Manage Agent

Manage Agent

Push and pull Copilot Studio agent content by calling the VS Code extension's LanguageServerHost binary directly, using the same custom LSP protocol the extension uses internally.

IMPORTANT: Do Not Modify Scripts

This is a new capability under active development. The manage-agent scripts (manage-agent.bundle.js, chat-with-agent.bundle.js) are pre-built bundles that must not be modified, patched, or monkey-patched. If a script fails:

1. Report the error as-is — show the user the full error output
2. Do not attempt to fix, patch, or work around script errors — the scripts interact with the LSP binary using a specific protocol and any modifications will break things
3. Direct the user to raise an issue at https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio/issues with the error output
4. Suggest using the VS Code extension directly — the user can perform the same push/pull/clone operations from the Copilot Studio VS Code extension UI as a fallback

Prerequisites

1. Copilot Studio VS Code extension must be installed (ms-copilotstudio.vscode-copilotstudio).
2. Azure AD app registration (optional) — only needed for device code flow (auth command). If --client-id is omitted, the script uses VS Code's first-party client ID with interactive browser login instead.
3. Environment details — tenant ID, environment ID, environment URL, and agent management URL. These come from the .mcs/conn.json inside a cloned agent workspace (created automatically during clone).

Phase 0: Resolve Configuration

Search for .mcs/conn.json in the workspace and nearby directories to find existing connection details. The script auto-reads environment details from conn.json. If no conn.json is found, ask the user for the required parameters.

Phase 1: Authenticate

There are two different auth flows depending on the operation:

For push / pull / clone / changes / list-agents (interactive browser login)

These commands use VS Code's first-party client ID with the Island API gateway. Authentication is interactive — a browser window opens automatically for sign-in. No manual code entry is needed.

• On first use, a browser window opens for Microsoft sign-in
• Tokens are cached in the OS credential store and silently refreshed for ~90 days
• After ~90 days, the browser will open again for re-authentication

No separate auth step is needed before push/pull. The commands handle token acquisition automatically. Just run the command directly (Phase 2).

For the auth command (device code flow — chat/test token)

The auth command acquires a generic api.powerplatform.com token using device code flow. This token is used by the chat and test skills, not by push/pull.

Run with a 5-minute timeout:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js auth \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --client-id "" \
  --environment-url ""

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes) — set this on the Bash tool call.

Token caching and silent refresh

Tokens and MSAL refresh tokens are persisted in the OS credential store (macOS Keychain, Windows DPAPI, Linux secret-tool). After initial authentication:

• Access tokens are valid for ~1 hour
• Refresh tokens are valid for ~90 days
• The script automatically refreshes expired access tokens silently using the cached refresh token
• Re-authentication is only needed on the very first use or after ~90 days

When device code flow starts (auth command only)

The script emits a JSON line to stdout:

{"status":"device_code","userCode":"XXXXXXXX","verificationUri":"https://login.microsoft.com/device","message":"...","expiresIn":900}

When you see this in the output, immediately tell the user:

> Authentication Required > > Please open {verificationUri} in your browser and enter code {userCode} > > The command is waiting for you to complete sign-in. You have {expiresIn/60} minutes.

The command will automatically continue once the user completes authentication. Do NOT cancel the command — it is waiting for the browser sign-in to complete.

Two tokens are acquired sequentially (Copilot Studio API, then Dataverse API), so the user may need to authenticate twice on first use.

If the command completes with status: "ok"

Tokens are cached. Proceed to Phase 2.

If the command fails with device_code_expired

The user didn't authenticate in time. Re-run the auth command and remind them to authenticate promptly.

Phase 2: Execute Command

All commands auto-detect the agent directory (finds the subfolder with .mcs/conn.json) and read connection details from it.

Pull (download remote changes)

--client-id is optional. When omitted, uses VS Code's 1p client with interactive browser login.

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

Push (upload local changes)

Important: Always pull before push to get fresh row versions. If you push without pulling first, you'll get a ConcurrencyVersionMismatch error.

Push automatically validates all .mcs.yml files before pushing and blocks if there are errors. Add --force to bypass validation (not recommended).

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

Validate (check YAML before pushing)

Validates all .mcs.yml files in the workspace using the LSP binary's full diagnostics (YAML structure, Power Fx, schema, cross-file references).

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

Returns JSON: { "valid": true|false, "summary": { "errors": N, "warnings": N }, "files": [...] }

Clone (download agent to new local folder)

Requires either --agent-id (the bot GUID from list-agents) or --url (a Copilot Studio web URL). Uses Island API token automatically.

With explicit IDs:

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

With a Copilot Studio URL (recommended shortcut):

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "" \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --url "https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com/environments//bots//overview"

When --url is provided, the script extracts environmentId and agentId from the URL and resolves environmentUrl and agentMgmtUrl automatically via the BAP API. The --url flag also works with push, pull, changes, and validate commands.

View Changes (diff local vs remote)

--client-id is optional. When omitted, uses VS Code's 1p client with interactive browser login.

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

Publish (make draft agent live)

Publishes the agent so that the current draft becomes the live version reachable by external clients (/chat-with-agent, /run-tests, Teams, etc.). Uses the Dataverse PvaPublish bound action directly (no LSP binary needed).

IMPORTANT — Publishing makes this version of the agent available to ALL users the agent is shared with. If you are working in a development environment this is fine, but if the agent is shared with production users, always confirm with the user before publishing. Ask: "This will publish the agent and make it live for all users it's shared with. Should I proceed?"

The command polls the publishedon field on the bot entity until the timestamp changes, confirming that publish has taken effect. Default timeout is 5 minutes.

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js publish \
  --workspace "" \
  --tenant-id "" \
  --environment-url "" \
  [--timeout ]

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes) — set this on the Bash tool call.

Optional: --agent-id "" overrides the bot ID from conn.json.

Publish output (success)

{"status":"ok","botId":"...","publishedOn":"2026-03-27T12:00:00Z","previousPublishedOn":"2026-03-26T10:00:00Z","durationMs":45000,"durationSeconds":45}

When to publish

• After a successful push, if the user wants changes to be testable via /chat-with-agent or /run-tests
• In an improvement loop (edit → push → publish → test), publish is required between push and test
• The command confirms publish completion via API — do not use time-based waits

List Agents

Uses Dataverse REST API directly (no LSP binary needed). --client-id is optional.

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

By default lists only agents owned by the current user. Add --no-owner to list all unmanaged agents.

List Environments

Uses BAP REST API directly (no LSP binary needed). --client-id is optional.

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

Output Format

All commands output JSON to stdout with a status field:

Device code prompt (during auth)

{"status":"device_code","userCode":"XXXXXXXX","verificationUri":"https://login.microsoft.com/device","message":"...","expiresIn":900}

Success

{"status":"ok","method":"powerplatformls/syncPull","result":{...}}

Error

{"status":"error","error":"description of what went wrong"}

Error Handling

| Error | Likely cause | Resolution | |-------|-------------|------------| | Extension not found | Copilot Studio VS Code extension not installed | Install from VS Code marketplace | | LSP request timed out | Binary not responding or wrong protocol version | Check extension version, try updating | | devicecodeexpired | User didn't authenticate in time | Re-run auth, authenticate promptly | | ConcurrencyVersionMismatch | Push without fresh row versions | Pull first, then push | | Token expired + silent refresh failed | Refresh token expired (~90 days) | Run auth command for new device code flow | | Binary missing | Extension installed but binary not present | Reinstall the extension | | PvaPublish failed | Insufficient permissions or bot not found | Verify the user has publish permissions and the agent ID is correct | | Publish timed out | Publish still in progress after timeout | Increase --timeout or check the Copilot Studio UI for status |

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.