The problem
You export a Copilot Studio agent in a solution, import it as managed into the next environment, and it fails at publish, or it imports fine but tools don’t work.
Why
- Tool-backed flows are referenced inside YAML text. The dependency engine can’t see them, so “add required components” silently leaves them out.
- Topic-to-flow link records added later can be missing too. A managed import then fails at publish.
- Export tooling can report success without writing the file. Seriously.
My pre-export checklist
- Check the export file’s timestamp and size. Don’t trust the success message.
- Open the ZIP and confirm every flow and every topic-to-flow link is present.
- Compare component counts against the source environment.
- Search the package for plaintext secrets before it leaves the building.
Takeaway
For agents, a solution export is a build artifact. Verify it like one.