Work IQ in Copilot Studio (GitHub Copilot)

Work IQ is generally available in Microsoft Copilot Studio and is added by default to every new agent that uses the GitHub Copilot harness. All available workloads are selected by default. You can narrow the selection to give your agent the work context it needs for your scenario. Some workloads, such as Business apps (preview), are available in preview and require you to turn on preview workloads in the agent's settings.

Note

Work IQ in Copilot Studio is powered by the GitHub Copilot harness, which uses Copilot Credits for usage-based billing.

Work IQ enhances what your agents can understand and do. It's the intelligence layer that grounds Microsoft Copilot and your agents in real-time, shared context across your organization. It supports personalized search, advanced reasoning, and deeper semantic understanding by connecting signals across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and your business applications. Work IQ applies an extensive understanding of your work to help Microsoft Copilot and your agents deliver insights, recommendations, and actions that closely align with the reality of your business.

Work IQ is built on three tightly integrated layers: Data, Memory, and Inference. These layers work together to give Microsoft Copilot and your agents continuous, contextual understanding of work.

  • Data: Unifies signals from files, emails, meetings, chats, and business applications across Microsoft 365 to capture how work happens across the organization.
  • Memory: Builds persistent understanding of how people and teams work, helping Agent 365–managed agents stay aligned to priorities and remain consistent across tasks, apps, and sessions.
  • Inference: Brings together models, skills, and tools so agents can reason and take action—using Work IQ MCP tools—while the Agent 365 control plane ensures those actions remain observable, governed, and compliant. Copilot and your agents don't just understand your work, they actively move it forward.

Use Work IQ in Copilot Studio for more accurate, relevant, and personalized responses grounded in the workloads you select.

Learn how to get started with Work IQ in Enable your tenant for Work IQ.

Important

Work IQ uses consumption billing. A separate spending policy isn't required for Work IQ. Learn more about usage-based billing and cost management in the following articles:

Important

  • In Copilot Studio, only Work IQ connects your agents to the unified tool surface that uses context and actions across Microsoft 365 services.

  • Separate workload-specific tools, such as Mail, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, User or User profile, Copilot, Search, Calendar, and Word, might also appear in the tool catalog. These tools are part of a legacy experience that remains available for testing and backward compatibility. Don't select them in place of Work IQ when you configure the new experience.

  • Work IQ isn't a new label for the workload-specific, legacy tools.

  • The experiences also use different runtime and billing models. Work IQ uses the GitHub Copilot harness and Copilot Credits. The separate workload-specific tools use the standard harness and standard Copilot Studio licensing and billing.

Work IQ key features

Extend your agents' capabilities by using Work IQ. It's secure, scalable, and compliant by design. Key features include:

  • Default availability: Work IQ is added to every new agent that uses the GitHub Copilot harness, so you can configure it without adding the tool manually.
  • Workload scoping: All available workloads are selected by default. Keep only the workloads your agent needs, such as SharePoint, Outlook mail, or Teams, to fit your scenario.
  • Preview workloads: Turn on preview workloads in the agent's settings to access workloads that aren't generally available yet, such as Business apps (preview).
  • Centralized governance: Admins manage Work IQ MCP in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Note

  • Write operations are on by default. Your organization's permissions and policies still apply.
  • The ability to allow or disallow tooling and MCP servers in the Microsoft 365 admin center might not be available in your region yet.

Connect your agent to Work IQ

Work IQ is added automatically when you create an agent with the GitHub Copilot harness. Configure its connection and select the workloads your agent needs. If an existing agent doesn't have Work IQ, add it as a tool first.

  1. Sign in to Copilot Studio and open your agent.

  2. On the Build tab, under Tools, select Work IQ.

  3. In the Edit tool dialog, review the Connection. If you need a new connection, open the connection dropdown, select Create New Connection, and then select Create. Complete the sign-in process.

  4. Under Sources, select the workloads to use, as described in Select workloads for your agent.

  5. Select Done.

Select workloads for your agent

Workload scoping lets you choose which product services your agent uses for the end user's context. All available workloads are selected by default. Clear the workloads your agent doesn't need to focus it on your scenario. For example, an agent that helps prepare for meetings might use Calendar and Outlook mail.

Selection is limited to whole workloads. You can't use this setting to select individual sites, mailboxes, or other resources within a workload.

Workloads include SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook mail, Teams, Calendar, and People. Preview workloads appear after you turn on preview workloads.

Selecting a workload doesn't override your organization's permissions or policies. Write operations are on by default, subject to those permissions and policies.

Remove workloads from Work IQ

You can remove workloads your agent doesn't need from its Work IQ configuration. For example, if your agent only needs email and calendar context, keep Outlook mail and Calendar selected and clear the other workloads. The agent no longer uses the workloads you remove through Work IQ.

Removing a workload from Work IQ doesn't delete its underlying data or remove any separate tools you added to the agent.

  1. On the Build tab, under Connected tools, select Work IQ.

  2. In the Edit tool dialog, under Sources, clear the selection next to each workload you want to remove. Keep the workloads your agent needs selected.

    Screenshot of the Work IQ Edit tool dialog showing workload selection controls under Sources.

  3. Select Done.

To add a workload back, reopen Work IQ, select the workload under Sources, and then select Done. For a preview workload, make sure Enable preview workloads is on in the agent's settings.

Turn on preview workloads

Important

  • This is a preview feature.
  • Preview features aren't meant for production use and might have restricted functionality. These features are subject to supplemental terms of use. Microsoft makes preview features available before an official release so that customers can get early access and provide feedback.

Work IQ is generally available, but individual workloads can be in preview. Turn on preview workloads in the agent's settings to make them available in the Work IQ tool. You don't need to save or publish the agent for preview workloads to appear.

  1. Open your agent. In the agent designer toolbar, select the ellipsis (...), and then select Settings.

  2. In the Agent settings dialog, select Work IQ.

  3. Under Preview workloads, turn on Enable preview workloads.

    Screenshot of the Work IQ tab in Agent settings with Enable preview workloads turned on.

  4. Select Done.

  5. On the Build tab, under Connected tools, select Work IQ.

  6. Under Sources, review the preview workloads, such as Business apps (preview). Keep the workloads your agent needs selected, clear any it doesn't need, and then select Done.

The Business apps (preview) workload provides context from Dynamics 365 and Power Apps.

To remove preview workloads from the Work IQ tool, return to Settings > Work IQ and turn off Enable preview workloads. Preview workloads no longer appear in the tool when this setting is off.

Test your agent with Work IQ

Test the agent with a prompt that uses one of the workloads you selected. For example, if you selected Outlook mail, ask: "Summarize my unread emails from today."

When prompted to let Work IQ connect and use services, select Allow. Review the agent's response to confirm that it uses the expected work context.

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