Microsoft is expanding Copilot beyond chat and agents into building business apps.
The company introduced a new capability in Copilot Cowork and Copilot Studio that lets users describe in natural language the tool or process they want, and the system generates an initial app version that can be modified further through conversation.
This does not mean every employee instantly becomes a software developer.
But it does mark an important shift: Microsoft wants Copilot to be not only an assistant working inside existing apps, but a tool building new apps too.
How it works
In Copilot Cowork, the capability is available through a skill called /app.
Users can describe:
- Who will use the app
- Which information it needs
- Which actions it needs to perform
- The desired business outcome
Copilot creates an initial app structure that can be updated and refined through conversation.
In Copilot Studio, Microsoft announced that app building is opening in public preview.
You can see the code too
One interesting point is that the system is not supposed to be a complete "black box".
Users can see an app preview and examine the generated code.
The system also uses Git-based version control and different deployment stages.
In other words, Microsoft is trying to connect a no-code or low-code experience with a more structured development process.
Apps can connect to organizational information
The apps can use connectors and Work IQ to work with information and systems within Microsoft 365.
This matters particularly in organizations already using:
- SharePoint
- Teams
- Microsoft 365
- Business systems connected through connectors
The potential advantage is that the app is created within the existing organizational identity, permissions and management environment.
Microsoft's advantage in this competition
Many tools today promise to "build an app from a sentence".
Microsoft enters this competition with a different advantage.
It already holds:
- Organizational identities
- Microsoft 365 information
- Management systems
- Connectors
- Copilot Studio
- And Power Platform infrastructure
The question is therefore not just whether Copilot can generate an attractive screen.
The more important question is whether it can build a useful tool connecting to real organizational information while staying within a framework of permissions and management.
The capability is still in Preview
Do not present the capability as fully available to every Copilot user.
In Cowork, access is through the Frontier program.
In Copilot Studio, it is a public preview.
Microsoft has not announced general availability (GA).
How much does it cost?
Microsoft says building and running apps are billed according to usage.
The announcement does not provide enough information for a simple price such as "an app costs X dollars".
Costs can vary according to:
- Model usage
- Tools
- Actions
- Information
- Number of runs
- And the Copilot Credits the system consumes.
What about Israel?
Microsoft has not published a specific exclusion for Israel.
But because this is a preview, actual availability may depend on:
- Tenant
- License
- Microsoft 365 environment
- Administrator permissions
- Access to the Frontier program
Do not therefore infer that the capability is available to every Israeli customer without checking the account.
What about Hebrew?
Microsoft supports Hebrew in Microsoft 365 Copilot generally.
The company also documents Hebrew for Microsoft 365 Agent Builder.
But at publication, Microsoft had not committed that the new app-building preview could create, test and adapt an entire app for Hebrew at the same quality.
This is a point worth testing in practice.
What Microsoft has not yet published
It remains unclear:
- When the capability will reach general availability
- How many Copilot Credits a typical app consumes
- How easy the generated code will be to maintain
- Which connectors are available in each region
- How good app building in Hebrew is
- And whether apps can be taken out of Microsoft's managed environment and run independently.