If you’re part of the Microsoft Frontier program, you can now build apps with Copilot, Cowork, and soon also in Copilot Studio
Describe what you need and Cowork builds the application together with you. These applications can be shared with others in the organization and can be managed from the M365 Admin Center.
The applications basically have access to over 1500 connectors, from Power Platform I would think. This can be controlled by the administrator with Data Loss Prevention policies. This gives anyone with an M365 Copilot license and access to Cowork a platform to easily vibe-code applications with access to business data.
And in just a few days, this will also be available in Copilot Studio. Licenses for apps built in Copilot Cowork or Copilot Studio are consumption-based, that is, they are paid with Copilot Credits.
Applications you have built, and applications others have shared with you can be found in a new dashboard on https://managedapps.cloud.microsoft
Those who tested the Power Platform vibe coding tool at vibe.powerapps.com. This new functionality with apps i Copilot Cowork seems to take over. Vibe.powerapps.com never came out of preview. At least that’s my understanding based on the text on the page Overview of the new Power Apps vibe experience – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn
Governance
The apps vibe-coded from Copilot Cowork and soon Copilot Studio can be managed from the M365 Admin Center. A new section in the M365 Admin Center is for the administration and governance of Apps.
By default, Apps built in Cowork are automatically routed to the user’s personal Power Platform developer environment. This happens with so-called environment routing, if you have not already set up environment routing, it is now automatically turned on and an environment group is automatically created. This then applies to all users and redirects users to their own developer environment.
In an environment group, you can configure Routing. Routing connects to up to 5 Security Groups and determines who this group applies to. If you only have the Default Environment Group automatically created, it applies to all users and cannot be changed.
Under “Connectors and MCP servers, you can configure which connectors are available for apps that belong to this environment group.
The Sharing option allows you to decide who an application can be shared with, the entire organization or specific groups or users.
Under “Content security policy” you can control where the applications can be embedded and which sources the application can use resources such as scripts, images, stylesheets etc from.
Note that several of the settings in an environment group are controlled by Microsoft. If you choose to edit one of these settings, you take over responsibility for that settings as it will no longer receive automatic updates from Microsoft. So here it is good to think about what works best for you.
Cost Management
Apps built with Copilot Cowork, and soon Copilot Studio, do not require a Power Apps license, but are charged for usage, so-called pay-as-you-go and use Copilot credits.
This is set up in the M365 Admin Center in the same place as Cost Management for Copilot Cowork.
You can now add Managed Applications to a spending policy. See Microsoft Copilot Cowork – How to configure Cost Management for how to set up a spending policy.
Summary
This is probably definitely the new citizen developer way of building applications. It seems safe and familiar that the application runs on Power Platform and benefits from security and governance functionality from there.
From Copilot Studio, it becomes even more controlled for the more advanced users with control over which Power Platform environment you build the application in.
Two things I haven’t quite figured out yet: I can’t find the app in my developer environment. I might have thought it appeared there as a Code App, but it doesn’t show up under apps when I go to make.powerapps.com
And the other point I don’t have a complete overview of is the cost of running the application. If I build the application in Cowork, it uses Copilot Credits of the same spending policy that I use for other tasks in Cowork, but what about when the application runs and what about when it is run by others I have shared with, which Copilot credits does it use then? I expect that it then uses a spending policy where Managed Application is included, but I’m unsure how this works in detail.
More info
Review default governance settings for apps (Frontier) – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn
Usage-Based Billing and Cost Management for Copilot Credits | Microsoft Learn
Apps in Cowork overview for admins (Frontier) – Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn