Welcome Recruit
Guidance for choosing between the Standard harness and GitHub Copilot harness learning paths in the Copilot Studio Agent Academy Recruit course.
Translated article — This article is based on Welcome Recruit from the Copilot Studio Agent Academy. The original wording takes precedence.
Welcome, Recruit.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to master the art of building agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio.
This hands-on training is your entry point into the world of agents. The Recruit course has two paths, and both start from the fundamentals. Choose the path that matches the type of agent you want to build.
🧬 Who this course is for
This course is a good fit for:
- Makers and developers exploring Copilot Studio
- IT professionals building Microsoft 365 Copilot extensions
- Power Platform users who want to level up with intelligent agents
- Anyone who prefers to learn by building hands-on
🧭 Choose your path
The Recruit course lets you learn the same IT support scenario in two different ways. Choose the learning flow you want and get started.
- Start the Standard harness path: Recruit (Standard)
- Start the GitHub Copilot harness path: Recruit (GitHub Copilot harness)
🤔 Which path should you choose?
Copilot Studio runs agents on a harness. The harness is the runtime that decides when to call the model, which components to pass in, and which tools to run. The two Recruit paths teach different harnesses.
| Standard harness | GitHub Copilot harness | |
|---|---|---|
| What you design | Topics, triggers, nodes, branches | Instructions, skills, tools, workflows |
| How the agent follows it | Conversation paths you authored | Plans reasoned toward a goal |
| Best for | Rule-based agents and structured, repeatable conversations | Complex, reasoning-heavy, multi-step business processes |
| Authoring surface | Classic experience | New experience toggle in Copilot Studio |
Tip
If you are not sure, start with the standard harness, which covers the broadest set of Copilot Studio capabilities, including Adaptive Cards, Power Fx, and agent flows. If you are currently creating agents in the new experience and want to learn an instruction-driven approach, start with the GitHub Copilot harness.
Both paths use the same IT support scenario, so after you complete one path, the other will be easier to follow. You do not need to complete both paths.
🗺️ All missions
If you already know where you want to go, jump directly to the mission you want.
| # | Standard harness | GitHub Copilot harness |
|---|---|---|
00 |
🧰 Course Setup | 🧰 Course Setup |
01 |
🧠 Introduction to Agents | 🧠 Introduction to Agents |
02 |
🛠️ Copilot Studio Fundamentals | 🛠️ Copilot Studio Fundamentals |
03 |
👩💻 Deploy a Declarative Agent | 🧩 Creating a Solution |
04 |
🧩 Creating a Solution | ✍️ Build with the GitHub Copilot Harness |
05 |
🚀 Using a Pre-Built Agent | 🪪 Add a Tool |
06 |
✍️ Build a Custom Agent | 🧠 Add Skills |
07 |
🧠 Add a Topic with Triggers | 🔁 Automate with Workflows |
08 |
🪪 Enhance with Adaptive Cards | 📢 Publish Your Agent |
09 |
🔁 Automate with Agent Flows | 🪪 Understanding Licensing |
10 |
🧭 Add Event Triggers | 🚨 Securing Your Recruit Badge |
11 |
📢 Publish Your Agent | — |
12 |
🪪 Understanding Licensing | — |
13 |
🚨 Securing Your Recruit Badge | — |
Note
The missions in each path build on each other. If you are just starting, do not skip into the middle; start with 00.
✅ Complete either path to earn the Recruit badge.
🔓 After that, Operative and Commander unlock.