Copilot Studio agent building with GitHub harness

Key insights

• The demo introduces the updated Agent Academy Recruit path.
• It focuses on the GitHub Copilot harness in Copilot Studio.
• The new model replaces topics, prompts, and child agents with skills, tools, knowledge, and workflows.
• The Recruit NextGen course walks makers through a Contoso IT Concierge agent.

Microsoft recently published a YouTube demo that introduces the updated Agent Academy Recruit path for building agents with the GitHub Copilot harness in Copilot Studio. April Dunnam explains what a harness is, how the Copilot Chat, standard, and GitHub Copilot harnesses differ, and how the Recruit NextGen course guides makers through a Contoso IT Concierge agent. The main takeaway is simple: Microsoft is pointing makers toward a newer agent-building model centered on skills, tools, knowledge, and workflows.

What's new

The video centers on the updated Agent Academy Recruit path. Microsoft says this path is for building agents with the GitHub Copilot harness in Copilot Studio. The demo also contrasts that harness with the Copilot Chat and standard harnesses.

According to the material, the newer model changes how makers think about agent design. Instead of relying on topics, prompts, and child agents, the harness uses skills, tools, knowledge, and workflows. Microsoft links this to a training path called Recruit NextGen, which walks learners through building a Contoso IT Concierge agent.

Why it matters

This is mainly relevant to makers and developers working in Developer Tools and Copilot Studio. If you build agents for support, internal services, or repeatable business tasks, the harness model changes the way you structure the agent from the start. The video suggests Microsoft wants builders to describe the agent’s purpose and behavior more naturally, then let Copilot Studio assemble more of the underlying setup.

That matters for teams that want to move from manually shaped conversation paths to a model that is oriented around tasks and orchestration. The material also points to a practical learning route rather than only a concept: Agent Academy is presented as a way to learn the model through a guided IT support scenario. The source does not spell out licensing or tenant rollout details for this specific video, so those points remain unclear.

How it works

The demo and notes describe the harness as a layer that coordinates how an agent uses its parts. In the research notes, the GitHub Copilot harness sits between the AI model and the agent, coordinating instructions, context, tools, workflows, skills, MCP servers, and connected agents. The video itself focuses on the practical builder experience rather than the technical internals.

The learning path appears to follow a clear sequence:

1. Create an agent.
2. Define its instructions and goals.
3. Add knowledge sources.
4. Connect tools and skills.
5. Automate work with workflows.
6. Test and evaluate behavior.
7. Publish the agent.
8. Monitor and improve it.

The source material also says learners in one lab describe an agent in natural language, review the generated configuration, add knowledge sources, and run baseline tests before extending the agent further. The Recruit NextGen course is presented as the recommended starting point for beginners who want to work with the GitHub Copilot harness.

The material also says the course ends by publishing an agent to Teams and Microsoft Copilot. Microsoft also points readers to relevant links for Agent Academy, the Recruit NextGen path, and Copilot Studio guidance on choosing a harness.

Limitations and open questions

The video description is short and does not show the full build process step by step. It does not describe every screen, every setting, or every connector used in the Contoso IT Concierge example. The source also does not give a tenant scope, pricing, or licensing requirements for the training path or the harness itself.

Some of the background detail comes from the research notes rather than the video transcript, such as the broader explanation of the harness coordinating instructions, tools, workflows, skills, MCP servers, and connected agents. Microsoft’s material does say the GitHub Copilot harness is now supported alongside the standard harness, but the supplied source set does not verify every technical claim in depth. Because the content is brief, the article leaves out speculative implementation advice and focuses only on what Microsoft explicitly stated.

Sources

• Microsoft YouTube demo: Building agents with the GitHub Copilot Harness with Agent Academy
• Microsoft Learn: Choose a harness
• Microsoft Tech Community: Introducing a new harness for Copilot Studio

Frequently asked questions

What does the video introduce?

It introduces the updated Agent Academy Recruit path for building agents with the GitHub Copilot harness in Copilot Studio.

What replaces the older agent-building approach?

The material says topics, prompts, and child agents are replaced by skills, tools, knowledge, and workflows in the new model.

What is Recruit NextGen used for?

It is the recommended starting point for beginners learning the GitHub Copilot harness, using an IT support scenario and a Contoso IT Concierge agent.

Does the source explain licensing or rollout details?

No. The supplied material does not provide licensing, tenant scope, or rollout information for this specific demo.