Task 2 — Publish your agent to Microsoft Teams

Part of the Integrate agents with enterprise knowledge and Microsoft 365 lab. New here? Start with Getting started.

Set up (start here): This task publishes the grounded tailwind-knowledge-agent from Task 1. If you don’t have that agent yet, complete Task 1 first (or, for the quickest path, create and ground it in code with python setup/bootstrap_agent.py from the Labfiles/B-integrate-agents-with-enterprise-knowledge-and-m365 folder). You also need a Microsoft 365 account with Teams access. This task is completed entirely in the portal and Teams — no local code or .env file is required.

Continuing from a previous task? If you just finished Task 1 and your tailwind-knowledge-agent is grounded and saved in the Foundry portal, you’re ready — go straight to Publish to Microsoft Teams below.

Publishing to Microsoft Teams lets Tailwind Traders staff chat with the knowledge assistant directly in Teams, without leaving the tools they already use. This task focuses on the deployment and publishing workflow — you won’t write any code.

Publish to Microsoft Teams

When you publish to Teams, the Foundry portal automatically:

• Creates an Azure Bot Service
• Generates a Teams app manifest
• Packages app icons and configuration
• Provides a downloadable app package

Prepare app information

Before publishing, gather this information:

Create app icons

You’ll need two icons for the Teams app:

1. Color icon (192x192 pixels)
   • Full color version of your app logo
   • PNG format
2. Outline icon (32x32 pixels)
   • White outline on transparent background
   • PNG format
   • Used in the Teams sidebar

Quick option for this lab: Create a simple colored square with text or initials using PowerPoint, Paint, or an online tool like Canva.

Publish from the portal

1. In the Foundry portal, open your agent (Build → Agents → tailwind-knowledge-agent)

2. Select the Publish button at the top of the page

3. Select Publish to Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

4. Select Continue

Configure Teams app details

Fill in the configuration form:

Basic Information:

• App Name: Tailwind Traders Knowledge Assistant
• Short Description: AI assistant for Tailwind Traders staff
• Full Description: Enterprise AI assistant that answers staff questions about products, store operations, returns, rentals, and suppliers

Developer Information:

• Developer Name: Your name
• Website: https://tailwindtraders.com
• Privacy Policy: https://tailwindtraders.com/privacy
• Terms of Use: https://tailwindtraders.com/terms

App Icons:

• Upload your color icon (192x192 px)
• Upload your outline icon (32x32 px)

App Scope:

• Select Personal for individual chat access
• Optionally select Team for channel access

Select Prepare Agent

Deploy to Teams

After the agent package is prepared (this takes 1-2 minutes), you can deploy it to Teams:

1. When the package is ready, select Continue the in-product publishing flow

2. Choose your publish scope:
   • Individual scope: Agent appears under “Your agents” in the Teams agent store. No admin approval required. Best for personal testing.
   • Organization (tenant) scope: Agent appears under “Built by your org” for all users. Requires admin approval.

3. For this lab, select Individual scope

4. Select Submit

5. Wait for publishing to complete (you’ll see a success message)

Alternative if direct publishing fails: If the publish dialog returns a 400 error, and your Microsoft 365 account has permission to publish custom apps, open the Download & customize tab instead and follow the instructions.

1. Your agent is now available in Teams! Find it under Apps → Your agents

Test your agent in Teams

1. The agent chat should open after installation (or find it under Apps → Your agents)

2. Send a greeting:

    Hello! What can you help me with?
   

3. Test a knowledge query:

    What is the return window for a tent?
   

4. Try another question:

    What are our store's core hours?
   

5. The agent should respond with information from the Tailwind Traders knowledge base!

✅ Checkpoint: Your grounded knowledge agent is now available in Microsoft Teams, answering staff questions from the enterprise knowledge base.

Troubleshooting Teams deployment

Can’t find the agent in Teams (after direct publish):

• Check the Apps → Your agents section in Teams
• Wait 1-2 minutes for the agent to appear after publishing
• Verify publishing completed successfully in the Foundry portal

Can’t upload the app (manual upload):

• Ensure the manifest.zip file isn’t corrupted (re-download if needed)
• Check that your Teams admin hasn’t disabled custom app uploads
• Verify the icons are the correct sizes (192x192 and 32x32)

Agent doesn’t respond:

• Wait 30 seconds after installation for the bot to initialize
• Check that the Azure Bot Service was created (shown during publishing)
• Test the agent in the Foundry playground first

Responses are generic (no knowledge):

• Verify Foundry IQ (or file search) is enabled on the agent
• Confirm documents were uploaded and indexed
• Test knowledge queries in the Foundry playground

Next (optional): Task 3 — Publish to Microsoft 365 Copilot · Task 4 — Work IQ