030 | M365 Copilot Declarative Agents Level Up: MCP Apps, Embedded Knowledge & Coding Skills

032 | SharePoint Framework v1.23 GA & M365 Copilot with Interactive UX… via SPFx?

In this episode, Andrew and Julie dig into the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) 1.23 release that went generally available on May 13, 2026. They walk through what's actually in the release, including the new command set grouping support, the deprecation of the hosted workbench (and the community PnP project filling that gap), and the long-awaited new and edit panel override support for lists and libraries landing in 1.23.1. They also unpack the move away from the Yeoman generator toward an open source SPFx CLI, why the open template model has Julie watching the security implications, and Stefan Bauer's running list of issues with the heft build toolchain that anyone doing non-trivial styling should be tracking. From there, the conversation turns to where SPFx and Microsoft 365 Copilot are heading. Andrew connects the dots on a cryptic roadmap bullet about "SPFx-powered UX for Copilot built with the MCP app model," explaining how MCP apps work today and why this could mean web part developers get Copilot chat surfaces for free, similar to how SPFx tabs work in Microsoft Teams. They wrap with the public preview of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Evaluations Tool for declarative agents built with the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit, why evals matter when models and orchestrators shift underneath you, and Julie's pragmatic take on leaning on AI to call deterministic tools rather than expecting deterministic AI. 🎧 AUDIO 🔗 Listen to this episode [https://codedeploygo.live/episodes/032-sharepoint-framework-v1-23-ga-m365-copilot-with-interactive-ux-via-spfx] 📺 VIDEO 🔗 Watch this episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4BmuIrFm_E] 🔗 LINKS ================================================= 🔗 LinkedIn post from Andrew Connell [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7459574080279638017/] 🔗 Voitanos Is Closing: What Happens Next [https://www.voitanos.io/blog/voitanos-closing-2026/] 🔗 General Availability of SharePoint Framework 1.23 - Advancing the modern developer experience [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/microsoft365dev/general-availability-of-sharepoint-framework-1-23-advancing-the-modern-developer-experience/] 🔗 SharePoint Framework 1.23 GA overview video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhFo6OsF160] 🔗 Beau Cameron, Chris Kent, Hugo Bernier: SPFx-LocalWorkbench [https://github.com/bcameron1231/SPFx-LocalWorkbench] 🔗 Stefan Bauer's open issues on sp-dev-docs (heft toolchain feedback) [https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-dev-docs/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20author%3AStfBauer%20created%3A%3E2026-05-11] 🔗 AC's M365 Copilot MCP App Demo - PTO Request (not SPFx) [https://www.tella.tv/video/pto-request-mcpappoas-h8ye] 🔗 Announcing the public preview of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Evaluations tool [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/microsoft365dev/announcing-the-public-preview-of-the-microsoft-365-copilot-agent-evaluations-tool/] 🎁 Picks ================================================= Andrew's Pick(s) 🔗 Fred again.. & Thomas Bangalter - USB002, Alexandra Palace, London (27 February 2026) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfF8jzBVWvM] 🔗 Fred again.. - USB002 EVERY SHOW (108 hours, 3 Oct 2025 - 27 Feb 2026) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiXKukOtmeE] Julie's Pick(s): 🔗 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Strike Force Five Is And Always Will Be - Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, Oliver and Colbert [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3PSAAgbrU] 🔗 Strike Force Five Returns to Celebrate Stephen Colbert [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOzkffwHU-Q] 📚 CHAPTERS ================================================= * (00:40) - ECS Recap and Lisbon Travels * (04:01) - Andrew's Career Change to AffPoint * (08:47) - SHAREPOINT FRAMEWORK 1.23 RELEASE * (10:15) - Command Set Grouping Support * (13:18) - Open Source SPFx CLI and Yeoman Retirement * (21:06) - Hosted Workbench Deprecation and Dev Builds * (27:07) - New and Edit Panel Override Support * (33:00) - Extending Copilot UI with SPFx and MCP Apps * (46:00) - Evals for Declarative Agents * (50:29) - AC'S & JULIE'S PICKS * (55:42) - Wrap Up ================================================= 🎙️ PODCAST 🔗 https://codedeploygo.live [https://codedeploygo.live/], LinkedIn [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-linkedin], Bluesky [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-bluesky] 🎙️ HOSTS Julie Turner [https://julieturner.net/me] Andrew Connell: LinkedIn [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-linkedin], YouTube [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-youtube], Bluesky [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-bluesky], Newsletter [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-newsletter] SPONSORS Sympraxis [https://www.sympraxisconsulting.com/] (by Julie Turner) 🔗 Ask Sympraxis [https://symp.info/asksympraxis] 🔗 YouTube [https://symp.info/youtube] Voitanos [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos] (by Andrew Connell) 🔗 LinkedIn [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-linkedin] 🔗 Bluesky [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-bluesky] Music Credit: Ken Bagley

031 | Microsoft 365 Copilot Extensibility: Declarative Agents, Custom Engines, and Work IQ with Microsoft's Paolo Pialorsi

Microsoft 365 Copilot Extensibility: Declarative Agents, Custom Engines, and Work IQ with Microsoft's Paolo Pialorsi In this episode, Andrew and Julie sit down with Paolo Pialorsi at a Microsoft conference to explore Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility and the newly announced Work IQ platform. They dive into the three pillars of Copilot extensibility: declarative agents (which leverage Copilot's foundational models and orchestrator), custom engine agents (which give you full control over the model, orchestrator, and customization), and AI apps built with Work IQ that operate outside the Copilot UI. Paolo breaks down how Work IQ differs fundamentally from Microsoft Graph by adding context, memory, and business understanding on top of data, then shares practical guidance on choosing the right path for your scenario. The conversation covers the microservices-style multi-agent architecture using the agent-to-agent protocol, the Work IQ chat API versus retrieval API, responsible AI guardrails, licensing considerations, and the upcoming Copilot Showroom tool that lets developers explore these APIs without building a full solution. Whether you're getting started with Copilot extensibility or trying to understand when to move from declarative agents to custom engine agents, this episode gives you the mental models and decision trees you need. 🔗 LINKS ================================================= 🔗 A Closer Look at Work IQ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/a-closer-look-at-work-iq/4499789] 🔗 Work IQ overview [https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/copilot/extensibility/workiq-overview] 🔗 Overview: Declarative agent [https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/copilot/extensibility/overview-declarative-agent] 🔗 Paolo Pialorsi on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolopialorsi/] 📺 Watch the episode: https://youtu.be/KZf7KBb7Ga4 [https://youtu.be/KZf7KBb7Ga4] 🎙️ PODCAST 🔗 https://codedeploygo.live [https://codedeploygo.live/], LinkedIn [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-linkedin], Bluesky [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-bluesky] 🎙️ HOSTS Julie Turner [https://julieturner.net/me] Andrew Connell: LinkedIn [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-linkedin], YouTube [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-youtube], Bluesky [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-bluesky], Newsletter [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-newsletter] SPONSORS Sympraxis [https://www.sympraxisconsulting.com/] (by Julie Turner) 🔗 Ask Sympraxis [https://symp.info/asksympraxis] 🔗 YouTube [https://symp.info/youtube] Voitanos [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos] (by Andrew Connell) 🔗 LinkedIn [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-linkedin] 🔗 Bluesky [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-bluesky] Music Credit: Ken Bagley * (02:16) - MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT EXTENSIBILITY FUNDAMENTALS * (07:00) - Declarative Agents vs Custom Engine Agents * (13:16) - Understanding Licensing and Architectural Decisions * (19:47) - Introducing Work IQ * (25:01) - Work IQ vs Microsoft Graph * (32:17) - REST APIs and the Copilot Showroom Tool * (39:23) - Resources and Closing Remarks

030 | M365 Copilot Declarative Agents Level Up: MCP Apps, Embedded Knowledge & Coding Skills

In this episode, Andrew and Julie dive into the latest updates to the declarative agent developer experience in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Andrew walks through what's shipped since Ignite 2025 — including the GA of MCP apps support (which lets agents respond with interactive UI widgets instead of just text), embedded knowledge that packages up to 20 files directly into an agent, and the new AI coding assistant skills under the Work IQ banner that help Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and Codex better understand declarative agent projects. Along the way, they swap stories about using Claude Code to modernize an older SharePoint Framework session, weigh in on where MCP apps could take line-of-business solutions, and share picks covering the Artemis II mission and the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards. 🔗 LINKS ================================================= 🔗 Webinar: Supercharge Your Microsoft 365 Dev Workflow with Claude Code (May 21, 2026) [https://www.voitanos.io/webinars/microsoft-365-supercharge-dev-workflow-claude-code-20260521/] 🔗 Webinar: Microsoft 365 Copilot Developer's Guide to Declarative Agents (April 15, 2026) [https://www.voitanos.io/webinars/microsoft-365-copilot-developers-guide-declarative-agents-20260415/] 🔗 Workshop: Build Declarative Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot [https://www.voitanos.io/workshop-microsoft-365-copilot-build-declarative-agents/] 🔗 What's New for Microsoft 365 Copilot Declarative Agents — April 2026 [https://www.voitanos.io/blog/microsoft-365-copilot-declarative-agents-whats-new-202604-april-2026/] 🎁 Picks ================================================= Andrew's Pick(s) 🔗 NASA: Moon Base Architecture User's Guide (PDF) [https://nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/moon-base-architecture-users-guide.pdf] 🔗 Hank Green: Explaining the Most Important Artemis II Photos [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaXRREHVkHo] Julie's Pick(s): 🔗 2026 World Nature Photography Awards Winners (Popular Science) [https://www.popsci.com/environment/world-nature-photography-awards-2026-winners/] 🔗 World Nature Photography Awards — Official Store [https://store.worldnaturephotographyawards.com/] 📚 CHAPTERS ================================================= * (00:00) - Introduction * (00:34) - Conference prep & upcoming events * (02:10) - Julie's Claude Code win modernizing an SPFx session * (05:43) - Andrew's Teams walkie-talkie sync solution * (06:26) - Artemis II mission excitement * (07:26) - DECLARATIVE AGENTS: DEV EXPERIENCE UPDATES * (08:36) - Baseline: what shipped at Ignite 2025 * (11:09) - MCP Apps support goes GA * (22:19) - Embedded knowledge for agents * (29:48) - AI coding assistant skills (Work IQ) * (38:52) - AC'S & JULIE'S PICKS 🎙️ PODCAST 🔗 https://codedeploygo.live [https://codedeploygo.live/], LinkedIn [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-linkedin], Bluesky [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-bluesky] 🎙️ HOSTS Julie Turner [https://julieturner.net/me] Andrew Connell: LinkedIn [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-linkedin], YouTube [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-youtube], Bluesky [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-bluesky], Newsletter [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-newsletter] SPONSORS Sympraxis [https://www.sympraxisconsulting.com/] (by Julie Turner) 🔗 Ask Sympraxis [https://symp.info/asksympraxis] 🔗 YouTube [https://symp.info/youtube] Voitanos [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos] (by Andrew Connell) 🔗 LinkedIn [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-linkedin] 🔗 Bluesky [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-bluesky] Music Credit: Ken Bagley

029 | Inside PnPjs: Open Source at Enterprise Scale with the Library Maintainers

In this episode, Andrew and Julie sit down with Beau Cameron and Patrick Rodgers, two of the core maintainers of PnPjs, for the podcast's first guest interview. PnPjs is a client-side TypeScript library that wraps both the SharePoint REST and Microsoft Graph APIs into a fluent, developer-friendly interface. With 38,000 tenants relying on the library and handling roughly 38 billion requests per month, PnPjs has become one of the most mission-critical open source projects in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The conversation digs into the real challenges of maintaining a library at that scale, including architectural decisions like the elegant Timeline design, controversial API choices around URI escaping and the Pages API, and what it means to be responsible stewards of an open source project by refusing to wrap unsupported or reverse-engineered endpoints. You'll also get a peek at what's coming in v5, which Beau and Patrick describe as a maintenance-focused release aimed at improving code coverage, test execution, and expanding Microsoft Graph API coverage. The hardest part of maintaining PnPjs isn't the code itself, it's maintaining trust. Beau, Patrick, and Julie explore the tough decisions they've had to make as maintainers, from dropping support for legacy v2.1 endpoints to pushing back against shipping features that don't quite work right. Whether it's understanding the design tradeoffs baked into the Timeline architecture, wrestling with the extensibility of behaviors and virtual events, or grappling with the consequences of being used at such massive scale, this episode offers genuine insight into what it takes to steward a library that countless developers depend on every single day. 🔗 LINKS ================================================= 🔗 NASA Artemis II Mission [https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/] 🔗 Two Outlook Instances Running on Artemis [https://bsky.app/profile/nikigrayson.com/post/3miik2wzosk25] 🔗 PnPjs GitHub Repository [https://github.com/pnp/pnpjs] 🔗 PnPjs Documentation [https://pnp.github.io/pnpjs/] 🎁 Picks ================================================= Patrick's Pick(s): 🔗 De Buyer Mineral B Carbon Steel Fry Pan [https://www.amazon.com/Buyer-MINERAL-Carbon-Steel-Fry/dp/B00462QP0C/] Beau's Pick(s): 🔗 Colorado Fruit Farmers Revive Heirloom Apple Orchards [https://www.cpr.org/2025/10/01/colorado-fruit-farmers-heirloom-apple-orchards/] Andrew's Pick(s): 🔗 Claude Code Unpacked [https://ccunpacked.dev/] Julie's Pick(s): 🔗 SP Rest Explorer by Sergei Sergeev [https://s-kainet.github.io/sp-rest-explorer/#/] 🎙️ PODCAST 🔗 https://codedeploygo.live [https://codedeploygo.live/], LinkedIn [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-linkedin], Bluesky [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-bluesky] 🎙️ HOSTS Julie Turner [https://julieturner.net/me] Andrew Connell: LinkedIn [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-linkedin], YouTube [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-youtube], Bluesky [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-bluesky], Newsletter [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-newsletter] 🎙️ GUESTS Patrick Rodgers: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-rodgers-b6a05610/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/patrickrodgers.com] Beau Cameron: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/beau-cameron], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/beaucameron.com], Site [https://beaucameron.com/] SPONSORS Sympraxis [https://www.sympraxisconsulting.com/] (by Julie Turner) 🔗 Ask Sympraxis [https://symp.info/asksympraxis] 🔗 YouTube [https://symp.info/youtube] Voitanos [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos] (by Andrew Connell) 🔗 LinkedIn [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-linkedin] 🔗 Bluesky [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-bluesky] Music Credit: Ken Bagley

028 | Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit v6.6.0 Release Review

In this episode, Andrew and Julie dive deep into the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit (ATK) version 6.6.0 release, exploring the latest features and changes for building declarative agents. Andrew walks through the new embedded knowledge functionality that allows developers to include knowledge directly within agents without requiring separate SharePoint uploads, and he shares insights on improvements to actions and plugins. The conversation also covers significant template changes in the toolkit, including what was removed and what's new, along with some frustrations about missed opportunities in how Microsoft is presenting this powerful toolkit to developers. Andrew reflects on why the embedded knowledge feature is such a game-changer for agent development, discusses the practical implications of template changes on developer learning and onboarding, and explores the broader ecosystem of plugins and skills that are enabling more sophisticated agent deployments. 🔗 LINKS ================================================= AC's Webinars: 🔗 Microsoft 365 Copilot - Evaluate Your Agent Options [https://www.voitanos.io/webinars/microsoft-365-copilot-evaluate-your-agent-options-20260408/] 🔗 Microsoft 365 Copilot - Developer's Guide to Declarative Agents [https://www.voitanos.io/webinars/microsoft-365-copilot-developers-guide-declarative-agents-20260415/] 🔗 Microsoft 365 AI-Assisted Development [https://www.voitanos.io/webinars/microsoft-365-ai-assisted-development-20260407/] SharePoint Framework Issues: 🔗 debugManifest stopped working today [https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-dev-docs/issues/10715] 🔗 SPFx Application Customizers getting "wrong" top placeholder in production [https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-dev-docs/issues/10642] 🔗 SPFx Field & ListForm Customizers not loading from local dev [https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-dev-docs/issues/10607] AC's Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit (ATK) v6.6 review 🔗 Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit v6.6.0 Release Review [https://www.voitanos.io/blog/microsoft-365-agents-toolkit-v6-6-0-release-review/] 🎁 Picks ================================================= Andrew's Pick(s) 🔗 Skills.sh [https://skills.sh/] Julie's Pick(s): 🔗 The Infinite Game, by Simon Sinek [https://a.co/d/019kkRP3] 🎙️ PODCAST 🔗 https://codedeploygo.live [https://codedeploygo.live/], LinkedIn [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-linkedin], Bluesky [https://aka.codedeploygo.live/yt-bluesky] 🎙️ HOSTS Julie Turner [https://julieturner.net/me] Andrew Connell: LinkedIn [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-linkedin], YouTube [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-youtube], Bluesky [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-bluesky], Newsletter [https://aconn.me/pod-cdlg-ac-newsletter] SPONSORS Sympraxis [https://www.sympraxisconsulting.com/] (by Julie Turner) 🔗 Ask Sympraxis [https://symp.info/asksympraxis] 🔗 YouTube [https://symp.info/youtube] Voitanos [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos] (by Andrew Connell) 🔗 LinkedIn [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-linkedin] 🔗 Bluesky [https://vtns.io/pod-cdlg-voitanos-bluesky] Music Credit: Ken Bagley