edit-agent

Changes the chatbot itself rather than any one conversation — its name, the instructions that shape how it behaves, the openers it suggests, and which AI model sits behind it.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Rewrite the instructions that set the bot's tone and what it is allowed to say.
Switch an agent's underlying AI model to a different provider or version.
Decide whether people have to sign in before the bot will talk to them.
Let the AI work out the flow itself, or hold it to the scripted paths you wrote.
Add suggested conversation starters that show up when a chat begins.

NOT FOR

Will not change the schema name, publish date, template, or language — those are platform-managed.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (7)

Edit Agent Settings/Instructions

Modify agent metadata (agent.mcs.yml) or configuration (settings.mcs.yml).

Instructions

Auto-discover the agent directory:
```
Glob: **/agent.mcs.yml
```
NEVER hardcode an agent name. If multiple agents found, ask which one.
Identify what the user wants to change and read the appropriate file:
- Instructions, display name, conversation starters, AI settings → agent.mcs.yml
- GenerativeActionsEnabled, authentication, recognizer, capabilities → settings.mcs.yml
If the user wants to change the AI model, run the schema lookup tool first:
```
node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/schema-lookup.bundle.js models
```
Use the output to determine the correct modelNameHint and provider values. CRITICAL: Do NOT include kind in the model block — the agent-level schema uses CurrentModelsNoKind.
Read the current file before making any changes.
Make the requested changes using the Edit tool.

Editable Fields in `agent.mcs.yml`

Field	Description	Example
`displayName`	Agent's display name	`displayName: My Agent`
`instructions`	System prompt / personality	Multi-line YAML with `\|`
`conversationStarters`	Suggested conversation starters	Array of `{title, text}`
`aISettings.model.modelNameHint`	Model hint (run `models` command for convention)	`Sonnet46`, `GPT5Chat`
`aISettings.model.provider`	Model provider (required for non-OpenAI)	`Anthropic`

Editable Fields in `settings.mcs.yml`

Field	Description	Example
`GenerativeActionsEnabled`	Enable generative orchestration	`true` / `false`
`authenticationMode`	Auth mode	`Integrated`, `None`
`authenticationTrigger`	When to auth	`Always`, `AsNeeded`
`accessControlPolicy`	Access control	`ChatbotReaders`
`configuration.aISettings.*`	AI capabilities	Various booleans
`configuration.settings.*.content.capabilities.webBrowsing`	Web browsing	`true` / `false`

Writing Effective Instructions

For detailed guidance on writing knowledge-aware instructions, grounding directives, citation control, and scope enforcement, see instructions-guide.md.

Fields to NEVER Modify

schemaName — This is the internal Power Platform identifier. Changing it breaks the agent.
publishedOn — Managed by the platform.
template — Managed by the platform.
language — Changing this can corrupt the agent.

If the user asks to change any of these, warn them.

Example: Update Instructions

instructions: |
  You are a customer support agent for Contoso Ltd.

  Guidelines:
  - Be professional and empathetic
  - Always verify the customer's identity first
  - Escalate billing issues to a human agent

Local tool required

1 FOR YOU

01
Have a Copilot Studio agent project pulled locally
Open a local copy of your Copilot Studio agent's YAML source files (pulled via the Copilot Studio VS Code Extension) — this skill edits its agent.mcs.yml or settings.mcs.yml.

This skill ships inside the Copilot Studio YAML Toolkit plugin. Listed package contents include 4 agents and hooks. Installed components and skill versions may vary by AI tool.

Install the whole plugin

This route installs the Copilot Studio YAML Toolkit plugin package selected for your AI tool.

Add Microsoft's marketplace, then install the plugin

Type both lines inside a Claude Code session, not at your shell prompt. They add Microsoft's marketplace, which is this repository, and the copilot-studio plugin, with its Copilot Studio skills and four sub-agents.

Install checklist

Microsoft lists Node.js 18 or later, and VS Code with the Copilot Studio extension for cloning, pushing and pulling agents.

01

/plugin marketplace add microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio

02

/plugin install copilot-studio@skills-for-copilot-studio

Installation and loading

Claude Code installs it once you pick an install option.

Good to know

A hook that runs whenever a session starts adds Microsoft's Copilot Studio instructions; one tells Claude to lean towards reading your requests as Copilot Studio requests unless there are clear signs otherwise.
The option that installs it for you in every project brings the hook's instructions into every project; to keep them to one Copilot Studio repository, pick the option for this repo only.
On first run, and after an update that changes its dependencies, the session-start hook runs npm install in the plugin's data folder; every session it also writes ~/.copilot-studio-cli/plugin-paths.json.

Add Microsoft's marketplace, then install the plugin

Type both lines in an interactive GitHub Copilot CLI session, not at your shell prompt. The first adds Microsoft's marketplace, which is this repository; the second installs the copilot-studio plugin.

Install checklist

Microsoft lists Node.js 18 or later, and VS Code with the Copilot Studio extension for cloning, pushing and pulling agents.

01

/plugin marketplace add microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio

02

/plugin install copilot-studio@skills-for-copilot-studio

Good to know

The plugin also carries a hooks/hooks.json file with SessionStart hooks, a path GitHub's plugin reference lists as a hooks file for plugins in this format; read the file in the repository before you install.

Open plugin page ↗

Install without the plugin (incomplete)

What's missing

Installing just this skill adds only its own folder. Only some steps call for other plugin components, such as a setup skill or shared script, which aren't included. Installing the whole plugin avoids this gap.

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

Install checklist

Check selected tools if a picker appears; Claude Code may be unchecked under Additional agents. ↑/↓ moves, Space toggles selections, Enter confirms.
Without a tool picker, check Installing to: for your intended tool. Stop if it names a different tool.
If asked, choose Symlink (Recommended) for shared files or Copy to all agents for separate copies; review the summary before confirming installation.
Install the find-skills skill? defaults to Yes, adding another skill for all projects. Choose No if you don't want that extra installation.

Skills CLI 1.7.2 sends install data to skills.sh by default, including the source, skill names, target tools and file details; GitHub sources are reported only when GitHub confirms the repository is public, while other remote sources can also be reported. Confirmed-public GitHub sources also trigger a security-audit request. Before installing, set the environment variable DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to disable both.

npx skills add microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio --skill "edit-agent" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

If installation created a top-level skills folder that did not exist when your Claude Code session started, run /reload-skills in that session. Run it again after later changes in that folder.

View on GitHub

The repository is licensed under MIT — use, modification, and redistribution are allowed under that license’s terms.

View the repository’s license file on GitHub →

Edit Agent Settings/Instructions

Instructions

Editable Fields in agent.mcs.yml

Editable Fields in settings.mcs.yml

Writing Effective Instructions

Fields to NEVER Modify

Example: Update Instructions

Local tool required

Install the whole plugin

Add Microsoft's marketplace, then install the plugin

Add Microsoft's marketplace, then install the plugin

More skills

add-action

add-adaptive-card

add-generative-answers

add-global-variable

add-knowledge

add-node

Editable Fields in `agent.mcs.yml`

Editable Fields in `settings.mcs.yml`