MC1476977 - Skills in Declarative Agents becoming generally available
Microsoft 365 Message Center announcement MC1476977.
MS Message Center's Summary
Microsoft is introducing general availability for Skills in Declarative Agents by the end of September 2026. These modular capabilities package instructions and scripts into reusable units for Microsoft 365 Copilot agents. Organizations should review internal governance documentation and inform agent creators about the new feature while noting that environments using Information Barriers are currently unsupported. No direct action is needed to initiate the rollout.
- Administrator impact
- No direct administrator action is required.
- End user impact
- Users can enhance declarative agents with modular skills to improve context efficiency and response quality.
- Importance
- 4/10: This is a standard feature release that introduces new capabilities for declarative agents with no mandatory administrative setup.
Microsoft Summary
Skills in Declarative Agents, modular reusable capabilities for Microsoft 365 Copilot, will be generally available worldwide by end of September 2026. They enhance scalability, security, and governance without requiring action. Organizations using Information Barriers are currently unsupported. Existing governance and compliance controls remain in effect.
- Message Center ID
- MC1476977
- Category
- stay Informed
- Severity
- normal
- Services
- Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365)
- Tags
- New feature, User impact, Admin impact
- Published
- 2026-09-22
- Last updated
- 2026-09-22
- Expires
- 2026-11-30
[What and Why:] Microsoft is introducing support for Skills in Declarative Agents. Skills are modular, reusable capabilities that package instructions, scripts, templates, and related resources into a reusable unit that can be added to agents. This helps organizations create more scalable, accurate, and maintainable agent experiences while supporting secure execution, governance, and enterprise-ready AI workflows. [Rollout Schedule:] Frontier: Available now. General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins mid-September 2026. Rollout completion: End of September 2026. [Impact on Your Organization:] Who is affected: Organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot Declarative Agents. Admins deploying Declarative Agents. Users creating their own Declarative Agents. Organizations using Information Barriers are not supported at this time. Platforms/Services: Microsoft 365 Copilot Declarative Agents Web and desktop experiences supporting Declarative Agents What will happen: Skills can be added to user-created and admin-deployed Declarative Agents. Skills package instructions, scripts, templates, and related assets into reusable modules. Skills load only when needed, helping improve context efficiency and response quality. Organizations can reuse supported skills across multiple agents. Script execution uses a secure sandbox. MIP sensitivity labels on skill files are retained and honored. Existing governance controls continue to apply. No changes occur unless creators choose to add skills. Organizations using Information Barriers cannot use this capability currently. [Action Required/Recommendations:] No action is required. Review Skills capabilities for your Declarative Agent strategy. Inform Declarative Agent creators and users about the new capability. Update internal guidance and governance documentation if applicable. Monitor Microsoft documentation for additional implementation guidance. [Compliance Considerations:] Skills introduce new agent extensibility capabilities. Users gain a new method of extending generative AI experiences. Existing administrative governance continues to apply.