Microsoft 365 Agent SDK: Quick Start

Key insights

• Microsoft 365 Agent SDK & Toolkit is the rebranded framework for building AI-powered agents across Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, Word, and Copilot.
  It replaces the Teams-focused toolkit with a broader, cross-app approach and supports a write once, run everywhere model.
• Matt Barbour’s demo highlighted session management and multi-channel orchestration, showing agents running in web chat, Teams, and Copilot Studio.
  He also showed adaptive cards, streaming responses, and integration with Azure OpenAI via Semantic Kernel.
• The toolkit integrates identity, storage, and data access through Microsoft Graph and Azure services, and includes built-in single sign-on (SSO) and serverless support.
  It automates app registration and hosting with infrastructure-as-code using Bicep.
• Developer tooling includes a Visual Studio Code extension for TypeScript/JavaScript, a Visual Studio workload for .NET, a command-line CLI, and a GitHub Copilot extension for chat-based coding.
  The toolkit supports local debugging and CI/CD pipelines for fast iteration.
• Deployment and governance use centralized packaging and management through the Microsoft 365 store and admin experiences.
  Declarative agent creation simplifies building, packaging, and distributing agents for enterprise use.
• Microsoft recommends migrating from the TeamsFx SDK because of its deprecation by September 2025.
  Start transitioning to the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK now; Microsoft provides documentation and samples to speed the move.

Overview of the Microsoft Presentation

On 10 June 2025, Microsoft presented a detailed demo of the Microsoft 365 Agent SDK & Toolkit during a community call led by Matt Barbour. The session framed the toolkit as a next-generation developer framework that extends beyond Teams to power copilots and agents across Microsoft 365 apps such as Teams, Outlook, and Office Add-ins. Consequently, the presentation focused on architecture, session management, multi-channel orchestration, and model integration, with a practical demo showing the same agent running on web chat, Teams, and Copilot Studio.

What the Demo Showed

The demo illustrated a unified setup where a single SDK configuration produced streaming responses, adaptive cards, and coordinated sessions across different channels. Moreover, Matt highlighted how the toolkit integrates with model services like Azure OpenAI through Semantic Kernel, enabling developers to use familiar coding patterns while tapping into advanced LLM capabilities. This approach emphasized practical developer workflows, showing debugging, live responses, and orchestration without switching codebases for each channel.

Core Features and Tooling

The toolkit combines several components to streamline development, including project scaffolding, CLI tools, editor extensions, and infrastructure-as-code templates for deployment. In addition, it integrates identity, storage, and data access via Microsoft Graph, and supports both JavaScript/TypeScript and .NET development experiences, plus CI/CD automation for real-world release practices. These features aim to let teams "write once, run everywhere," reducing repetitive work and centralizing packaging and admin controls across Microsoft 365.

Architecture and Developer Experience

Architecturally, the SDK emphasizes declarative agent definitions alongside full-code options, which allows developers to choose the level of abstraction they prefer. However, while declarative tools speed up prototyping, the demo made clear that complex business logic still benefits from explicit code control, especially when integrating custom data sources or sensitive enterprise workflows. Therefore, the toolkit tries to balance low-friction developer onboarding with the flexibility required by enterprise-grade applications.

Model Integration and Orchestration

The session showed how agents can call models via Semantic Kernel and orchestrate multi-turn sessions with streaming outputs, which improves responsiveness and user experience. Yet integrating external or custom models introduces tradeoffs around latency, cost, and data governance, particularly for organizations that must comply with strict security policies. As a result, teams will need to weigh the benefits of advanced model capabilities against operational constraints and platform compliance requirements.

Tradeoffs in Multi-Channel Support

Supporting multiple channels from a single codebase reduces duplication, but it creates testing complexity since each client surface—Teams, web chat, Copilot Studio, and Office add-ins—has unique behaviors and rendering rules. On the one hand, centralized packaging and admin controls simplify governance and distribution. On the other hand, platform-specific features may require conditional logic or separate components, which can erode the pure "write once" ideal.

Security, Governance, and Enterprise Readiness

Security and governance featured prominently as challenges, because agents often access sensitive data through Microsoft Graph and other enterprise APIs. Consequently, built-in single sign-on and automated app registration help standardize secure deployments, but organizations still must design role-based access, data filtering, and audit trails to meet compliance needs. This means that while the toolkit reduces setup work, governance remains a crucial area where teams must invest time and process design.

Migration and Longevity

The toolkit represents a rebranding and evolution from earlier tools that were more Teams-focused, and Microsoft advised developers to consider migration as older SDKs approach deprecation. Therefore, teams that rely on the prior Teams Toolkit should plan migration paths to the new Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit to avoid technical debt. At the same time, migration provides an opportunity to revisit architecture choices and align agents with broader Microsoft 365 governance and integration capabilities.

Getting Started and Practical Steps

For developers ready to experiment, the presenter highlighted documentation, editor extensions, and CLI support to speed onboarding and local debugging. Moreover, sample projects and templates can accelerate the first build, while Azure infrastructure templates simplify hosting and deployment workflows. Nonetheless, teams should start with small, well-scoped pilots to validate integration, performance, and governance before moving to full-scale rollouts.

Implications for Teams and Developers

Overall, the presentation positioned the Microsoft 365 Agent SDK & Toolkit as a flexible and enterprise-oriented framework that can simplify building AI-driven agents across Microsoft 365. Yet success depends on striking the right balance between developer productivity, platform-specific adaptation, and strong governance to protect enterprise data. Consequently, organizations that adopt this toolkit will likely benefit from faster development cycles, but they must also plan carefully for testing, security, and long-term maintenance to realize those gains.

Keywords

Microsoft 365 Agent SDK, Agent Toolkit for Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 agent development, Get started Microsoft 365 SDK, Microsoft Copilot Agent SDK tutorial, Build agents for Microsoft 365, M365 Agent SDK examples, Microsoft 365 Agent Toolkit guide