Microsoft Copilot Studio ❤️ MCP

Welcome to the Microsoft Copilot Studio ❤️ MCP lab. In this lab, you will learn how to deploy an MCP Server, and how to add it to Microsoft Copilot Studio.

❓ What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs, defined by Anthropic. MCP provides a standardized way to connect AI models to different data sources and tools. MCP allows makers to seamlessly integrate existing knowledge servers and APIs directly into Copilot Studio.

Currently, Copilot Studio only supports Tools. To learn more about current capabilities, see aka.ms/mcsmcp. There are some known issues & planned improvements. These are listed here.

🆚 MCP vs Connectors

When do you use MCP? And when do you use connectors? Will MCP replace connectors?

MCP servers are made available to Copilot Studio using connector infrastructure, so these questions are not really applicable. The fact that MCP servers use the connector infrastructure means they can employ enterprise security and governance controls such as Virtual Network integration, Data Loss Prevention controls, multiple authentication methods—all of which are available in this release—while supporting real-time data access for AI-powered agents.

So, MCP and connectors are really better together.

⚙️ Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code (link)
• Node v22 (ideally installed via nvm for Windows or nvm)
• Git installed (link)
• Azure Developer CLI (link)
• Azure Subscription (with payment method added)
• GitHub account
• Copilot Studio trial or developer account
• Power Platform environment provisioned - with the following toggle on:

!Get new features early toggle

➕ Create a new GitHub repository based on the template

1. Select Use this template

2. Select `Create a new repository

   

3. Select the right Owner (it might already be selected when you have only one owner to choose from)

4. Give it a Repository name

5. Optionally you can give it a Description

6. Select Private

7. Select Create repository

   This will take a little while. After it's done, you will be directed to the newly created repository.

⚖️ Choice: Run the server locally or deploy to Azure

Now you have a choice! You either run the server locally - or you can deploy it to Azure.

There are a couple of steps that you need to do for both:

1. Clone this repository by running the following command (replace {account} by your own GitHub account name):

   git clone https://github.com/{account}/mcsmcp.git

2. Open Visual Studio Code and open the cloned folder

3. Open the terminal and navigate to the cloned folder

🏃‍♀️ Run the MCP Server Locally

1. Run npm install

2. Run npm run build && npm run start

   !Terminal view after building and starting the server

3. Select PORTS at the top of the Visual Studio Code Terminal

   !Image of VS Code where the terminal is open and the PORTS tab is highlighted

4. Select the green Forward a Port button

   !Image of VS Code where the PORTS tab is open and the green Forward a Port button is highlighted

5. Enter 3000 as the port number (this should be the same as the port number you see when you ran the command in step 5). You might be prompted to sign in to GitHub, if so please do this, since this is required to use the port forwarding feature.

6. Right click on the row you just added and select Port visibility > Public to make the server publicly available

7. Ctrl + click on the Forwarded address, which should be something like: https://something-3000.something.devtunnels.ms

8. Select Copy on the following pop-up to copy the URL

   !View of the PORTS setup with highlighted the port, the forwarded address and the visibility

9. Open to the browser of your choice and paste the URL in the address bar, type /mcp behind it and hit enter

If all went well, you will see the following error message:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","error":{"code":-32000,"message":"Method not allowed."},"id":null}

Don't worry - this error message is nothing to be worried about!

🌎 Deploy to Azure

[!IMPORTANT] As listed in the prerequisites, the Azure Developer CLI needs to be installed on your machine for this part.

Make sure to login to Azure Developer CLI if you haven't done that yet.

azd auth login

[!WARNING]
After running azd up, you will have an MCP Server running on Azure that is publicly available. Ideally, you don't want that. Make sure to run azd down after finishing the lab to delete all the resources from your Azure subscription. Learn how to run azd down by going to this section.

Run the following command in the terminal:

azd up

For the unique environment name, enter mcsmcplab or something similar. Select the Azure Subscription to use and select a value for the location. After that, it will take a couple of minutes before the server has been deployed. When it's done - you should be able to go to the URL that's listed at the end and add /mcp to the end of that URL.

!Azd deploy server output

You should again see the following error:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","error":{"code":-32000,"message":"Method not allowed."},"id":null}

👨‍💻 Use the Jokes MCP Server in Visual Studio Code / GitHub Copilot

To use the Jokes MCP Server, you need to use the URL of your server (can be either your devtunnel URL or your deployed Azure Container App) with the /mcp part at the end and add it as an MCP Server in Visual Studio Code.

1. Press either ctrl + shift + P (Windows/Linux) or cmd + shift + P (Mac) and type MCP

2. Select MCP: Add Server...

3. Select HTTP (HTTP or Server-Sent Events)

4. Paste the URL of your server in the input box (make sure /mcp in the end is included)

5. Press Enter

6. Enter a name for the server, for instance JokesMCP

7. Select User Settings to save the MCP Server settings in your user settings

   This will add an MCP Server to your settings.json file. It should look like this: !settings.json file

8. Open GitHub Copilot

9. Switch from Ask to Agent

10. Make sure the JokesMCP server actions are selected when you select the tools icon:

    !Tools menu in GitHub Copilot

11. Ask the following question:

    Get a chuck norris joke from the Dev category

This should give you a response like this:

!Screenshot of question to provide a joke from the dev category and the answer from GitHub Copilot

Now you have added the JokesMCP server to Visual Studio Code!

👨‍💻 Use the Jokes MCP Server in Microsoft Copilot Studio

Import the Connector

1. Go to https://make.preview.powerapps.com/customconnectors (make sure you’re in the correct environment) and click + New custom connector.

2. Select Import from GitHub

3. Select Custom as Connector Type

4. Select dev as the Branch

5. Select MCP-Streamable-HTTP as the Connector

6. Select Continue

   !View of the import from GitHub section

7. Change the Connector Name to something appropriate, like for instance Jokes MCP

8. Change the Description to something appropriate

9. Paste your root URL (for instance something-3000.something.devtunnels.ms or something.azurecontainerapps.io) in the Host field

10. Select Create connector

[!WARNING]
You may see a warning and an error upon creation – it should be resolved soon - but you can ignore it for now.

11. Close the connector

Create an agent and add the MCP server as a tool

1. Go to https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/

2. Select the environment picker at the top right corner

3. Select the right environment (the environment with the Get new features early toggle switched on)

4. Select Create in the left navigation

5. Select the blue New agent button

   !New agent

6. Select the Configure tab on the left

   !Configure

7. Change the name to Jokester

8. Add the following Description

   A humor-focused agent that delivers concise, engaging jokes only upon user request, adapting its style to match the user's tone and preferences. It remains in character, avoids repetition, and filters out offensive content to ensure a consistently appropriate and witty experience.

9. Add the following Instructions

   You are a joke-telling assistant. Your sole purpose is to deliver appropriate, clever, and engaging jokes upon request. Follow these rules:
   
   * Respond only when the user asks for a joke or something related (e.g., "Tell me something funny").
   * Match the tone and humor preference of the user based on their input—clean, dark, dry, pun-based, dad jokes, etc.
   * Never break character or provide information unrelated to humor.
   * Keep jokes concise and clearly formatted.
   * Avoid offensive, discriminatory, or NSFW content.
   * When unsure about humor preference, default to a clever and universally appropriate joke.
   * Do not repeat jokes within the same session.
   * Avoid explaining the joke unless explicitly asked.
   * Be responsive, witty, and quick.

10. Select Continue on the top right

    !Click continue to create agent

11. Enable Generative AI Orchestration

    !Turn on orchestration

12. Disable general knowledge in the Knowledge section

    !Turn off general knowledge

13. Select Tools in the top menu

    !Tools

14. Select Add a tool

    !Add a tool

15. Select the Model Context Protocol tab to filter all the Model Context Protocol Servers (see number 1 in the screenshot below)

16. Select the Jokes MCP server (see number 2 in the screenshot below)

    !MCP

17. Create a new connection by selecting the Not connected and Create new Connection

    !Action and connection

18. Select Create

    !Create connection

19. Select Add to agent to add the tool to the agent

    !Add tool to agent

20. Select the refresh icon in the Test your agent pane

    !Refresh testing pane

21. In the Test your agent pane send the following message:

    Can I get a Chuck Norris joke?

    This will show you message that additional permissions are required to run this action. This is because of the user authentication in the action wizard.

22. Select Connect

    !Additional permissions

    This will open a new window where you can manage your connections for this agent.

23. Select Connect next to the JokesMCP

    !Connect to JokesMCP

24. Wait until the connection is created and select Submit

    !Pick a connection

25. The connection should now be connected, so the status should be set to Connected

    !Status connected

26. Close the manage your connections tab in your browser

    Now you should be back in the Jokester agent screen.

27. Select the refresh icon in the Test your agent pane

    !Refresh testing pane

28. In the Test your agent pane send the following message:

    Can I get a Chuck Norris joke?

    This will now show a Chuck Norris joke - instead of the additional permissions. If that's not the case - you probably have missed the prerequisite that the environment needs to have the get new features early toggle on.

    !Chuck Norris joke

29. In the Test your agent pane send the following message:

    Can I get a Dad joke?

    This will now show a Dad joke.

    !Dad joke

And that was the Jokes MCP Server working in Microsoft Copilot Studio.

❌ Remove the Azure resources

To remove the Azure resources after finishing the lab, run the following command in the terminal:

azd down

This command will show you the resources that will be deleted and then ask you to confirm. Confirm with y and the resources will be deleted. This can take a couple of minutes, but at the end you will see a confirmation:

!resources deleted

💡 Known issues and planned improvements

There are some known issues and planned improvements for MCP in Microsoft Copilot Studio. They are listed in this Microsoft Learn article.

🗣️ Feedback

Hopefully you liked the lab. Please take the time to fill in our feedback form to tell us how we can improve!

🚀 Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

™️ Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.