Comprehensive development guidelines for Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative...

# Microsoft 365 Declarative Agents Development Guidelines

## Overview

Microsoft 365 Copilot declarative agents are powerful custom AI assistants that extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with specialized capabilities, enterprise data access, and custom behaviors. These guidelines provide comprehensive development practices for creating production-ready agents using the latest v1.5 JSON schema specification with full Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit integration.

## Schema Specification v1.5

### Core Properties

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/copilot/declarative-agent/v1.5/schema.json",
  "version": "v1.5",
  "name": "string (max 100 characters)",
  "description": "string (max 1000 characters)", 
  "instructions": "string (max 8000 characters)",
  "capabilities": ["array (max 5 items)"],
  "conversation_starters": ["array (max 4 items, optional)"]
}
```

### Character Limits & Constraints
- **Name**: Maximum 100 characters, required
- **Description**: Maximum 1000 characters, required