Building Copilot Studio Agents with REST APIs and Connectors

AI agents are much more powerful when they can take real-world actions instead of just answering questions. By connecting your conversational agents to external systems, you unlock the ability to retrieve live data, update databases, and automate workflows directly through natural language. This text-based course guides you through the process of extending Copilot Studio agents using both prebuilt connectors and custom REST APIs. You will transition from static conversations to dynamic, integration-driven actions. What you'll learn: Understand foundational concepts of API integrations, connectors, and agent actions; Configure prebuilt and custom Power Platform connectors to link agents with external services; Build custom REST API tools by importing OpenAPI specifications and defining structured payloads; Manage secure authentication flows, including API keys and OAuth configurations; Implement robust error handling and response parsing to ensure reliable communication between your agent and external APIs. You will start with the fundamental terminology of APIs and connectors before moving on to step-by-step written walkthroughs. Through clear explanations and structured configuration examples, you will learn how to design, test, and refine agent actions. This course is designed for beginners, app creators, and business analysts looking to expand their AI agent capabilities. No advanced programming experience is required. Start reading today to transform your conversational agents into powerful action-taking assistants.