Clone Agent

Clone Agent

Guided flow to clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud to a local workspace. Walks the user through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads the agent's YAML files.

IMPORTANT: Do Not Modify Scripts

This is a new capability under active development. If the manage-agent script fails, do not attempt to fix, patch, or work around it. Instead:

1. Show the user the full error output
2. Direct them to https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio/issues
3. Suggest using the Copilot Studio VS Code extension directly as a fallback for push/pull/clone

Phase 0: Resolve Configuration

Look for existing connection details in this order. Stop at the first source that provides a tenantId:

0a. Scan for existing .mcs/conn.json files

Search the filesystem for previously cloned agents — these already have all the connection details:

Glob: **/.mcs/conn.json

Also search common project locations:

Glob: /Users/**/projects/**/.mcs/conn.json

Each conn.json contains TenantId, EnvironmentId, DataverseEndpoint, AgentManagementEndpoint, and AccountInfo. Parse any found files and collect unique tenant/environment pairs. If matches are found, present them to the user:

> Found existing agent connections: > 1. Employee Assistant — Elad's Env (tenant: 8a235459...) > 2. IT Agent — Contoso Dev (tenant: efb073bb...) > > Use one of these, or enter a different tenant ID?

If the user picks one → extract tenantId, environmentId, environmentUrl, agentMgmtUrl and skip to Phase 2 (or Phase 1 if they want a different environment).

0b. Check for a Copilot Studio URL

If the user pastes a Copilot Studio URL (e.g. from their browser while viewing the agent), extract environment and agent IDs directly — no need for list-envs or list-agents.

Recognised URL formats:

https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com/environments//bots//overview
https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments//bots/

If the user provides a URL like this, you still need a tenantId (from a conn.json or by asking the user). Then skip to Phase 3, passing --url instead of --agent-id / --environment-id / --environment-url / --agent-mgmt-url:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --url ""

The script will parse the URL to extract the environment ID and agent ID, then resolve the remaining environment details (Dataverse URL, agent management URL) automatically via the BAP API.

0c. Ask the user

If no conn.json found (or user wants a different tenant) → ask for their tenant ID (required).

No --client-id is needed — the script uses VS Code's first-party client ID with interactive browser login automatically.

Phase 1: Select Environment

Tell the user: "A browser window may open for Microsoft sign-in (tokens are cached after first login)."

Run the list-envs command:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-envs \
  --tenant-id ""

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes) — set this on the Bash tool call to allow time for browser auth.

Parse the JSON output. On success (status: "ok"), present the environments as a numbered list to the user:

1. Contoso Dev (abc123-...)
2. Contoso Prod (def456-...)

Ask the user to pick an environment. Extract:

• environmentId
• environmentUrl (the url or dataverseUrl field)
• agentMgmtUrl (the agentManagementUrl field)

Phase 2: Select Agent

First, ask the user: "Do you want to list only agents you own, or all agents in the environment?"

• If only mine → run without --no-owner (default, filters by current user)
• If all agents → add --no-owner flag

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-agents \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --environment-url "" \
  [--no-owner]

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)

Parse the JSON output. Each agent has agentId, displayName, and ownedByCurrentUser. Present agents as a numbered list:

1. My Support Bot (yours)
2. HR Assistant
3. IT Helpdesk (yours)

Ask the user to pick an agent. Extract the agentId.

Phase 3: Clone

Run the clone command. The workspace should be the current directory (.). The --agent-id is required (from Phase 2):

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --agent-id "" \
  --environment-id "" \
  --environment-url "" \
  --agent-mgmt-url ""

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)

On success:

1. Run Glob: **/agent.mcs.yml to find and show the cloned agent file
2. Check that .mcs/conn.json was created in the agent directory
3. Summarize what was cloned and where the files are

Error Handling

| Error | Resolution | |-------|-----------| | Browser auth fails or times out | Ask user to try again; check that they have access to the tenant | | No environments found | Verify tenant ID is correct and user has Power Platform access | | No agents found | Verify environment selection; user may need Copilot Studio access | | Clone fails | Check permissions; the user needs maker/admin access to the agent |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: microsoft
• Source: microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.