{"id":1782,"date":"2021-09-09T11:10:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T18:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-copilot\/blog\/copilot-studio\/power-virtual-agents-bots-as-skills-with-bot-framework-bots-public-preview\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T04:46:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:46:35","slug":"power-virtual-agents-bots-as-skills-with-bot-framework-bots-public-preview","status":"publish","type":"copilot","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-copilot\/blog\/copilot-studio\/power-virtual-agents-bots-as-skills-with-bot-framework-bots-public-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Virtual Agents bots as skills with Bot Framework bots – Public Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are happy to announce that Power Virtual Agents bots can now be used as a skills<\/a> with Bot Framework bots. If you have Bot Framework bots deployed in your organization, you can now easily extend them with Power Virtual Agents functionality using this new feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a Bot Framework bot matches a user utterance to Power Virtual Agents bot skill’s trigger phrases at runtime, it will automatically pass this user utterance to the Power Virtual Agent bot to handle. The Power Virtual Agents bot will then evaluate the user utterance, extract the Entities for any slot-filling and kick off a matching Power Virtual Agents Topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add your Bot Framework bot to Allowlist in Power Virtual Agents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All Bot Framework bots intending to use a Power Virtual Agents bot as a skill must be added to the Allowlist <\/strong>of this bot first. The Allowlist<\/strong> can be found under the Manage<\/strong> tab on Skills<\/strong> page in Power Virtual Agents:<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Manage
Manage allowlist for Power Virtual Agents bot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By default, no Bot Framework bots can use your Power Virtual Agents bot as a skill. To enable some Bot Framework bots to establish a skill connection to your Power Virtual Agents bot , add them to your bot’s Allowlist<\/strong> by their App ID. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Add
Add Bot Framework bot’s App ID to the Allowlist<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Download a Power Virtual Agents skill manifest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every Power Virtual Agents bot now has a skill manifest, a JSON file that describes skill’s name, interface, and skill’s trigger phrases. Bot Framework bots will use this manifest to configure a skill connection to the bot. At runtime, the manifest data will be used to identify when a skill should be triggered in response to a user utterance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Power Virtual Agents skill manifests are automatically generated and updated according to version 2.2<\/a> skill manifest schema. A Virtual Agents bot has 2 different skill manifests, Test manifest<\/strong> and Published manifest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test manifest<\/strong> — allows to connect to the Test<\/strong> version of your Power Virtual Agents bot. The Test manifest is immediately available for every Power Virtual Agents bot. It is automatically updated every time you Save<\/strong> bot content. You can use the Test manifes<\/strong>t to test out the changes in your skill  before Publishing<\/strong> them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published manifest<\/strong> — allows to connect to the Published<\/strong> version of your Power Virtual Agents bot. The Published manifest<\/strong> is only available for Power Virtual Agents bots that have been Published<\/strong> at least once. It is automatically updated every time you Publish<\/strong> your bot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Power Virtual Agents bot’s skill manifests can be found on Manage allowlist<\/strong> panel and will be downloaded as .zip archives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Download
Download Power Virtual Agents skill manifests<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Connect to a Power Virtual Agents skill bot in Bot Framework Composer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can use the Power Virtual Agents bot skill Test manifest<\/strong> or Published manifest<\/strong> to create a skill connection for your Bot Framework bot in Composer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bot Framework Composer project, use + Add<\/strong> button and choose Connect to a skill<\/strong> menu option.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Connect
Connect to a skill in Composer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Add a skill<\/strong> screen in Composer, select a Power Virtual Agents manifest .zip archive<\/strong> and follow the Skill connection wizard in Composer:<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Select
Select manifest .zip archive in Composer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your Power Visual Agents bot is added as a skill in Composer and now your Bot Framework bot is extended with Power Virtual Agents Topics:<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Power
Power Virtual Agents bot added as a skill in Composer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Current limitations – Public Preview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n