Agent flows and workflows overview - Microsoft Copilot Studio (original) (raw)

Workflows (public preview) are a new, agentic-led way to build automation in Copilot Studio. They're created on a redesigned visual canvas with native AI actions, agent handoffs, and node-level testing. The previous agent flow experience for automation creation remains available. You can create and view both types of flows on the Workflows page.

Important

This article contains Microsoft Copilot Studio preview documentation and is subject to change.

Preview features aren't meant for production use and may have restricted functionality. These features are available before an official release so that you can get early access and provide feedback.

If you're building a production-ready agent, see Microsoft Copilot Studio Overview.

Agent flows and workflows automate repetitive tasks and integrate your apps and services. You can trigger them manually, based on other automated events or agents, or based on a schedule.

Agent flows and workflows consume Copilot Studio capacity for each agent flow or workflow action they execute.

Benefits of agent flows and workflows

Agent flows and workflows offer several benefits.

• Consistent execution: Agent flows and workflows are deterministic. They execute actions or tasks following a rule-based path. The same input always produces the same output, making them reliable and predictable.
• Simple workflow creation: You can design, edit, and automate agent flows and workflows directly in Copilot Studio, using AI-driven suggestions for triggers, actions, and agent flows or workflows.
• End-to-end process visibility: Design agent flows and workflows, monitor their performance, and get actionable insights to improve your automation projects, all in the Workflows page in Copilot Studio's unified interface. You can also view details of an agent flow or workflow, such as the flow name, description, and status.

Create agent flows and workflows

You can create an agent flow or workflow in Copilot Studio in two ways:

• Natural language: Create an agent flow by describing what you need using everyday language in one or more conversations. Copilot Studio interprets your intent and creates an agent flow based on your description. You can edit the flow in the designer to add more actions. Learn more in Build an agent flow with natural language.
• Designer: Build an agent flow or workflow by dragging and dropping components on a canvas in the visual designer. You can add actions, conditions, and loops to create sophisticated automation scenarios. You can also use expressions to manipulate data and perform calculations in your flows. Learn more in Edit and manage your agent flow or workflow in the designer.

To get started, from the Workflows page in Copilot Studio:

• Select New workflow to start creating a workflow.
• Select New agent flow to start creating an agent flow.

You can also convert a Power Automate flow to an agent flow.

Triggers and actions in agent flows and workflows

An agent flow or workflow consists of a trigger and at least one action.

Triggers

A trigger is an event that starts a flow. Triggers can be instant (manually run on demand), or based on a schedule, or they can happen in response to other events.

Agent flows and workflows that have the When an agent calls the flow trigger can be added as tools in other agents, allowing them to be used as part of larger agent-based automation scenarios. Learn more in Add an agent flow or workflow to an agent.

Actions

An action is a task that an agent flow or workflow performs. Let's say you want to get a notification in Microsoft Teams when your manager sends you an email. Receiving an email from your manager is the trigger that starts this flow. Sending a message in Microsoft Teams is the action that happens in response.

There are different types of actions you can use in agent flows and workflows:

• AI capabilities: AI-driven actions that leverage large language models (LLMs) to generate text, process documents, run a prompt on a model, call an agent, and create a natural language reply to a calling agent.
• Human in the loop: Actions that require human intervention, such as approval requests or providing information.
• Built-in tools: Control structures for looping and branching, data operations, date and time functions, and child flows.
• Connectors: Connect to various services to perform tasks and retrieve data. Connectors include Microsoft 365 services, third-party services, and custom connectors.

Work with agent flows and workflows in solutions

Agent flows and workflows are included in solutions, where you have access to advanced capabilities, such as drafts and versioning, export, import, and customization. You can manage solutions in the Power Platform admin center.

Manage agent flow and workflow capacity usage

Important

Once you fully consume your environment's prepaid Copilot Studio capacity, new agent flow or workflow runs are blocked until capacity is available. Running flows complete normally. Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users and test runs (from both the flow designer and the agent's test chat) are not affected. To avoid interruption, monitor capacity usage and consider enabling pay-as-you-go billing. For more information, see Agent flow enforcement.

Every action your agent flows and workflows execute consumes Copilot Studio capacity, so it's a good idea to monitor agent flow and workflow capacity usage. In the Power Platform admin center > Licensing > Copilot Studio, review the Agent flow actions used by each flow.

Testing an agent flow or workflow in the flow designer or from the agent's test chat doesn't consume Copilot Studio capacity.

Here's how to calculate the capacity that's used when a flow is run as an action in an agent:

• When you run a flow from a topic, you consume one Classic answer plus the agent flow or workflow actions.
• When you run a flow using generative orchestration, you consume one Autonomous action plus the agent flow or workflow actions.
• When you run flows run from the agent's embedded test chat, either from a topic or as a generative action, you don't consume agent flow or workflow capacity.

Convert a Power Automate flow to an agent flow

If you already have a Power Automate cloud flow that does what you want, you can convert it to an agent flow. Converting it allows you to manage the flow in Copilot Studio and consume Copilot Studio capacity instead of Power Automate billing. You can still access the flow from Power Automate.

Converting the flow requires that Copilot Studio capacity, either prepaid or pay-as-you-go, is available in the environment. Conversion is a one-way operation. It can't be reversed due to the change in the flow's billing.

1. Open the cloud flow's detail page in the Power Automate portal.
2. Make sure that the flow is in a solution.
   If the Solutions tile is present on the right side of the detail page, it is. If the Solutions tile isn't present, add the flow to a solution before continuing.
3. Make sure that the flow is in the Power Platform environment that you want to consume Copilot Studio capacity from.
   If Copilot Studio capacity isn't allocated to the environment yet, reach out to your Power Platform administrator for assistance.
4. Select Edit.
5. Change the flow's plan to Copilot Studio.
6. Select Save.
7. When prompted, confirm that you want to convert the flow.

Note

You can only convert a Power Automate flow to an agent flow. You can't convert a Power Automate flow to the new workflow format.

Related content

• FAQ for Copilot in cloud flows
• FAQ for Copilot expression assistant
• FAQ for generative actions in cloud flows
• FAQ for Power Automate for desktop natural language to code in scripting actions