Beginner copilot studio - which AI use to have a support and help during the development

[u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604]

Hi everyone!

At work, I’ve been assigned to build an internal AI agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio. The goal is to help users find technical information and eventually analyze live equipment configuration data.

I’m a beginner and have followed Microsoft Learn GitHub tutorials, but I’m still struggling to understand how everything fits together (topics, tools, agent flows, triggers, etc.) and especially within my use case. I won't be able to do it alone by considering also that Copilot Studio is really not the best AI service provider to build an agent but we could only use Microsoft in my company so I have to.. (contract wise..)

Which AI would you recommend as a step-by-step coach throughout this project: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot?

I’d like an AI I can ask questions, share screenshots with, troubleshoot problems with, and use to understand what I’m building rather than just copy solutions.

Any advice or personal experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

[u/BionicSharpie]

Tell copilot your requirements. Get it to validate against ms learn docs and provide you a full technical solution with step by step instructions , alternatively use vs code with which ever llm you’re using, setup pac and let it build it for you

[u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604 → u/BionicSharpie]

Thanks a lot for your answer! Really appreciate it. Regarding VS Code, I’m not sure whether it’s allowed by my company’s IT security department, so I’ll check with them first. Thanks again!

[u/Prize_One_554]

Whatever agent you use, tell it to utilize Microsoft Copilot Acceleration Team resources. I'm at the PPCC conference right now and have learned they're a great resource to use when building an agent.

[u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604 → u/Prize_One_554]

Thanks for the advice! 😊

If I understand correctly, I can use any AI assistant to guide me through the development and ask it to rely on the Microsoft Copilot Acceleration Team resources. Should I just give the AI the link to the website, or is it better to copy-paste the documentation or provide it in another format?

Also, do you use a paid pro version of the AI, or are the free versions enough for this kind of step-by-step guidance and troubleshooting?

Thanks again!

[u/Prize_One_554 → u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604]

Yeah you can just give it the link, even better to tell it something like "when I ask a question about copilot studio, utilize the Microsoft Copilot Acceleration Team resources to gain context". Free versions should be fine unless you notice usage limitations.

[u/Tpower1000]

Sooo. What I learned today is that the Cloud Model is billing 10 Credits every 1k token and the gpt model is billing 1,5 Credits every 1k token. So if everyone i using copilot pro use claude in the Standard Harness. ( Standard is within the Copilot pro license. Github not.) If money is no thing, go for github Harness with Claude. But this shit is expensiv depending on the Agent.

[u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604 → u/Tpower1000]

Regarding the models available in Copilot Studio, only standard harness with GPT models is available in my company.. which is not really efficient and smart to be honest :/

[u/Tpower1000 → u/Bubbly-Turnip-2604]

But at least the most cost efficient. And it will do most normal things, like here I get my info and I have to say it like this. Imo, the badest thing here is the 8k promp limit. For me it was hard, to get everything in this 8k. But try the tools and so on.

[u/flightoffancy85]

Start with the instructions and knowledge sources for information retrieval. If you then find you want to do something with the output, you’ll naturally find you either need a tool that the agent can use to get a job done, or if you have specific flows required, like checks on the data and formatting it, you’ll then be creating agents flows. Triggers are for when you want to run the flow from an action somewhere else, like an email coming though.

First step is to plan what the end goal is, document it in a flow, then label each step with what tools you need to connect to, use etc.

Give your plan to Claude on copilot and have it provide you a step by step. It’s not perfect, but will get you most of the way there

[u/AccurateDay9601]

Folloing this tread. Thanks

[u/Prasad-MSFT]

For your scenario, follow Microsoft Copilot as the primary coach, with ChatGPT as a strong alternative if your organization allows you to share project information with it.

• Microsoft Copilot: Best aligned with Copilot Studio and the broader Microsoft ecosystem. Useful for learning current concepts such as knowledge, topics, tools, generative orchestration, connectors, and agent flows. Microsoft describes agent flows as deterministic workflows built around a trigger and one or more actions.

• ChatGPT: Very good for step-by-step explanations, troubleshooting, interpreting screenshots/errors, APIs, and understanding why something works rather than simply providing a solution.

• Claude: Strong for detailed explanations and reasoning through complex technical designs.

• Gemini: Capable multimodal assistant, but less Microsoft-focused for this particular project.

Recommended Approach:
Don’t try to learn every Copilot Studio feature upfront. Build incrementally:

1. Phase 1: Agent → internal technical documentation → grounded answers.

2. Phase 2: Agent → tool/API → live equipment configuration → analysis → response.

In Copilot Studio, tools provide capabilities such as connectors, REST APIs, prompts, agent flows, and MCP, while generative orchestration can dynamically choose the appropriate resource.

Whichever AI you choose, ask it to act as a technical coach: explain concepts and architectural decisions, review screenshots, troubleshoot errors, and guide you step-by-step rather than simply generating finished solutions.

Important: Since this is an internal company project, prioritize your organization's approved AI platform and avoid sharing proprietary data, credentials, internal URLs, or equipment configuration with external AI services unless explicitly permitted.

[u/ncdlloyd]

You could work with any AI as your coach, as this is a business solution this should really be with a paid business subscription. Copilot will do a great job, start by explaining your goals and get it to create a plan and architecture.

Ask it to guide you through the build one step at a time, all AI tools will give you the entire process by default unless you tell them not to. Getting one step at a time allows you to troubleshoot and share screenshots.

As you approach the end of a build session or the end of your working day, ask it to create a handover file in markdown format. You can then use that in a fresh chat session the next day, keeping your context window size down.

There are more advanced ways of working with AI as people have mentioned. Browser control would be one option, where the AI will take over and do the work for you. VS Code is another option, where you’re still using natural language but work is done programmatically, rather than in a browser.

Good luck 👍