Troubleshooting and governance
1. Troubleshooting and governance
Last lesson showed where to look when something goes wrong. This time we fix a flow that won't publish, then look at how to hand a healthy agent to the next person.2. The scenario
You've inherited an onboarding flow from a colleague who moved teams. It won't publish, so the agent can't call it, and new hires need it by end of day. Checking every step by hand would take hours.3. Publishing checks the flow
Instead, let Copilot Studio do the looking. Open agent flows from Workflows, then the arrow beside New workflow, then Agent flows. Publishing runs a validation pass first, so an incomplete flow is refused, and the Flow checker opens to tell you why.4. Find the flagged step
In our flow, a red banner across the canvas names the step and field that failed, and that step carries an Invalid parameters badge. Every other step looks normal, which is why guessing takes so long.5. Read what the checker says
The Flow checker's Errors tab lists every error. Ours names one step, Run a prompt, and one field: Input Text is required. That's where the fix starts, and Open operation jumps straight to the step.6. The three usual suspects
What you read is usually one of three things: an incorrect variable reference that pulls an empty value, a misconfigured condition that sends every input down one path, or a connection problem, where a step can't sign in. An empty required field is the simplest misconfiguration, and the checker catches it before the flow runs.7. Fill the missing field
Our error is an empty Input Text field on the Run a prompt step, which uses the prebuilt AI Reply prompt. Open the step and fill it in. The red asterisk beside it marks it as required.8. Publish again and confirm
Now check that the fix worked. Publish again, and a green banner reads, Your agent flow was published. The Test button is no longer grayed out, and test runs don't consume capacity.9. When you move on
The flow publishes now. But what happens to this agent when you move on? If only one person understands it, the team is stuck when that person leaves. Governance is the set of habits that prevents that.10. Ownership shouldn't be one person
Let's start with ownership. If the agent is owned by your personal account and authenticated as you, it breaks the day your account does. Add the receiving team as co-owners, and reconnect under a shared or service account.11. Write down what only you know
Then write down what's in your head: what the agent is for, which permissions and connections it relies on, and how the flow is configured. That short doc lets the operations team maintain the agent rather than rebuild it.12. Let's practice!
Now it's your turn: let the Flow checker find a broken step, fix it and publish cleanly, then sort what a safe handoff needs.Create Your Free Account
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