Microsoft: Teams Agents Should React, Not Reply
Microsoft published developer guidance on how AI agents should behave inside Microsoft Teams group chats and channels. Everything below comes from Microsoft's own developer blog post, dated August 13, 2026.
Transcript
Microsoft says a Teams agent should not answer every message with another message in the main channel.
In a post published today, Microsoft's own developer blog says agents joining Teams group chats need social judgment too. It names three features: emoji reactions, threaded replies, and quoted replies.
An agent can react with an eyes emoji to show it saw a request, then switch to a check mark when the work is done. Threaded replies keep discussion contained.
Quoted replies tie a late answer back to the original message. This is developer guidance, no product launch and no numbers. Microsoft says the best agents know when to answer.
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Sources
Every claim in this video comes from the top ranking coverage of this topic. The claims and where each one came from:
- Without them, an agent's default interaction model is simply another message in the conversation.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- Emoji reactions, threaded replies, and quoted replies are three key features of Teams conversations that agents can use to add value while keeping a conversation flowing.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- As agents join us in these spaces, they need to adopt the same kinds of behaviors.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- The agent can react with an eyes emoji right away to show it saw the request and is working on it. When the task is done, it can replace that with a check mark.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- In channels, a thread is often the right place to continue, keeping discussion contained instead of pulling the whole channel along.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- When it does, the quoted reply ties the response back to the original message, no matter where the conversation has gone.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)
- The best collaborative agents will not be the ones that respond the most, but the ones that know when and how to answer.(Microsoft 365 Developer Blog official post, Building Agents for Teams: Managing the noise of collaboration)