Microsoft 365 Agents SDK: Deploy AI-Agnostic Agents to Teams and Copilot
The Microsoft 365 Agent SDK simplifies building full stack, multichannel, trusted agents for platforms including M365, Teams, Copilot Studio, and Webchat.
At a glance
- What is it?
- The Microsoft 365 Agents SDK is an MIT-licensed toolkit for building agents that deploy across Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, Webchat, and custom applications, letting developers choose their own AI stack while the SDK handles channel communication, state, storage, and activity management.
- Who is it for?
- The Microsoft 365 Agents SDK is the right starting point for developers who need to deploy conversational AI agents into Teams, M365 Copilot, or custom web applications and want to bring their own AI backend rather than being locked into a single provider. The AI-agnostic design is a genuine differentiator within the Microsoft ecosystem.
- Can I use it commercially?
- Yes. MIT is a permissive licence: you can use, modify and sell software built on it, as long as you keep its copyright and licence notices.
- Is it still maintained?
- Yes. The repository last received commits 1 day ago.
- What is it written in?
- Mainly TypeSpec, according to GitHub's language statistics.
Answers come from the project's GitHub data, last synced on September 29, 2026, and from our analysis. They are not legal advice.
Editorial analysis
What the Agents SDK provides and who it is for
The Microsoft 365 Agents SDK handles the channel-level plumbing for deploying an AI agent to Microsoft platforms: message routing, activity and event management, state persistence, and storage. It does not prescribe which AI service or model powers the agent's reasoning. A developer can bring OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, a local model, Semantic Kernel, or any other inference service and wire it into an agent container the SDK provides.
The intended audience is enterprise developers building agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Teams, Webchat, or custom applications. The README explicitly notes that a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription is not required to get started; it is only needed if the target deployment channel specifically requires it. The same SDK code deploys to Teams without a Copilot subscription.
The SDK is AI-agnostic in a specific sense: it handles the communication contract between the agent and the deployment channel, not the intelligence inside the agent. Developers implement the agent logic using whichever AI services they choose. The SDK provides the scaffolding to make that logic available across supported channels.
How the repository is organized across language repos
The microsoft/Agents repository on GitHub is a coordination point, not the primary source for the language-specific libraries. The README describes it as a jumping-off point into the language-specific repositories. Source code for the client libraries is in three separate repositories:
- C#/.NET: Agents-for-net Repository - JavaScript/TypeScript: Agents-for-js Repository - Python: Agents-for-python Repository
The microsoft/Agents repository itself contains the README, documentation, samples, specifications in TypeSpec format, and the agent plugins described below. Language-specific issues should be filed in the corresponding repository. Cross-cutting issues that affect all languages can be opened in this repository.
The samples directory is the recommended starting point. The README instructs new users to scroll to the samples folder, select a language, and choose from the samples list. QuickStart is specifically recommended for fundamentals. The samples cover C# (dotnet/), JavaScript (nodejs/), and Python (python/) subdirectories.
Agent plugins for Claude Code and GitHub Copilot
The Agents SDK ships AI coding assistant plugins that give Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and other assistant tools deep knowledge of SDK APIs, patterns, and common mistakes. These plugins activate automatically based on the language and task the developer is working on.
Four plugins are available, each covering a different SDK and language combination:
| Plugin | Languages | Coverage | |--------|-----------|----------| | agents-sdk-common | All | Azure provisioning, identity credentials, OAuth setup via az CLI | | agents-for-js | TypeScript/JavaScript | Building agents, auth debugging, OpenTelemetry setup | | agents-for-net | C#/.NET | Building agents, Bot Framework migration, AgentApplication migration | | agents-for-python | Python | OpenTelemetry observability configuration |
Install them in Claude Code or GitHub Copilot using the plugin commands shown in the README:
/plugin marketplace add microsoft/Agents
/plugin install agents-sdk-common@microsoft-agents-sdk
/plugin install agents-for-js@microsoft-agents-sdk
/plugin install agents-for-net@microsoft-agents-sdk
/plugin install agents-for-python@microsoft-agents-sdkInstall the common plugin and the plugins for the languages you use. After installation, skills activate automatically. Run /plugin to verify the installation. The plugins are stored in the agent-plugins/ folder in the repository.
Deploying to M365 Copilot, Teams, and Webchat
The SDK manages the differences between channel clients. Microsoft Teams has specific behavior requirements for how messages are formatted, how attachments are handled, and how adaptive cards render. M365 Copilot has its own activity model. Webchat has different rendering constraints. The README describes the SDK as providing scaffolding that handles these channel-specific behaviors so the developer does not need to implement channel negotiation separately.
For Teams specifically, the SDK aligns with the Teams activity model. Developers can build a single agent and deploy it to Teams, M365 Copilot, and a custom web endpoint from the same codebase by configuring channel-specific behavior through the SDK rather than branching their agent logic.
The README notes that Copilot Studio can be used alongside the SDK to integrate custom agents into applications and create multi-agent patterns. The Copilot Studio Client sample in the samples directory demonstrates this integration. This is separate from Microsoft 365 Copilot (the AI assistant in Microsoft 365 applications); Copilot Studio is a low-code agent building platform.
Relationship to Semantic Kernel and Azure AI Foundry
The README describes the Agents SDK in relation to two other Microsoft tools. Semantic Kernel is an SDK that integrates large language models (from OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and Hugging Face) with conventional programming languages in C#, Python, and Java. It provides plugin chaining and function-calling orchestration. Semantic Kernel is described as the AI layer, while the Agents SDK is the channel and deployment layer.
Azure AI Foundry provides the core backend agent functionality including reasoning, retrieval augmentation, and observability. Developers can use the Azure AI Agent Service directly or build agent functionality using individual components from Azure AI Foundry alongside the channel management capabilities of the Agents SDK.
The practical boundary is: the Agents SDK handles how an agent communicates with Teams or Copilot; Semantic Kernel and Azure AI Foundry handle how the agent thinks and retrieves information. A production agent is likely to use all three layers. The README describes them as components that can be combined rather than alternatives to choose between.
Contributing, CLA, and open source code of conduct
Non-Microsoft developers who contribute to the repository must sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA). The CLA process is automated through a bot that checks pull requests and adds a status check if a CLA is needed. Developers only need to sign once across all repositories that use this CLA process.
The project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. Internal Microsoft developers who want to contribute to the core SDK must join the Core identity group for Agents SDK contributions via the coreidentity.microsoft.com portal.
The repository is MIT-licensed. Third-party dependencies in the language-specific repositories (Agents-for-net, Agents-for-js, Agents-for-python) are subject to their own licenses. Security issues should not be filed as GitHub issues; Microsoft provides a separate security reporting process.
The lack of GitHub releases for the main repository is consistent with the architecture: the release artifacts for each language are managed in the language-specific repositories, not in this coordination repository.
Editorial conclusion
The Microsoft 365 Agents SDK is the right starting point for developers who need to deploy conversational AI agents into Teams, M365 Copilot, or custom web applications and want to bring their own AI backend rather than being locked into a single provider. The AI-agnostic design is a genuine differentiator within the Microsoft ecosystem. Teams that do not need the Microsoft channel management layer and are building agents purely around a model API should look at Semantic Kernel or Azure AI Foundry directly. The SDK is MIT-licensed. Contributions from non-Microsoft developers require a Contributor License Agreement via cla.opensource.microsoft.com. The last push was on 2026-09-22.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use agents in Microsoft Copilot with the Agents SDK?
The SDK provides an agent container with state, storage, and channel management that deploys to M365 Copilot among other channels. A Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription is only required if deploying specifically to that channel; the QuickStart sample in the samples/ folder is the recommended starting point for fundamentals without requiring any Copilot subscription.
How do I install the Agents SDK plugins in Claude Code?
Use the /plugin marketplace add microsoft/Agents command followed by /plugin install for each plugin you need: agents-sdk-common for all languages, agents-for-js for TypeScript or JavaScript, agents-for-net for C#/.NET, and agents-for-python for Python. Run /plugin after installation to verify they are active.
How do I use the Agents SDK plugins in Claude Code?
After installation, skills from the Agents SDK plugins activate automatically based on the language and task Claude Code detects in the current session. The agents-for-js plugin activates on TypeScript and JavaScript tasks, agents-for-net on C#/.NET tasks, and agents-sdk-common applies across all languages for Azure provisioning and OAuth setup.
Official sources
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