Microsoft Agent 365 SDK and CLI

Agent 365 SDK

Use the Agent 365 SDK to extend agents built using any agent SDK or platform, with enterprise‑grade identity, observability, notifications, security, and governed access to Microsoft 365 data.

Agents have unique identities. People invoke them using common gestures (such as @mentions) in apps that enterprise users typically operate in (such as Teams, Word, Outlook, and more). They demonstrate observable behaviors that build trust, take auditable actions, and do so via secure access to tools and data.

With the Agent 365 SDK, agents can:

• Use Entra-backed Agent Identity with their own user resources like mailbox for secure authentication and controlled access to tools and data.
• Receive and respond to notifications from Teams, Outlook, Word comments, and emails—just like a human participant in Microsoft 365 apps.
• Gain full observability via Open Telemetry, enabling audited, traceable agent interactions, inference events, and tool usage.
• Invoke governed Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to access Microsoft 365 workloads (for example, Mail, Calendar, SharePoint, Teams) under admin control.
• Function within an IT‑approved blueprint system, ensuring each agent instance inherits compliance, governance, and security policies.

Learn more about the Agent 365 SDK.

Agent 365 CLI

Agent 365 CLI is the command-line backbone for Agent 365 throughout the agent development lifecycle - automating setup, identity, configuration, MCP integration, publishing, and Azure deployment for enterprise-ready agents.

With the Agent 365 CLI, developers can:

• Create agent blueprints and all supporting resources required by them.
• Manage out-of-box and custom MCP servers, permissions, and tooling for agents.
• Deploy agent code to Azure.
• Publish agent application packages to Microsoft Admin Center.
• Clean up agent blueprints, identities, and other Azure resources created by the CLI.

Learn more about the Agent 365 CLI

Agent 365 Agent Development lifecycle

Agent 365 works with agents built on any agent SDK or platform. This includes low‑code platforms like Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry. It also supports pro‑code options such as Microsoft Agent Framework, Microsoft Agents SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Code SDK, and LangChain SDK. Agent 365 also works with agent code hosted on any endpoint, be it Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or any other cloud provider.

Agent 365 agent blueprint

Before working with instances of Agent 365 agents, it's helpful to understand what we mean by the blueprint of an Agent 365 agent. This comes from Microsoft Entra agent blueprint and is an IT-approved, pre-configured definition of an agent type, essentially the enterprise "template" from which compliant agents can be created. It defines the agent's capabilities, required MCP tool accesses, security and compliance constraints, audit requirements, lifecycle metadata, and any linked governance policy templates such as DLP, external access restrictions, or logging rules. When a blueprint is activated for use in a tenant, users can request their admins for new agent instances created from the agent blueprint in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Every agent instance inherits its blueprint's rules, ensuring consistent governance across mail, calendar, Teams, SharePoint access, and any other Microsoft 365 workloads the agent touches. This prevents shadow/rogue agents, enforces observability, and anchors each agent in a secure Entra-backed identity and permissions model.

How is the Agent 365 SDK different?

The Agent 365 SDK differs from agent frameworks like Microsoft Agent Framework or Microsoft Copilot Studio as it does not create or host agents. Instead, it enhances agents you've already built - regardless of the underlying stack by adding enterprise capabilities such as Entra-based Agent identity, governed MCP tool access, OpenTelemetry-based observability, notifications through the Activity protocol, and agent ID-driven governance.

Although very similar in name, it doesn't replace the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK and the functionality it provides for hosting, activity protocol, and identity. On the contrary, the Agent 365 SDK complements it by layering governance, compliance, and lifecycle controls on top of agents built with it or other platforms.

Agent 365 SDK and the agent ecosystem

This table summarizes the layered agent architecture, showing how the Agent 365 SDK adds enterprise capabilities above your agent logic and the LLM orchestrator runtime provided by your chosen framework.

Next steps

Learn more about the Agent 365 Development Lifecycle