Microsoft is restructuring the agent branding for end users, as communicated at the end of September. Copilot Agents are now part of Copilot Plugins.
The change affects:
- Copilot Chat
- Copilot Cowork
- Copilot Code
- Copilot Autopilot
- Copilot in Word, PowerPoint, Excel
- Copilot in SharePoint
- Microsoft 365 admin center
- Agent 365 (see Introducing the plugin registry - one place to discover and govern plugins for Microsoft Copilot)
A Copilot plugin is an installable package that brings together capabilities for a specific task. It can include supported agents and skills, along with configuration or references for connectors and remote MCP servers, as described in the documentation.
In Copilot Chat, users now have to open Plugins (previously Agents) to find their declarative agents, skills, connectors, or MCP integrations.
When I read this, I had a Copilot flashback. When Microsoft started with agents a few years ago, they were already plugins (sometimes extensions or a mix of both). At first they were called plugins or extensions, then agents, and now back to plugins.
Timeline of plugins and agents
- May 2023 (Build): Microsoft introduces plugins for Microsoft 365 Copilot. They are based on ChatGPT plugins, Teams message extensions, and Power Platform connectors.
- November 2023 (Ignite): Public preview of plugin extensibility for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft also introduces Copilot Studio.
- September 2024 (Wave 2): Copilot extensions become Copilot agents, and declarative copilots become declarative agents. Plugins live on as API plugins inside agents.
- NOW, by late November 2026: a single Plugins button replaces the Agents, Agents & Skills, and Customize buttons. A plugin now bundles agents, skills, connectors, and remote MCP servers.
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