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The new agent experience supports several types of tools that you can add to your agent. Each tool type connects your agent to different kinds of external capabilities and data sources.
Note
The harness used to build this agent uses usage-based billing. Using, building, testing, and evaluating agents might consume Copilot Credits. Learn more in Overview of usage-based billing.
Tool types
Choose a tool type based on the systems your agent needs to access and the kind of work it should perform.
Connectors
Power Platform connectors expose actions from hundreds of external services, letting your agent read from and write to line-of-business systems, productivity tools, and more.
Learn more in Use connectors as tools.
MCP servers
Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers provide tools through a standardized protocol. They can expose capabilities from custom services, databases, or internal APIs.
You can connect to existing MCP servers or create your own.
Learn more in Model Context Protocol (MCP) in Copilot Studio overview and Add an MCP server to your agent as a tool (GitHub Copilot) (preview).
Workflows
Workflows are automated flows built in Copilot Studio's flow designer. They let your agent execute multi-step processes, such as approval flows, data transformations, and complex business logic. Use workflows for repeated, deterministic processes that your agent can run on demand.
Learn more in Agent flows and workflows overview and Add a workflow to your agent as a tool (GitHub Copilot) (preview).
Choose the right tool type
Use this guidance to choose the tool type that best matches your scenario.
| Tool type | Best for |
|---|---|
| Connectors | Integrating with well-known services that have pre-built connectors |
| MCP servers | Custom or internal services using the MCP standard |
| Workflows | Multi-step, automated, deterministic processes |