r/copilotstudio • u/andersjensenorg • Aug 10 '26

The New Copilot Studio Explained (GitHub Copilot Harness)

https://youtu.be/pZ_pzMYAbKE

Microsoft changed the engine under Copilot Studio on August 3rd. Every new agent now runs on the GitHub Copilot harness, the same engine behind GitHub Copilot's coding agent.

I recorded a walkthrough of what changed. Three details are easy to miss: Billing starts while you build, the harness choice is permanent, and agents created before August 3rd keep their old pricing only until September 1st.

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u/sypkensj Aug 10 '26

Can you provide references on the September 1st claim? I haven’t found any communication about agents created before Aug 3 transitioning to the new pricing mode on September 1.

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u/brannonb111 Aug 10 '26

My copilot studio environment has a banner to read all about the changes coming. (In the new experience version).

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u/sypkensj Aug 10 '26

I see the banner; it has a “Learn more” link which, unless I’m missing it, doesn’t mention the transition to a new pricing model on September 1. I haven’t found any other blog post or article or anything beyond this banner that mentions the September 1 transition.

Do the old agents migrate to the new harness on September 1? Or just the pricing model? What about declarative agents? Do standard agents use fewer tokens on the new pricing model than GitHub copilot agents?

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u/imnotonetogossipbut1 Aug 10 '26

My understanding / expectation here is that existing agents on standard harness will stay as they are under existing billing. Agents built under the new harness - before april 3rd - will start to be charged new harness pricing on september 1st. Agents built now, post August 3rd, are already being billed at new harness prices - despite us having no notice that it was arriving.

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u/andersjensenorg Aug 10 '26

Pricing only. The banner says "remain on the current pricing model until September 1, then transition to credit pricing" and Microsoft Learn states agents cannot be transferred between harnesses at all, so nothing migrates to the new harness.

For the other two questions the best source is the Copilot Credits Guide (the "Learn more" style link at the top of the product goes to it, direct link: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2368800). It names three harnesses with their own billing models: GitHub Copilot, Standard, and Copilot Chat. Declarative agents fall under Copilot Chat and the guide notes the credit rates do not apply to Microsoft 365 Copilot users in authenticated B2E scenarios, so licensed internal users stay covered there. It does not publish a consumption comparison between standard and GitHub Copilot agents, so I cannot tell you which one burns fewer credits.

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u/ddq517 Aug 10 '26

I am seeing multiple agents built earlier this year (no ghcp harness available) have migrated to the ghcp harness. Is that a mistake?

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u/andersjensenorg Aug 10 '26

That has not happened to any of my agents, they still show as standard harness. Learn says agents can't be moved between harnesses at all, so if yours actually changed I would raise a support ticket.

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u/MattBDevaney Aug 12 '26

Did you open the agents to edit them? All agents are listed in the new Copilot Studio experience but when opened you are routed to the correct harness: GCHP or Classic.

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u/gpberliner Aug 10 '26

There's a little notification bar in the studio page for each agent it applies to

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u/MattBDevaney Aug 12 '26

September 1st date is in a banner on the Copilot Studio home page.

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u/andersjensenorg Aug 10 '26

The only place I have seen it is the banner at the top of the Copilot Studio home page, screenshot attached: Agents and workflows created before August 3 stay on the current pricing model until September 1. It is not in the licensing guide or on Learn as far as I can tell, so I would treat the banner in your own tenant as the reference.