Design patterns for nested (child) agents, connected agents, A2A collaboration, and MCP‑enabled autonomous agents

In this 60‑minute workshop, you'll learn how to design, compose, and operate multi‑agent solutions in Microsoft Copilot Studio. We'll walk through reference architectures, live demos, and guardrails that let you safely scale from a single copilot to a resilient multi‑agent topology — covering nested (child) agents, connected agents, Agent‑to‑Agent (A2A) messaging, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations.

What you’ll learn:
Multi‑Agent Architecture Fundamentals
How to model roles, capabilities, boundaries, and context across agents. Patterns for planner/executor, broker/worker, and supervisor/child topologies.

Nested (Child) Agents
When and how a parent agent spawns specialized child agents; lifecycle and termination; context scoping, memory sharing, and capability delegation. Practical guardrails for escalation, retries, and fallbacks.

Connected Agents
Connecting agents to data and actions through plugins/connectors (e.g., business systems, knowledge bases, workflows). Designing stable contracts (schema, intents, error shapes) and capability registries to keep connections manageable at scale.

Agent‑to‑Agent (A2A) Collaboration
Message patterns (request/response, async handoff, pub/sub), routing and arbitration, negotiation and role handover, and how to instrument traces for observability and root‑cause analysis.

MCP
How to leverage Model Context Protocol (MCP) to expose tools/resources to autonomous agents: capability discovery, permissioning, invocation, and result normalization. Safety strategies (bounded autonomy, human‑in‑the‑loop checkpoints, policy enforcement).

Governance & Safety
Data access boundaries, least‑privilege design, auditability, incident response playbooks, and rollout strategies that minimize risk while enabling innovation.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:
Design robust multi‑agent solutions with clear roles, contracts, and governance.
Implement nested and connected agent patterns that scale without losing control.
Enable A2A collaboration with traceable handoffs and measurable reliability.
Integrate MCP tools to expand agents' capabilities.
Apply testing and observability practices to reduce intervention and improve outcomes.

Target Audience:
Solution architects, developers, and technical leads building agents in Copilot Studio or scaling to multi‑agent systems and autonomous behaviors.

Level: Intermediate (with advanced design patterns).