent tones are generated per issue and each is proven against its own ground before it ships: a single accent that passes AA on both light and dark paper is arithmetically impossible.

Heading repairs

1 repair applied to this skill so the document has one h1 and no skipped levels:

Shifted “10 headings” from h1 to h2 so the skill title is the only h1.

Spec compliance

Every skill satisfies the Agent Skills specification’s frontmatter rules.

Images

Images inside a skill come from the upstream repository. Where the author gave no alternative text we mark the image decorative rather than inventing a description — a plausible caption we made up is worse than none for the reader who depends on it.

Marketplace

A plugin manifest is published at .github/plugin/marketplace.json by GitHub, declaring 162 plugins. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree.

Signal

Install counts come from skills.sh. They measure downloads, not quality, and an unranked repository is not an unread one.

Agent surfaces

The whole issue is available as one markdown document at /github/awesome-copilot.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.

Publication

Set by Skills Docs from the source repository. Body text is Literata at the reader’s chosen size and measure; code is Geist Mono. Nothing on this page was written by us except this paragraph.

Microsoft 365 Declarative Agents Development Kit

Workflow 1: Basic Agent Creation

Perfect for: New developers, simple agents, quick prototypes

I’ll guide you through:

Agent Planning: Define purpose, target users, and core capabilities
Capability Selection: Choose from 11 available capabilities (WebSearch, OneDriveAndSharePoint, GraphConnectors, etc.)
Basic Schema Creation: Generate compliant JSON manifest with proper constraints
TypeSpec Alternative: Create modern type-safe definitions that compile to JSON
Testing Setup: Configure Agents Playground for local testing
Toolkit Integration: Leverage Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit for enhanced development

Workflow 2: Advanced Enterprise Agent Design

Perfect for: Complex enterprise scenarios, production deployment, advanced features

I’ll help you architect:

Enterprise Requirements Analysis: Multi-tenant considerations, compliance, security
Advanced Capability Configuration: Complex capability combinations and interactions
Behavior Override Implementation: Custom response patterns and specialized behaviors
Localization Strategy: Multi-language support with proper resource management
Conversation Starters: Strategic conversation entry points for user engagement
Production Deployment: Environment management, versioning, and lifecycle planning
Monitoring & Analytics: Implementation of tracking and performance optimization

Workflow 3: Validation & Optimization

Perfect for: Existing agents, troubleshooting, performance optimization

I’ll perform:

Schema Compliance Validation: Full v1.5 specification adherence checking
Character Limit Optimization: Name (100), description (1000), instructions (8000)
Capability Audit: Verify proper capability configuration and usage
TypeSpec Migration: Convert existing JSON to modern TypeSpec definitions
Testing Protocol: Comprehensive validation using Agents Playground
Performance Analysis: Identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities
Best Practices Review: Alignment with Microsoft guidelines and recommendations

Core Features Across All Workflows

Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit Integration

VS Code Extension: Full integration with teamsdevapp.ms-teams-vscode-extension
TypeSpec Development: Modern type-safe agent definitions
Local Debugging: Agents Playground integration for testing
Environment Management: Development, staging, production configurations
Lifecycle Management: Creation, testing, deployment, monitoring

TypeSpec Examples

// Modern declarative agent definition
model MyAgent {
  name: string;
  description: string;
  instructions: string;
  capabilities: AgentCapability[];
  conversation_starters?: ConversationStarter[];
}

JSON Schema v1.5 Validation

Full compliance with latest Microsoft specification
Character limit enforcement (name: 100, description: 1000, instructions: 8000)
Array constraint validation (conversation_starters: max 4, capabilities: max 5)
Required field validation and type checking

Available Capabilities (Choose up to 5)

WebSearch: Internet search functionality
OneDriveAndSharePoint: File and content access
GraphConnectors: Enterprise data integration
MicrosoftGraph: Microsoft 365 service integration
TeamsAndOutlook: Communication platform access
PowerPlatform: Power Apps and Power Automate integration
BusinessDataProcessing: Enterprise data analysis
WordAndExcel: Document and spreadsheet manipulation
CopilotForMicrosoft365: Advanced Copilot features
EnterpriseApplications: Third-party system integration
CustomConnectors: Custom API and service integration

Environment Variables Support

{
  "name": "${AGENT_NAME}",
  "description": "${AGENT_DESCRIPTION}",
  "instructions": "${AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS}"
}