At Build 2025, we introduced the Microsoft 365 Copilot APIs to help developers bring grounded AI into their solutions without rebuilding indexes or compromising security. The response has been encouraging, and your feedback continues to guide the direction of the platform.  

Customers are asking for deeper retrieval, better search, and simpler ways to generate answers that honor permissions and context. This Ignite 2025 roadmap update expands the Copilot API surface with new capabilities that make grounded AI more accessible, more reliable, and easier to integrate within the Microsoft 365 trust boundary. 

Retrieval API is now generally available 

The Retrieval API is now generally available with improvements that strengthen grounding quality and broaden coverage across Microsoft 365 content. These changes reflect feedback from teams building RAG workflows and agents that depend on accurate, secure, and up-to-date context. The Retrieval API will also be available through Microsoft Foundry in preview, giving developers a new entry point for building enterprise grade RAG systems.  

 Key improvements and additions: 

• OneDrive support alongside SharePoint for permission trimmed context 

• Relevance scores for every extract to help with ranking and orchestration 

• New dataSourceConfiguration object for targeting specific Copilot connectors 

• Text extraction from tables, improving grounding for structured information 

These updates make the Retrieval API a stronger and more flexible foundation for enterprise RAG scenarios and grounded AI experiences. To learn more, visit the latest developer documentation. 

Chat API now in public preview 

The Chat API is now in public preview and provides a straightforward way to add conversational intelligence to your applications. It offers a secure and compliant path to bring Microsoft 365 Copilot into your generative AI solutions. You do not need to export data, weaken permissions, or maintain custom vector indexes or orchestration layers. Your applications can hand prompts to the Chat API and receive synthesized answers grounded in web and work data. 

The Chat API will also be available through the Agent 365 MCP Servers in preview. This expands the surface for developers building orchestrated agents that integrate directly with Microsoft 365 content and signals. 

Key capabilities and improvements: 

• Create and continue single or multi-turn conversations with Microsoft 365 Copilot 

• Streamed responses supported, including deltas during message generation 

• Responses include citations, attributions, and entity level annotations 

• Permission trimmed answers that follow Microsoft 365 security and compliance 

• contextualResources attaches OneDrive or SharePoint files or toggles web search 

• Improved handling of gateway timeouts for long running requests 

• Improved latency for the non-streaming chat endpoint 

These capabilities help developers build secure, high quality conversational experiences grounded in Microsoft 365 content and controls. To learn more, visit the latest developer documentation. 

Search API now in public preview 

We are also introducing the Copilot Search API in public preview. This API provides a hybrid (semantic and lexical) search endpoint for OneDrive, giving developers a powerful way to deliver relevant results fast without managing a separate search infrastructure. 

The Search API is also enabling semantic search in Windows for Copilot+ PC users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. This brings richer, more relevant file discovery directly into the Windows experience and connects desktop workflows to the same semantic index that powers Microsoft 365 Copilot. 

Key capabilities and additions 

• Hybrid semantic and lexical search across OneDrive for work or school 

• Natural language queries that understand user intent and context 

• Ranked document results that help users find relevant content fast 

• Results include file links, previews, and optional metadata 

• Path based filtering using KQL to scope searches to specific folders 

• Personalization based on a working set of OneDrive content 

• Support for paging and configurable pageSize up to 100 results 

• Support for batching up to 20 search requests in one call 

These capabilities let you build intelligent document discovery and search experiences without creating your own index. To learn more, visit the latest developer documentation. 

Real-world Impact: What’s Possible with Copilot APIs

SAP is using Copilot APIs to power a direct integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot, allowing users to work seamlessly inside SAP business applications. Integrated with SAP Joule on SuccessFactors, Joule and M365 Copilot bring approvals, requests, and insights into one conversational workflow — making tasks faster, smarter, and more connected.

Miro is leveraging Copilot APIs to elevate its product experience. Using the Chat API, Miro brings grounded Microsoft 365 context directly into its canvas — enabling users to create sticky notes with citations, build flows, and more. This integration accelerates decision-making and keeps collaboration anchored in organizational context.

Miro is using Copilot APIs to enhance user experience

Koch: “The Copilot Chat, Search and Retrieval APIs help make our M365 ecosystem more open and extensible, giving us the additional confidence we needed to develop a more robust, long-term strategy around M365 and its possibilities.” — John Prytulka, Senior Enterprise Architect, Koch

Mercedes-Benz: “When we first explored the Copilot Chat API, our goal was clear: elevate in-car productivity without compromising safety. By integrating it directly into our existing productivity apps, we’re enabling drivers to interact more naturally, fluidly, and hands-free with the information they need. This AI-powered experience unlocks a new level of productivity in the car — one that feels intuitive, responsive, and truly helpful while driving.” —  Konstantin Singer, Mercedes-Benz

Moveworks: “We’re excited to integrate with Microsoft’s Copilot Chat APIs to bring even more seamless search and automation to the workforces of our mutual customers. With this integration, employees can invoke Microsoft 365 Copilot from within the Moveworks AI Assistant to find information and complete workflows end to end.” — Dave Uppal, VP Ecosystem, Moveworks

Petrobras: “As a customer who is heavily invested in Microsoft’s storage, SharePoint Online and OneDrive, the main benefit of the Retrieval API is relieving us of the weight of managing content indexing. With the Retrieval API, we can maintain our own post-processing flows and create agents while still being able to access raw content and leverage it through the gen AI platform of our choice.” — João Gabriel Moura Campos, Data Scientist, Petrobras

Templafy: “Using Templafy’s document agents, organizations can securely and seamlessly produce business-critical documents directly within Microsoft 365. By leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot Retrieval API, they can now effortlessly merge their data with Templafy-managed assets to create context-aware, AI-generated documents, ensuring confidence in both quality and accuracy.” — Oskar Konstantyner, Chief Product Officer, Templafy

WPP: “At WPP, we worked closely with Microsoft to integrate the new Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat API into our marketing platform, WPP Open.  This integration allows our AI agents to tap into Copilot’s chat capabilities and leverage grounding information such as SharePoint content, calendars, and chat conversations—making WPP Open more relevant and personalized to our people and the way our businesses operate” — Jim Mellor, Enterprise Architect, WPP

What’s next 

These updates represent a significant step forward for the Copilot API platform. With the Retrieval API now generally available and the Chat and Search APIs in public preview, developers have a broader and more reliable set of capabilities for retrieval, conversation, and semantic discovery. All active endpoints are now covered under the Microsoft 365 Copilot APIs Terms of Use, giving developers clearer expectations, stronger guardrails, and a consistent path to adoption.

Integration with the Microsoft 365 Copilot APIs is streamlined through the availability of official client libraries for .NET, Python, and TypeScript. Developers interested in leveraging these libraries can find more information at Microsoft 365 Copilot APIs Client Libraries.

And these APIs are part of a broader vision: Work IQ, the intelligence layer behind Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents. Work IQ helps Copilot understand you, your job, and your company — combining your work data, memory, and inference to deliver context-aware experiences. Every Copilot API update strengthens this foundation, making it easier for developers to build solutions that respect permissions, leverage organizational knowledge, and deliver personalized answers.

Below is a look at what is coming soon:

These capabilities will roll out in stages as we work toward a more complete Copilot extensibility surface that aligns with how people search, retrieve, and create content across Microsoft 365. 

We are grateful to the preview customers and partners who shared feedback, tested early scenarios, and helped refine these APIs. Your insights have directly shaped the quality and usability of the platform. We invite you to explore these APIs, try them in your tenant, and continue sharing feedback as we build the next wave of grounded AI experiences together.

Join us at Ignite to learn more about Microsoft 365 Copilot APIs and all the powerful capabilities our platform offers for developers. Checkout BRK319 Build Agents for Copilot with the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit and discover how to build the AI apps and agents that are shaping the way people work.

We are excited to see what you create.