Build. Discover. Level Up.
Copilot Studio Academy is an offline-capable VS Code training game for new Microsoft
Copilot Studio builders. Learners complete seven missions, run deterministic checks,
earn XP and badges, build streaks, and finish with a Banking Assistant Final Boss.
They can then apply those skills in five independent Workday employee self-service
challenge labs.
The curriculum targets agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness. It uses the
current Build, Preview, Evaluate, and Monitor navigation instead of the standard
harness Topics interface.
The default provider validates a local agent cloned by the Microsoft Copilot Studio
extension. The Academy launches that extension's public commands but does not call an
LLM, scrape a browser, connect directly to a cloud API, or access authentication
tokens.
Academy experience
- Editor-tab Academy with Home, Missions, Achievements, Leaderboard, History, and
Settings views
- Activity Bar rocket with launch, clone, refresh, and folder-selection shortcuts
- Seven JSON-authored missions with sequential level unlocking
- Advanced Challenges tab with five self-contained Workday employee self-service labs
- Three copy-ready Level 2 banking skill templates with per-field clipboard actions
- In-Academy Copilot Studio clone and Get Changes actions
- Automatic validation of GitHub Copilot harness identity and authored clone files
- Current curriculum for instructions, skills, knowledge, connector tools, workflows,
Preview, and Evaluate
- Bundled
Banking FAQ.pdf training source, downloadable from Level 3
- Twenty bundled SharePoint List asset CSVs and five automated evaluation datasets
- Individual and per-challenge downloads for all Workday lab resources
- Shared Workday setup, safety guidance, test scripts, acceptance criteria, and a 14-point rubric
- Individual rule pass, fail, warning, score, and hint results
- Next Level controls that unlock only after successful mission validation
- Deterministic XP, hint penalties, speed bonuses, perfect-run bonuses, and streaks
- Eleven persisted achievements and a dedicated Final Boss celebration
- Persistent player profile, mission state, history, settings, and status bar XP
- Five optional mock scenarios for Academy development and failure-state testing
- Theme-aware webview UI with a strict content security policy
Current mission path
- Create the agent with the GitHub Copilot harness and define its Instructions.
- Build reusable behavior with banking support, request submission, and fraud-routing
skills. Only
banking-customer-support is required for automatic validation.
- Ground answers with approved knowledge.
- Add a Power Platform connector action as a tool.
- Create a multi-step workflow tool.
- Define safe orchestration, privacy, and escalation instructions.
- Verify the full design with Preview, Evaluate, and deterministic local checks.
Workday challenge path
After the Final Boss, open Challenges and choose one independent 90-minute lab:
- Determine PTO eligibility from employee balances, leave policies, and blackout
dates.
- Validate, confirm, create, and route a time-off request.
- Verify an employee before updating profile data and recording an audit trail.
- Check dependent-enrollment rules and return a document checklist.
- Answer grounded HR questions or create a routed case with the correct SLA.
Each lab includes its own SharePoint List CSVs, creation prompt, connector guidance,
build steps, five manual test cases, automated evaluation dataset, and acceptance
criteria. The labs do not depend on one another, so workshop participants can work in
parallel.
[!IMPORTANT]
The workflow experience can be marked as preview in Copilot Studio. Use an approved
training environment and non-production data for every connector and workflow step.
Run the extension
- Install dependencies with
npm install.
- Press
F5 in VS Code and choose Run Extension if prompted.
- Select the Academy logo in the Activity Bar and choose Open Academy, run
Copilot Studio Academy: Open Dashboard in Editor from the Command Palette, or
select the Academy mortar-board in the status bar.
- Enter an Agent Builder name and open Level 1.
- In Copilot Studio, create the agent from the primary Agent card so it uses the
GitHub Copilot harness. Do not use Other ways to build for this campaign.
- Optionally copy the agent's Copilot Studio portal URL, then select Clone agent
with Copilot Studio.
- Complete the Copilot Studio prompts for account, agent, assets, and destination.
The extension reopens the destination folder after cloning.
- Return to the Academy and select Run Validation. A single clone in the open
workspace is selected automatically.
Each validation run reloads the clone's authored YAML and workflow JSON files. If the
agent changed in the web portal, select Get latest changes in the Academy before
validating. Copilot Studio owns all sign-in and synchronization prompts. A successful
Level 1 check awards XP and the First Agent badge, unlocks Level 2, and writes a history
record. Select the mock developer provider in Settings to inspect simulated failure
states.
Upgrading from version 1.2 resets mission completion, XP, badges, and history because
the old topic-based campaign is not equivalent to the new harness curriculum. The
learner name and settings are retained.
Commands
Open the Command Palette and search for Copilot Studio Academy:
- Open Dashboard in Editor
- Clone Agent with Copilot Studio
- Get Latest Agent Changes
- Select Cloned Agent Folder
- Start Mission
- Check Mission
- Show Achievements
- Show Leaderboard
- Show Mission History
- Reset Progress
Development checks
Run these scripts before submitting a change:
npm run lint
npm test
npm run check-types
npm run package
The Extension Development Host uses the default watch build task. Unit tests use
Vitest and do not require an Extension Development Host.
Architecture and authoring
The VSIX bundles detailed guides for architecture, mission authoring, validation,
development, and Copilot Studio extension integration.
Security and data
Progress is stored in VS Code globalState, and the selected clone URI is stored in
workspace state. Passwords and credentials must never be written to mission JSON or
progress. The validator reads authored YAML only; it does not inspect .mcs internal
state, secret storage, or access tokens. The current leaderboard is labeled demo/local
and does not transmit data.
Local validation proves what is present in the saved clone. Preview observations,
Evaluate results, cloud connection health, publication state, and portal changes that
have not been pulled remain learner-reviewed checks. The Academy never stores Copilot
Studio credentials or connects independently.
