Create agents in Copilot Studio that connect to Business Central

APPLIES TO: Business Central online

This article explains how to build, configure, and publish agents in Copilot Studio that integrate with Business Central using either the Business Central connector or the Business Central MCP server.

Overview

Copilot Studio is a graphical, low-code tool for building agents and agent flows. You can use it to create conversational agents that understand and act on your business processes and data model in Business Central. Agents present Business Central data (customers, orders, invoices, and inventory) and business logic to users via natural language. Agents can automate tasks such as creating sales orders, checking credit, or posting payments, and trigger approvals or flows.

Business Central provides two model-aware tools that agents can use to interact directly with Business Central environments: Business Central MCP (Model Context Protocol) server and Business Central Connector for Power Platform. These tools let agents read and write records, call custom APIs exposed by AL extensions, and apply server-side business logic such as pricing, discounts, and validation rules.

After you create an agent, you can publish agents into multiple platforms or channels, like live websites and Microsoft Copilot, or messaging platforms like Teams and Facebook.

Learn more about Copilot Studio and agents in Copilot Studio.

Connection options

Choose a connection option based on the tasks that the agent must perform:

The connector and MCP server act with the signed-in user's Business Central permissions. You can use either option independently or combine them in one agent.

Prerequisites

• You have a Copilot Studio user license with available Copilot Credits capacity for use. Learn more in Copilot Studio licensing.

Create agents that use Business Central connector

Prerequisites for the connector

• You have a Business Central account with permission to access the companies and data that the agent uses.
• You can create a Business Central connection in Copilot Studio.

You can use the Business Central connector actions, like Create Record or List Companies, in your agent by adding them as tools. Tools are the building blocks that enable your agent to interact with external systems, in this case, Business Central. For example, if you want to create an agent that lists, creates, and updates items in Business Central, add the Find records, Create Record, and Update Record actions as tools to the agent.

Learn more about the connector and its actions in Dynamics 365 Business Central Connector.

Exercise: Build an agent to find and create customers

Follow the steps in this exercise to create an agent that uses the Dynamics 365 Business Central connector. The agent lets users get information about customers in Business Central and create new ones by providing instructions in plain language. The agent uses one read action Find records (V3) and one write action Create record (V3) of the Business Central connector. You can extend it by adding more connector actions (like Update record (V3), Delete record (V3)) and refining the prompt-handling to cover more business scenarios.

1. Create new or open existing agent.

   1. Sign in to Copilot Studio.
   2. In the left-side navigation pane, select Agents.
   3. Select the agent you want to modify or select New agent to create a new agent.

   Learn more about creating agents in Create an agent in Copilot Studio.

2. Add the Business Central connector actions as tools.

   1. On the Tools tab of the agent page, select + Add a tool.
   2. Under the Search for tool box, choose Connector, then search for "Dynamics 365 Business Central".
   3. Select the connector action Find records (V3). The Add tool page opens.
   4. If the Connection box displays the Not connected, select the box, select Create new connection and sign in to Business Central with a valid account.
   5. Select Add to agent. You return to the agent Overview tab.
   6. Repeat to add the connector action Create record (V3). This agent uses this action to create a Customer record.

   Learn more in Use connectors in Copilot Studio.

3. Configure the tools.

   1. On the Tools tab of the agent page, select the Find records (V3) to open the tool for editing.

   2. Go to Inputs and configure the required input values:

      Input name	Fill using	Value
      Environment	Custom value	Set to Business Central environment, for example, PRODUCTION
      Company	Custom value	Set to Business Central environment, for example, CRONUS USA, Inc.
      API category	Custom value	V2.0
      Table name	Custom value	customers

   3. Select Save.

   4. Repeat for the Create record (V3) tool.

   Learn more in Make changes to your tools configuration.

4. Test the agent.

   1. Select Test in the upper-right corner of any page to open the Test your agent pane.

   2. In the field at the bottom, enter text that explains what you want the agent to do, for example:

      • List customers
      • Show my top customer
      • Create a customer named jesse homer with email jesse.homer@contoso.com

   3. Wait for the response.

   4. Make necessary changes and save.

   Learn more in Test your agent.

5. Publish and deploy the agent.

   Learn more in Publish agents.

Tips and best practices when using connector

• Permissions: The connection uses the signed-in account’s Business Central permissions; ensure the account can read companies and create customers.
• Validation: Use server-side validation rules in Business Central (pricing/validation). The connector surfaces errors; handle these errors in agent responses.
• Inputs: Validate and sanitize user input before calling Create record (that is, ensure required fields are present).
• Logging: Use the agent's execution logs to troubleshoot tool calls and to see request/response payloads.

Create agents that connect to the Business Central MCP server

The Business Central MCP server enables agents in Copilot Studio to access Business Central data and capabilities through MCP tools.

Prerequisites for the MCP server

Before you connect an agent to the Business Central MCP server, make sure that:

• The Business Central MCP server is enabled in the Business Central environment.
• You have a Business Central account with permission to use the API objects and data that the agent accesses.
• If the agent only needs to read data from eligible API pages and API queries, you don't need to create an MCP server configuration. The built-in default configuration provides this access. To let the agent create, update, or delete data or invoke API actions, configure the required operations on the MCP server. Learn more in Configure MCP server.

Follow these steps to create an agent in Copilot Studio that connects to the Business Central MCP server.

Create the agent

1. Create a new agent or edit an existing agent

   Sign in to Copilot Studio and create an agent in Copilot Studio or open an existing agent. Learn more in Create and delete agents.

2. Connect the agent to the Business Central MCP server

   Add Dynamics 365 Business Central MCP Server as a tool for the agent. If a connection isn't already established, create a connection and sign in to Business Central.

   Learn more in Add tools to custom agents.

   Configure the following inputs for the Business Central MCP server:

   Field	Description
   Environment	The Business Central environment that the agent connects to.
   Company	The company in Business Central that the agent connects to.
   MCP Server Configuration	Optional. The MCP server configuration that determines the API objects and operations available to the agent. Leave this field blank to use the current default configuration.

   Note

   Copilot Studio determines the tenant from the signed-in connection. Environment and Company are required. MCP Server Configuration is optional.

   The tools available to the agent depend on the MCP server configuration:

   • If you leave MCP Server Configuration blank, the agent uses the current default configuration. The built-in default configuration uses dynamic tool mode and provides read-only access to eligible API pages and API queries.

   • If you select a configuration that uses dynamic tool mode, the agent uses the bc_actions_search, bc_actions_describe, and bc_actions_invoke system tools to discover and invoke available API operations.

   • If you select a configuration that doesn't use dynamic tool mode, tools for the API objects included in the configuration are exposed individually.

   • If Data Query Tools (Preview) is enabled for the configuration, the agent also has access to bc_data_find_tables, bc_data_get_table_schema, bc_data_get_table_relations, and bc_data_query.

     Learn more about Business Central MCP server configurations, permissions, dynamic tool mode, and how Business Central API objects are exposed as MCP tools in Configure MCP server.

3. Add instructions.

   Add instructions that describe how the agent should use the available Business Central tools. For example:

   You are a Business Central agent. The user will ask a question, ask you to perform a task, or ask you to retrieve data.
   
   Start with a brief plan, and then use the available tools to retrieve the relevant information. Explain the actions you take and summarize the result for the user.
   
   Prefer using semantic search when searching for available actions.
   

   Learn more in Write agent instructions.

4. Preview and test the agent

   Preview the agent to verify that it can access the expected Business Central data and operations.

   Learn more in Test an agent.

5. Publish the agent

   When the agent works as expected, publish it and make it available through the appropriate channels.

   Learn more in Publish an agent.

Tips and best practices for using the MCP server

To improve results when using the Business Central MCP server with Copilot Studio:

• Use a model that supports tool use and complex business tasks. Learn more in Agent models in Business Central.

• Give the agent clear instructions about how to use the Business Central tools.

• Ensure the signed-in user has the Business Central permissions required for the data and operations that the agent uses.

• After you change the MCP server configuration, refresh the available tools in Copilot Studio to reflect the current configuration.

• To get a list of available API pages in a Business Central environment, open the Page Metadata virtual table (ID 2000000138) in the Business Central web client by using the following URL, customized for the environment the agent connects to:

  https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/<tenant ID>/<environment name>?table=2000000138
  

  Filter the list by Page Type = API and APIVersion = v2.0.

Troubleshoot tool discovery

If the expected Business Central tools aren't available to the agent:

• Verify that the signed-in user can access the selected environment and company.
• Verify that the user has permission to access the API objects exposed by the MCP server configuration.
• Verify that you selected the expected MCP server configuration or set the appropriate configuration as the default.
• Refresh the available tools after changing the MCP server configuration.
• Copilot Studio handles Base64 encoding for non-ASCII Company and ConfigurationName values. If you use a client that doesn't, ensure you encode non-ASCII headers by using MCP Base64 encoding syntax (=?base64?<base64>?=).

Related information

Model Context Protocol (MCP) in Business Central
Configure Business Central MCP Server
Dynamics 365 Business Central connector
Copilot Studio overview
Transparency note: Semantic Metadata Search in Business Central