Agents and the default assistant
An agent is an assistant you set up for one job, such as answering HR questions from the Human resources knowledge base or looking up sales figures in Contoso ERP. You decide what it knows, which tools it may use, how it should answer and who may use it. Genie, the default assistant, sits in front of all of them: people type their question in one chat box and Genie picks the right documents, data or agent for each question. Contributors can create agents and manage the ones they created; Admins and Owners manage every agent, the default assistant and routing.
How agents and Genie fit together
- Genie starts every new conversation unless you choose otherwise. For each question it decides where to look, among the sources the person asking may use, and a short note under the answer says where it looked.
- Agents are specialists. People can pick one in the chat, call one with
@for a single message, or let Genie hand a question to one. - Agents always work as the person asking. They only find the documents that person may read and only the data rows their row filters allow.
The Contoso examples on this page use three agents:
| Agent | What it uses | Who may use it |
|---|---|---|
| HR assistant | The Human resources knowledge base | Every member of the workspace |
| Sales assistant | The Sales knowledge base and the Contoso ERP database | Every member of the workspace |
| Data analyst | The Contoso ERP database and a sandbox with skills, to build tables and charts | Only the people chosen, for example Minh Le and Nam Vo |
Create an agent
You need the Contributor role or higher, and at least one chat model must be available; system administrators add models for every workspace (see Models and data protection). Here Thu Hoang, the HR manager, creates the HR assistant.
- In the sidebar, open Agents and click Create agent. The agent editor opens on Basic Info.
- Under Running Mode, choose Smart Reasoning (multi-step reasoning with tools) or Quick Answer (knowledge-base Q&A with citations). See Write the instructions.
- Enter a Name ("HR assistant") and a Description ("Answers questions about leave, allowances, expenses and the employee handbook"). Genie reads the description when it decides which questions to hand to this agent, so make it specific.
- Open Prompts and write the System Prompt: who the agent is and how it answers.
- Open Model Config and choose the Model.
- Open Knowledge Base, choose Selected Knowledge Bases and pick Human resources.
- Set anything else you need (see the sections below), then click Create Agent.
- The editor stays open and adds the Sharing and Genie routing sections. Adjust what you like, then click Save and Close.
website-docs/public/screenshots/en/agent-editor.pngThe name, the system prompt and the model are required. The agent's picture is generated from its name; there is nothing to upload.
The editor's sections
The sections are grouped on the left. Tools, MCP Services, Databases, Other agents and Skills appear only for Smart Reasoning agents; Sharing and Genie routing appear once the agent exists.
| Group | Section | What it does for users |
|---|---|---|
| Basics | Basic Info | Running mode, agent type, name, description, long-term memory, the asker's profile; after creation also the Agent ID (for API integrations) and the Publish channels the agent answers in |
| Prompts | The System Prompt: the agent's role, rules and tone | |
| Model Config | The chat model and how it generates answers | |
| Conversation | How earlier messages of the conversation are used (most agents keep the defaults) | |
| Question suggestions | Starter questions shown in an empty chat, and follow-up questions after each answer | |
| Who can use it | Who may chat with the agent (see Choose who can use an agent) | |
| Knowledge & Retrieval | Knowledge Base | Which knowledge bases the agent searches |
| Retrieval Strategy | Fine-tuning of the document search; leave the defaults unless your Genie provider suggests a change | |
| Web Search | Whether the agent may search the internet | |
| Extensions | Attachment Upload | Whether people can attach images and audio in the chat |
| Tools | The built-in tools the agent may call | |
| MCP Services | Outside tools connected through MCP | |
| Databases | Databases and Power BI models the agent may query | |
| Other agents | Agents this agent may consult | |
| Skills | Skills that run in a sandbox, for files, tables and charts | |
| Publish & Integrations | Sharing | Sharing the agent with other workspaces |
| Genie routing | The agent's route card: what Genie knows about it |
Write the instructions
What you write in Basic Info and Prompts shapes every answer.
- Running Mode. Quick Answer searches the knowledge bases once and answers with citations: fast and cheap, right for policy and procedure questions. Smart Reasoning plans, searches several times, calls tools, queries databases, runs skills and can ask other agents: use it for anything beyond a document lookup.
- Agent Type (Smart Reasoning only). A preset fills in the system prompt, the tools and the recommended knowledge scope: RAG Q&A, Wiki Q&A, Hybrid (Wiki + RAG), Data Analysis or Custom. You can change everything it fills in.
- Description. One or two sentences on what the agent answers. Genie uses it, with the instructions and knowledge bases, to write the agent's route card.
- System Prompt. Write it as a briefing for a new colleague: the job, the sources to rely on, what to do when the documents do not answer, and the tone. For example:
You are the HR assistant of Contoso. Answer questions about leave, allowances,
expenses and the employee handbook, using the Human resources knowledge base.
Name the policy and the section you rely on. If the documents do not cover the
question, say so and suggest contacting HR at thu.hoang@contoso.test.
Answer in the language of the question.- Long-term Memory. On: the agent can read and add to each person's long-term memory. It has no effect while long-term memory is off for the workspace or for that person (see Privacy and retention).
- Use the asker's profile. On: the agent is told who is asking (the Attributes shown, such as job title and department), so "my lunch allowance" is answered for that person. Filter by the asker's profile for "my ..." questions also narrows the knowledge bases to the person's own branch or factory when the question says "my". Email, phone and attributes you do not list are never passed on. Attributes come from Microsoft Entra ID and the Members page (see Members and sign-in).
Give the agent knowledge and tools
| Section → setting | What it does for users |
|---|---|
| Knowledge Base → Knowledge Bases | All Knowledge Bases, Selected Knowledge Bases or No Knowledge Base. The agent only finds documents the person asking may read. |
| Knowledge Base → Retrieve Only When Mentioned | On: the agent searches its knowledge bases only when the person mentions one with @. |
| Knowledge Base → Supported File Types | Limits which file types people can pick. Empty means all types. |
| Web Search → Web Search | On: the agent may search the internet. People can still switch web search off for a chat, and the web search settings of the company and the workspace apply on top. Search Engine and Max Search Results fine-tune it. |
| Model Config → Model | The chat model that writes the answers. Thinking Mode lets models that support it reason before answering (slower, more thorough). Show Source Citations shows the citation chips. The ReRank Model improves the order of search results; choose one when the agent searches knowledge bases. Max Iterations caps the steps of one Smart Reasoning answer. |
| Tools → Allowed Tools | The built-in tools, in groups: Basic, Knowledge Retrieval (RAG), the Wiki groups and Data Analysis (CSV and Excel files). Tools marked Write change wiki pages; leave them off unless the agent maintains a wiki. Effective Tools shows what the agent can really call with the current settings. |
| Databases → Databases the agent may query | The agent gets a read-only query tool for the chosen connections, limited to the tables and columns described for Genie, with each person's row filters. Only Admins can add a database; anyone who edits the agent can remove one. See Databases and Power BI. |
| Databases → Power BI semantic models the agent may query | The same for Power BI data sources that allow DAX queries. Queries run as the data source's app, so Power BI row-level security does not narrow them: choose only models everyone who can use the agent may see. |
| MCP Services | All, Selected or Disabled: outside tools from the MCP services of the workspace. |
| Skills → Sandbox and Skill list | Pick a sandbox, then All, Selected or Disabled skills. Skills let the agent work with files, build Excel workbooks or charts and run code. Only Admins install skills. The sandboxes in the list are set up by a system administrator; the link to the sandbox settings tells anyone else to ask them. Code runs only while running code is on for the workspace (Settings → Features). See Sandbox and skills. |
| Attachment Upload | Image Upload (needs a vision model) and Audio Upload let people attach images and recordings in the chat. |
| Question suggestions | Show starter questions in an empty chat (Curated, Knowledge or Hybrid; add your own under Curated questions) and Generate follow-up questions after each answer (uses extra model calls). |
At Contoso:
- Sales assistant: Smart Reasoning, the Sales knowledge base, and Contoso ERP under Databases. Minh Le, an Admin, adds the database. "What did the Da Nang branch sell in September?" is answered from the ERP; "What is our price policy for new customers?" from the documents.
- Data analyst: Smart Reasoning, No Knowledge Base, Contoso ERP under Databases, and under Skills a sandbox with the skills for Excel files and charts, so it can return a table or a chart file.
Let an agent consult other agents
In Other agents, list under Agents it may consult the agents this agent may ask for help, at most 10 (agents of your workspace and agents shared with it). The Sales assistant can, for example, ask the HR assistant about travel allowances for a sales trip, and answer with what it was told and the HR sources behind it.
- Each consultation runs as the person asking: an agent they may not use is never asked, and the consulted agent reads only what they may read.
- The consulted agent sees only the question, not the conversation. Consultations go at most two levels deep, never loop back to an agent already working on the question, and wait at most 3 minutes.
- An empty list, the default, means the agent consults nobody.
Choose who can use an agent
By default every member of the workspace can chat with an agent. To narrow it, open the agent, go to Who can use it and choose:
| Option | Who can use the agent |
|---|---|
| Every member of the workspace | Everyone (the default) |
| Members from a role up | Members whose role is at least the Lowest role you pick, for example Contributor |
| Only the members I choose | The people you add under Members |
With Only the members I choose, each person can get an end date under End dates (optional). They lose access at the end of the chosen day; the next daily check removes them from the list and emails the person who set the date. No end date keeps the access until you remove it.
To limit the Data analyst to Minh Le and Nam Vo until the end of the year:
- Open Agents, click the Data analyst and go to Who can use it.
- Choose Only the members I choose and add Minh Le and Nam Vo under Members.
- Under End dates (optional), pick 31 December next to Nam Vo.
- Click Save and Close.
Good to know about run access:
- Admins, Owners and the agent's creator can always use the agent, so they can test it.
- People who may not use an agent do not see it in the agent list or the
@list, and Genie never hands their questions to it. - Run access does not open any knowledge base or document: the agent still finds only what the person may read.
- In shared spaces the agent is shared with, the same choice holds: only the chosen people, or people from the role up in their own workspace, see it.
Who can edit an agent
The agent's creator and the workspace's Admins and Owners can edit, share and delete it. Everyone else who may use it can open it read-only. Built-in agents, such as Genie and Quick Answer, have no creator: only Admins adjust their settings, and their name and description stay fixed.
Built-in agents come without a chat model. Until an Admin picks one under Model Config, a built-in agent answers with the chat model marked Default (a system administrator picks it, see Shared models), else the model the other built-in agents are set to when they all use the same one, else the chat model added first. While there is no chat model at all, a question gets an answer saying that the workspace has no chat model yet; ask your system administrator to add one. Agents you create always need their own model.
Manage agents
On the Agents page, More actions next to an agent offers what your role allows:
| Action | What it does | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Opens the editor | The creator, Admins |
| Copy | Creates a copy that you own | Contributors and above |
| Disable / Enable | Hides the agent from the chat for the whole workspace, or brings it back | Admins |
| Make workspace default / Stop being workspace default | New conversations start with this agent instead of Genie (see Set up the default assistant) | Admins |
| Delete | Removes the agent after a confirmation | The creator, Admins |
To put an agent into Microsoft Teams, Zalo or the website widget, see Teams, Zalo and the website widget. The agent's Publish channels row in Basic Info shows where it is published.
Share an agent with other workspaces
To let another workspace use an agent, share it into a shared space that both workspaces belong to (see Administration overview). The creator of the agent or an Admin can do it, when your workspace may share into that space.
- Open the agent and go to Sharing.
- Read the warnings at the top: the knowledge bases the agent answers from, and whether it uses skills.
- Click Share, choose the space under Select shared space and confirm.
The space appears under Shared to with the permission Read-only. To stop sharing, click Remove share on its row.
What people in the other workspaces get:
- They use the agent exactly as you configured it, with your workspace's models and knowledge bases. They can ask about those knowledge bases even if they could not open them, so share only agents whose knowledge they may see.
- They cannot change it and do not see its instructions or its creator.
- The agent does not query your Databases or Power BI for them, because row filters belong to your workspace's members.
- Its skills run in your workspace's sandbox, with the secrets your Admins set for them, and a determined user could make the agent reveal those values.
- Their Admins can Disable the shared agent for their own workspace.
Built-in agents cannot be shared. An agent needs a chat model (and a ReRank model when it searches knowledge bases) before it can be shared.
Connect MCP services
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a standard way for assistants to call outside tools, such as an order-tracking system or a ticketing tool. When you add an MCP service to the workspace, your Smart Reasoning agents can use its tools. Only Admins add and change MCP services. To let other assistants use Genie as an MCP server instead, see MCP.
To add a service, for example a delivery-tracking service at https://mcp.contoso.test/delivery:
- In the sidebar, open Toolbox and the MCP Service tab, then click Add Service. The Add MCP Service panel opens on the Connection step.
- If the service's vendor gave you a configuration snippet, open Import from code, paste it and click Parse & Fill. Otherwise fill in the form:
- Service Name, and Enable Service on.
- Transport Type: SSE or HTTP Streamable, as the vendor documents. Services that run as a local command are not supported.
- Service URL.
- Custom Headers (optional): extra headers the service or your gateway needs.
- Under Authentication, choose the Auth Method (see the table below) and enter the credentials.
- Under Advanced, keep Timeout (s), Retry Count and Retry Delay (s) unless the service is slow.
- Click Save and continue. Genie connects and moves to Tools and usage, listing the service's tools.
- Write the Usage instructions: what the service is for, when to use it and any limits. Agents read this before they pick a tool. Generate with AI drafts it from the tools; review it before saving.
- In the tool list, switch off with Enabled the tools agents should not use, and turn on Require approval for tools that change data or send something out.
- Click Save.
| Auth Method | When to use it |
|---|---|
| None / Custom Header | The service needs no sign-in, or only a fixed header you set under Custom Headers (optional) |
| API Key / Token | The service takes one key for everyone. Enter the Header Name (X-API-Key by default) and the Secret / Token. Every person who uses the agent acts with this key. |
| OAuth 2.0 (authorize on first connect) | Each person signs in to the service with their own account. Click Authorize to sign in yourself, so Genie can list the tools; others are asked in the chat the first time an agent needs the service. |
Then give the service to an agent: open the agent, go to MCP Services and choose All (every enabled service, including ones added later), or Selected and pick the services under Select MCP Services. Authentication Wait Timeout (s) is how long the agent waits for someone to finish signing in (600 seconds by default).
On the MCP Services page, each service card shows its usage instructions, its number of tools and an On / Off switch. Services marked Built-in come from your Genie provider and cannot be edited. After you change a service's URL or credentials, open Tools and usage and click Refresh tools before agents use it again.
Approve tool calls
When an agent wants to call a tool with Require approval on, the chat shows a review card with the service, the tool and its Arguments. The person chatting can correct the arguments, then click Approve & run or Reject. If nobody decides within about 10 minutes, the call is treated as rejected, and the agent carries on with what it has.
For an OAuth service the person has not signed in to yet, the chat shows an Authorize card that opens the sign-in window, and the tool call resumes once it succeeds; Skip carries on without the tool. In Microsoft Teams and Zalo Genie cannot open that window, so the agent carries on without that service's tools.
Set up the default assistant
Genie answers new conversations: for each question it picks the sources, from documents to Databases, Power BI, the web or an agent. Admins choose its sources from Genie's row on the Agents page.
- In the sidebar, open Agents, click More actions (⋯) next to Genie and choose Default assistant settings. The settings open in a side panel.
- Under Default assistant for new conversations, keep Genie (automatic), or choose Quick Answer for plain document answers without routing.
- Under Sources Genie may use, choose what Genie may look in (see the table).
- Click Save changes.
website-docs/public/screenshots/en/default-assistant.png| Setting | What it does for users | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Default assistant for new conversations | What new chats start with. Existing conversations keep their assistant, and anyone can still pick another one or call an agent with @. When you made an agent the default from the Agents page, it shows here as "Another agent". | Genie (automatic) |
| Knowledge bases | Always Every knowledge base the person may read | |
| Databases | All permitted, Selected or Off. Genie only queries databases whose Who may query it through Genie setting lets the person in (see Databases and Power BI). | All permitted |
| Power BI | The same for Power BI sources with DAX queries on | All permitted |
| Web search | On: follows the web search settings of the company and the workspace, documents first. Off: Genie never searches the web. | On |
| Specialist agents | Up to 10 agents Genie considers first when a question clearly belongs to one. Each answers with the access of the person asking. | None |
Below the sources, the panel reminds you that the limits and routing are set by your system administrator, and offers Open routing review (see Review misrouted questions). Changes on this panel are recorded in the workspace audit log.
To make another agent the default, open Agents, click More actions next to it and choose Make workspace default. A member who may not use that agent still starts with Genie. Stop being workspace default goes back to Genie.
Limits and routing
How far one answer may go, and how Genie routes, are set once for the whole company: a system administrator sets them under Settings → Assistant & conversations (see System administration) and can give one workspace its own values. Saving Genie's settings in a workspace never changes them. If your workspace needs different values, ask your system administrator.
| Setting | What it does for users | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Steps per answer | Tool steps in one answer, 2 to 300 | 100 |
| Time per answer | Seconds per answer, 20 to 3,600 | 1,800 (30 minutes) |
| Tokens per answer | Model usage per answer, 10,000 to 50,000,000 | 10,000,000 |
| Time per lookup | Seconds one search or query may take before Genie tries another source, 5 to 900 | 300 |
| Look further when documents are not enough | When a quick answer from documents comes back weak, Genie keeps going in the same turn with Databases, Power BI, the web or an agent | On |
| Use route cards | Genie matches questions against each source's route card. Off: it routes on its rules and the question alone. | On |
The defaults leave room for long work, such as drafting a contract, summarizing many documents or analyzing a database of millions of rows: a complete answer matters more than a fast one, and monthly budgets keep spending in check. When an answer reaches a limit, Genie stops, answers with what it found and says so. When an answer runs code or asks another agent, Genie gives that answer more room on its own.
Routing: how Genie picks a source
For each question, Genie decides where to start, among the sources the person may use:
- Rules. Greetings and simple requests are answered directly. A question about figures (sales, stock, orders for a period) goes to the Databases; a follow-up to a data answer stays with the data. The rules work in Vietnamese and English, with or without accents.
- Route cards. Genie compares the question with the route card of each source the person may use. A name or code from a card, such as a branch, a product code or a customer, points strongly to that source.
- Reading the question. While Genie works out what the question means, it also chooses the route. When it is unsure, it looks in several sources rather than guessing.
People signed in to Genie get a multi-step lookup that starts with the chosen sources and moves on when one has nothing. Website widget visitors, people writing from Microsoft Teams or Zalo, and API callers first get a quick answer from documents; with Look further when documents are not enough on, a weak one continues in the same turn. They never get answers from Databases or Power BI.
When a question from a signed-in member clearly belongs to an agent, Genie hands it over. It may ask any agent of the workspace the person may use; the Specialist agents come first. The agent works as the person asking, sees only the question, and its answer comes back with its sources. The note under the answer then reads, for example, "Asked HR assistant".
Route cards
A route card tells Genie what a source answers. Every knowledge base, agent, database connection and Power BI source gets one. For an agent, open it and go to Genie routing; for the others, see Knowledge bases and Databases and Power BI.
| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| Summary | A few sentences on what the source covers |
| Topics | Up to 15 short topics |
| Example questions | Up to 20 questions the source answers |
| Names it knows | Names and codes that point to this source, such as branches, product groups or customers |
| Your example questions | Questions you file under this source yourself, up to 50. They always count and are never overwritten. |
The card is written in the background from the source itself: for an agent, its name, description, instructions, knowledge bases, databases and the agents it may consult. It is refreshed when the source changes. Its status reads Generating, Ready, Out of date (the old card keeps working until the new one is ready) or Failed (the error is shown and the previous card stays in use).
To improve how questions reach an agent:
- Give the agent a clear Description; the card is rewritten from it.
- Under Your example questions, type a question that belongs here, click Add, then Save questions.
- After a big change, click Regenerate to rebuild the card at once.
Only Admins can regenerate cards and add example questions.
Review misrouted questions
Genie logs how it routed every question. The Routing tab of Settings → Analytics (also reachable from Open routing review in Genie's Default assistant settings) lists the ones that probably went to the wrong place.
- Open Settings → Analytics and choose the Routing tab. Needs review shows questions where Genie had to look further (Documents were not enough), Stopped at a limit, the answer was Voted down, or the person Asked again with an agent right after.
- For each question, read where Genie went (Quick answer, Looked further or Asked an agent), what it Used, and the Best matches: it considered.
- If the question belongs elsewhere, pick the right source under Add to examples of… and click Add to examples. The question joins that source's example questions, with personal data such as names and phone numbers masked, and similar questions go there next time.
- If the routing was fine, click Dismiss.
The screen shows a question only when the person who asked sent that answer to the admins with their rating (see What admins can see). Every other entry reads Private question: you still see the route, the outcome, the sources and the day, and you can dismiss it, but not add it to examples. The screen never shows who asked or at what time. All questions shows every routed question, and Include reviewed adds the ones already handled. Only Admins and Owners can open it.
@mentions and agents working together
People can call an agent for one message by typing @ and its name; the next message goes back to the conversation's assistant. How it looks for them is in Agents. As an admin you control it with:
- Who can use it: only agents a person may use appear in their
@list. - Disable: an agent turned off for the workspace cannot be called.
- Other agents: which agents an agent may consult on its own (see Let an agent consult other agents).
- Specialist agents: which agents Genie considers first for a hand-off.
A question asked again with @ right after a Genie answer shows up in the routing review, so you can teach Genie where it belongs.
Good to know
- Agents and Genie always run as the person asking: document permissions, knowledge base sharing and database row filters apply in every answer, every consultation and every hand-off.
- Run access lists people or a lowest role. It cannot target an Entra group or a member attribute such as
department = HR; to limit by department, list the people or restrict the documents instead (see Document permissions). - Anyone who may use an agent can open its settings read-only, including its instructions. Never put passwords or keys in a system prompt.
- Databases and Power BI answer only people signed in to Genie itself, never website widget visitors, people writing from Teams or Zalo, or API callers. This holds for Genie and for agents.
- New database connections answer through Genie for Admins only (Administrators under Who may query it through Genie) until you open them up in Databases and Power BI. Agents you add a database to can query it whatever that setting says.
- An MCP service with API Key / Token acts with the same key for everyone who uses the agent. Use a key with the narrowest rights the service offers, and turn on Require approval for tools that write or send.
- If an MCP service runs on your company network rather than the internet, Genie reaches it only after a system administrator allows its address (see Network and antivirus).
- Consultations, hand-offs and follow-up suggestions use the model too. They count in Usage & cost and in monthly budgets, under the answer the person was waiting for (see Usage, analytics and audit).
- Creating, changing, sharing and deleting agents, run access changes and default assistant changes are recorded in the workspace audit log.