mcpbeat Sign in

Clone Agent Agent Skill

Clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud. Guides through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads agent YAML files.

1k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
386
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio --skill clone-agent

What it tells the agent to use

found in the instruction text
Bash runs shell commands — read the instruction before connecting

The instruction itself

10 sections, as written by the author

Clone Agent

Guided flow to clone a Copilot Studio agent from the cloud to a local workspace. Walks the user through environment selection, agent selection, and downloads the agent's YAML files.

IMPORTANT: Do Not Modify Scripts

This is a new capability under active development. If the manage-agent script fails, do not attempt to fix, patch, or work around it. Instead:

  • Show the user the full error output
  • Direct them to https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio/issues
  • Suggest using the Copilot Studio VS Code extension directly as a fallback for push/pull/clone

Phase 0: Resolve Configuration

Look for existing connection details in this order. Stop at the first source that provides a tenantId:

0a. Scan for existing .mcs/conn.json files

Search the filesystem for previously cloned agents — these already have all the connection details:

Glob: **/.mcs/conn.json

Also search common project locations:

Glob: /Users/**/projects/**/.mcs/conn.json

Each conn.json contains TenantId, EnvironmentId, DataverseEndpoint, AgentManagementEndpoint, and AccountInfo. Parse any found files and collect unique tenant/environment pairs. If matches are found, present them to the user:

> Found existing agent connections:

> 1. Employee Assistant — Elad's Env (tenant: 8a235459...)

> 2. IT Agent — Contoso Dev (tenant: efb073bb...)

>

> Use one of these, or enter a different tenant ID?

If the user picks one → extract tenantId, environmentId, environmentUrl, agentMgmtUrl and skip to Phase 2 (or Phase 1 if they want a different environment).

0b. Check for a Copilot Studio URL

If the user pastes a Copilot Studio URL (e.g. from their browser while viewing the agent), extract environment and agent IDs directly — no need for list-envs or list-agents.

Recognised URL formats:

https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com/environments/<envId>/bots/<agentId>/overview
https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments/<envId>/bots/<agentId>

If the user provides a URL like this, you still need a tenantId (from a conn.json or by asking the user). Then skip to Phase 3, passing --url instead of --agent-id / --environment-id / --environment-url / --agent-mgmt-url:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --url "<copilotStudioUrl>"

The script will parse the URL to extract the environment ID and agent ID, then resolve the remaining environment details (Dataverse URL, agent management URL) automatically via the BAP API.

0c. Ask the user

If no conn.json found (or user wants a different tenant) → ask for their tenant ID (required).

No --client-id is needed — the script uses VS Code's first-party client ID with interactive browser login automatically.

Phase 1: Select Environment

Tell the user: "A browser window may open for Microsoft sign-in (tokens are cached after first login)."

Run the list-envs command:

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-envs \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>"

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes) — set this on the Bash tool call to allow time for browser auth.

Parse the JSON output. On success (status: "ok"), present the environments as a numbered list to the user:

1. Contoso Dev (abc123-...)
2. Contoso Prod (def456-...)

Ask the user to pick an environment. Extract:

  • environmentId
  • environmentUrl (the url or dataverseUrl field)
  • agentMgmtUrl (the agentManagementUrl field)

Phase 2: Select Agent

First, ask the user: "Do you want to list only agents you own, or all agents in the environment?"

  • If only mine → run without --no-owner (default, filters by current user)
  • If all agents → add --no-owner flag
node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js list-agents \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --environment-url "<environmentUrl>" \
  [--no-owner]

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)

Parse the JSON output. Each agent has agentId, displayName, and ownedByCurrentUser. Present agents as a numbered list:

1. My Support Bot (yours)
2. HR Assistant
3. IT Helpdesk (yours)

Ask the user to pick an agent. Extract the agentId.

Phase 3: Clone

Run the clone command. The workspace should be the current directory (.). The --agent-id is required (from Phase 2):

node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../scripts/manage-agent.bundle.js clone \
  --workspace "." \
  --tenant-id "<tenantId>" \
  --agent-id "<agentId>" \
  --environment-id "<environmentId>" \
  --environment-url "<environmentUrl>" \
  --agent-mgmt-url "<agentMgmtUrl>"

Timeout: 300000ms (5 minutes)

On success:

  • Run Glob: **/agent.mcs.yml to find and show the cloned agent file
  • Check that .mcs/conn.json was created in the agent directory
  • Summarize what was cloned and where the files are

Error Handling

| Error | Resolution |

|-------|-----------|

| Browser auth fails or times out | Ask user to try again; check that they have access to the tenant |

| No environments found | Verify tenant ID is correct and user has Power Platform access |

| No agents found | Verify environment selection; user may need Copilot Studio access |

| Clone fails | Check permissions; the user needs maker/admin access to the agent |

Other skills for the same job

different authors, same section of the catalogue
Skill Creator
by anthropics
vendor ×10

Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills, and measure skill performance. Use when users want to create a skill from scratch, edit, or optimize an existing skill, run evals to test a skill, benchmark skill performance with variance analysis, or optimize a skill's description for better triggering accuracy.

56k tokens scripts
Skill Creator
by vercel-labs
vendor ×10

Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.

12k tokens scripts
Skill Creator
by JayZeeDesign
×9

Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.

10k tokens scripts
Template Skill
by JayZeeDesign
×7

Replace with description of the skill and when Claude should use it.

35 tokens
Dispatching Parallel Agents
by ZhanlinCui
×5

Use when facing 2+ independent tasks that can be worked on without shared state or sequential dependencies

2k tokens
Skill Development
by anthropics
vendor ×4

This skill should be used when the user wants to "create a skill", "add a skill to plugin", "write a new skill", "improve skill description", "organize skill content", or needs guidance on skill structure, progressive disclosure, or skill development best practices for Claude Code plugins.

9k tokens
Find Skills
by sanity-io
vendor ×4

Helps users discover and install agent skills when they ask questions like "how do I do X", "find a skill for X", "is there a skill that can...", or express interest in extending capabilities. This skill should be used when the user is looking for functionality that might exist as an installable skill.

1k tokens
Writing Skills
by ZhanlinCui
×4

Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment

26k tokens scripts

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take microsoft/clone-agent from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.