Skip to content
AI & Agents
Skill

/clone-agent

Clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud. Guides through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads agent YAML files.

BOOST
From plugin
copilot-studio
46931 skills4 agents1 hook
Install
$ npx -y skills add microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio --skill clone-agent --agent claude-code

How it fires

How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.

  • Fires itselfAuto-invocation. Claude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.Auto-invocation is when the right skill fires by itself at the right moment, driven by a FLOW.md router and a hook, instead of you invoking it by name. It is the difference between a skill being installed and a skill actually getting used.Read the full definition →
  • You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
  • Slash command/clone-agent

Context preview

The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.

Clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud. Guides through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads agent YAML files.

SKILL.md

clone-agent.SKILL.md
user-invocable: false
description: Clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud. Guides through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads agent YAML files.
argument-hint: [agent name or environment hint]
allowed-tools: Bash(node *manage-agent.bundle.js *), Read, Glob, Grep
context: fork
agent: copilot-studio-manage

Clone Agent

Guided flow to clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud to a local workspace. Walks the user through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads the agent's YAML files.

IMPORTANT: Do Not Modify Scripts

This is a new capability under active development. If the manage-agent script fails, **do not attempt to fix, patch, or work around it**. Instead: 1. Show the user the full error output 2. Direct them to https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio/issues 3. Suggest using the Copilot Studio VS Code extension directly as a fallback for push/pull/clone

Phase 0: Resolve Configuration

Look for existing connection details in this order. Stop at the first source that provides a `tenantId`:

0a. Scan for existing `.mcs/conn.json` files

Search the filesystem for previously cloned agents — these already have all the connection details:

Glob: **/.mcs/conn.json

Also search common project locations:

Glob: /Users/**/projects/**/.mcs/conn.json

Each `conn.json` contains `TenantId`, `EnvironmentId`, `DataverseEndpoint`, `AgentManagementEndpoint`, and `AccountInfo`. Parse any found files and collect unique tenant/environment pairs. If matches are found, present them to the user:

> **Found existing agent connections:** > 1. Employee Assistant — Elad's Env (tenant: 8a235459...) > 2. IT Agent — Contoso Dev (tenant: efb073bb...) > > Use one of these, or enter a different tenant ID?

If the user picks one → extract `tenantId`, `environmentId`, `environmentUrl`, `agentMgmtUrl` and **skip to Phase 2** (or Phase 1 if they want a different environment).

0b. Check for a Copilot Studio URL

If the user pastes a Copilot Studio URL (e.g. from their browser while viewing the agent), extract environment and agent IDs directly — no need for `list-envs` or `list-agents`.

Recognised URL formats:

https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com/environments/<envId>/bots/<agentId>/overview
https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments/<envId>/bots/<agentId>

If the user provides a URL like this, you still need a `tenantId` (from a `conn.json` or by asking the user). Then **skip to Phase 3**, passing `--url` instead of `--agent-id` / `--environment-id` / `--environment-url` / `--agent-mgmt-url`:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --url "<copilotStudioUrl>"

The script will parse the URL to extract the environment ID and agent ID, then resolve the remaining environment details (Dataverse URL, agent management URL) automatically via the BAP API.

0c. Ask the user

If no `conn.json` found (or user wants a different tenant) → ask for their **tenant ID** (required).

No `--client-id` is needed — the script uses VS Code's first-party client ID with interactive browser login automatically.

Phase 1: Select Environment

Tell the user: **"A browser window may open for Microsoft sign-in (tokens are cached after first login)."**

Run the list-envs command:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-envs \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>"

**Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)** — set this on the Bash tool call to allow time for browser auth.

Parse the JSON output. On success (`status: "ok"`), present the environments as a numbered list to the user:

1. Contoso Dev (abc123-...)
2. Contoso Prod (def456-...)

Ask the user to pick an environment. Extract:

  • `environmentId`
  • `environmentUrl` (the `url` or `dataverseUrl` field)
  • `agentMgmtUrl` (the `agentManagementUrl` field)

Phase 2: Select Agent

First, ask the user: **"Do you want to list only agents you own, or all agents in the environment?"**

  • If **only mine** → run without `--no-owner` (default, filters by current user)
  • If **all agents** → add `--no-owner` flag
node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-agents \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --environment-url "<environmentUrl>" \
  [--no-owner]

**Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)**

Parse the JSON output. Each agent has `agentId`, `displayName`, and `ownedByCurrentUser`. Present agents as a numbered list:

1. My Support Bot (yours)
2. HR Assistant
3. IT Helpdesk (yours)

Ask the user to pick an agent. Extract the `agentId`.

Phase 3: Clone

Run the clone command. The workspace should be the current directory (`.`). The `--agent-id` is required (from Phase 2):

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --agent-id "<agentId>" \
  --environment-id "<environmentId>" \
  --environment-url "<environmentUrl>" \
  --agent-mgmt-url "<agentMgmtUrl>"

**Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)**

On success: 1. Run `Glob: **/agent.mcs.yml` to find and show the cloned agent file 2. Check that `.mcs/conn.json` was created in the agent directory 3. Summarize what was cloned and where the files are

Error Handling

| Error | Resolution | |-------|-----------| | Browser auth fails or times out | Ask user to try again; check that they have access to the tenant | | No environments found | Verify tenant ID is correct and user has Power Platform access | | No agents found | Verify environment selection; user may need Copilot Studio access | | Clone fails | Check permissions; the user needs maker/admin access to the agent |

Read more
Ships withcopilot-studio

A plugin for Claude Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, and VS Code that enables authoring, testing, and troubleshooting Microsoft Copilot Studio STANDARD agents through YAML files — directly from your terminal or editor.

Get the whole plugin

Other skills on copilot-studio.