Agent Connection Methods
Calibrant uses a layered approach to connect with your Copilot Studio agents. Every agent requires a Power Automate flow for instruction management, with optional connection string and persona configuration for advanced testing.
Overview
| Layer | Required? | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Power Automate Flow | Required | Reads and applies agent instructions, basic chat testing |
| Connection String | Optional | Enables persona-authenticated testing via the Agents SDK |
| Test Personas | Optional | Test as different real users — department, role, location |
| Relay Container | Optional | M365 security checks via PowerShell in your Azure tenant |
Power Automate Flow (required)
Every agent needs a Power Automate flow configured on the Connections page. The flow runs in your Power Platform environment and handles:
- Instruction sync — fetches and applies agent instructions from Copilot Studio
- Basic chat testing — sends test queries when no persona is selected
- Health checks — Calibrant verifies the flow is responsive before allowing agent registration
The flow uses a shared API key managed on the Connections page. One flow handles all your agents — you set it up once.
Power Automate Flow setup guide →
Connection String (optional)
Adding a connection string enables persona-authenticated testing via the Microsoft Agents SDK. This is for agents that personalize responses based on who's asking (department, location, role).
Find it in Copilot Studio → Channels → Native app → copy the Connection string.
- Paste it when registering an agent or in Edit Connection on the agent detail page
- Works for both Microsoft-authenticated and standard agents
- When a persona is selected in test chat, Calibrant calls the agent directly via the Agents SDK SSE protocol
- Without a persona, chat falls back to the Power Automate flow
Test Personas (optional)
Personas let you test your agent as different real users. They're managed on the Connections page (tenant-level) and assigned to individual agents.
- Create a persona by entering a UPN (e.g.,
jane.doe@contoso.com) - Authenticate via device code flow — the user enters a code at
aka.ms/devicelogin - Name, department, and job title are auto-populated from Microsoft Graph
- During optimization, every test query runs against every assigned persona
With 3 personas and 10 queries, that's 30 test executions — one per (query, persona) pair. Results show scores broken down by persona.
CopilotStudio.Copilots.Invoke) granted in your Entra ID app registration. Setup instructions →Calibrant Relay (optional)
The relay is a small container deployed in your Azure subscription. It's needed for:
- M365 security checks — PowerShell scripts that audit mailbox settings, SharePoint policies, Teams configuration
- Legacy Direct Line persona testing — for agents that don't support the Agents SDK
Most users don't need the relay for chat testing — the server-side Agents SDK handles that directly. The relay is primarily for PowerShell-based compliance checks.
Legacy options
Token Endpoint
A Direct Line token endpoint URL from Copilot Studio. Works for agents with "No authentication" setting. Can be added in Edit Connection on the agent detail page.
Direct Line Secret
For older agents with an Azure Bot Services resource. Can be added in Edit Connection.
Decision guide
- Set up the Power Automate flow on the Connections page (required for all agents)
- Agent doesn't personalize by user? → You're done. Register and optimize.
- Agent personalizes by user? → Add a connection string + create test personas
- Need M365 compliance checks? → Deploy the Calibrant Relay