# Microsoft Teams AI Agents **[[Microsoft]]'s pitch for agents in Teams is that the agent stops being an app you open and becomes a participant in a conversation you're already having.** The tooling is the **Teams SDK** (formerly Teams AI Library), now the recommended path for all new Teams development — agents, bots, tabs, message extensions, meeting extensions. ## Private vs public agents The distinction Microsoft draws, and the one that actually justifies the platform: - **Private** — one-to-one DMs, or targeted messages inside a group chat. The agent is your tool. - **Public** — the agent sits in a channel or a meeting as a visible participant. Everyone sees what it was asked and what it answered. That second mode is the argument. A standalone agent app has an adoption problem: someone has to go there. An agent you @mention in a channel you're already in has none. The distribution advantage is the product. ## The SDK - **TypeScript, C#, Python.** GA for JS and C#, Python in developer preview. - Handles authentication, event routing and Teams-specific plumbing so you write the message handler and not the transport. - Scaffold with the Teams Developer CLI (preview): ```bash npm install -g @microsoft/teams.cli teams project new typescript my-agent ``` - **DevTools** for local testing without sideloading, which removes the worst part of the old Teams dev loop. - There's also a `teams-dev` agent skill, so you can point a coding agent at it and ask for a Teams bot rather than reading the quickstart. ## What you can build AI-powered agents, message extensions, embedded web apps, Adaptive Cards, dialogs, and Microsoft Graph integrations. Adaptive Cards matter more than they sound: they're how an agent returns something structured and actionable instead of a wall of text in a chat bubble. ## Protocol support Two things worth noting because they're not Microsoft-proprietary: - **[[Model Context Protocol (MCP)]]** — agents reach shared tools, skills and memory over the open protocol rather than a Teams-only extension mechanism. - **Agent-to-agent (A2A) communication** — multi-agent workflows where Teams agents talk to each other. Microsoft adopting MCP here rather than inventing a Teams equivalent is the interesting signal. It means an agent's tool layer isn't necessarily locked to the surface it's deployed on. ## Where it sits Teams SDK is the surface-specific layer. It's a different thing from [[Microsoft Agent Framework]] (the general agent-building framework) and from Copilot Studio (the low-code path). Microsoft publishes an "SDK comparison" page precisely because the overlap confuses people. Microsoft also started a monthly *Building Agents for Teams* blog series in July 2026, which is the useful thing to follow if you want to track where this goes. ## Related - [[Microsoft]] - [[Microsoft Agent Framework]] - [[Microsoft AI Agent Governance Toolkit]] - [[Model Context Protocol (MCP)]] - [[AI Agents]] - [[AI Agent Harness]] ## References - Series announcement: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/microsoft365dev/building-agents-for-teams-turning-conversations-into-outcomes/ - Agents in Teams overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/agents-in-teams/overview - Teams SDK welcome: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/teams-sdk/welcome - Quickstart, create an agent with Teams SDK: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/agents-in-teams/quickstart-create-agent-teams-sdk - Pick the right SDK for your Teams agent: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/teams-sdk/teams/sdk-comparison - Teams Developer CLI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/teams-sdk/developer-tools/cli - Agent skills (`teams-dev`): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/teams-sdk/developer-tools/agent-skills - Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/teams-sdk/teams/configuration/agents-toolkit - Tools and SDKs to build Teams apps: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/concepts/build-and-test/tool-sdk-overview