Work IQ API¶
Work IQ is the intelligence layer that grounds Microsoft 365 Copilot responses in an organisation's actual work data. In Microsoft's own description it is the "brain behind Copilot" — a three-layer stack of data, context, and skills/tools that runs underneath every Copilot response and agentic workflow (Microsoft, Mar 2026). The Work IQ API reached public preview on April 30, 2026, exposing that intelligence layer directly to developers so that custom agents and applications can draw on Copilot's permission-aware grounding without wiring raw M365 data sources themselves (Microsoft Copilot Studio Blog, 2026-04-30).
Three-Layer Architecture¶
Work IQ is structured as three tightly integrated layers:
Data — secure access to unstructured work data (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Exchange emails) and structured business data (Dynamics 365, Power Apps via Dataverse). External systems connect via Copilot Connectors; over 1,000 pre-built connectors are available or organisations can build custom ones. Broad Dataverse access across all M365 Copilot experiences is expected in Summer 2026.
Context — semantic understanding built on top of raw data: who collaborates with whom, which projects matter, communication velocity, work patterns, and collaboration relationships. This includes two forms of memory. Explicit memory is user-provided instructions ("respond in active tense"). Implicit memory is context accumulated from conversational history — projects seen, important relationships, and preferences inferred over time.
Skills and Tools — concrete actions AI can take: generating file types, triggering workflow automation, scheduling meetings, and sending messages. These are exercised once data and context have established what the task is.
All three layers are injected into every prompt before reasoning. This is what enables a vague prompt like "What did Daichi say about the solar promo timelines this week?" to resolve correctly to a specific Teams message without the user supplying a file path or timestamp.
API Access Formats¶
The public preview API exposes Work IQ intelligence in three formats:
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| A2A (Agent-to-Agent) | Agent-to-agent collaboration — any A2A-compliant agent can call Work IQ as a remote agent |
| MCP (Model Context Protocol) | IDE and tool integrations — wire Work IQ as an MCP server in VS Code Copilot, Claude Code, or similar |
| REST | Standard HTTP access from any language or framework using OAuth 2.0 |
The A2A format is the integration point with the A2A protocol standard. An agent built on Azure Foundry, LangGraph, or any A2A-compliant framework can delegate work to Work IQ as a remote A2A agent, receiving permission-aware M365 context without holding M365 credentials directly. The MCP format lets IDE-native tools and CLI agents query Work IQ as a tool server. The REST format follows standard delegated-permissions patterns.
Developer Proposition: No Raw Data Wiring¶
The core proposition is that Work IQ abstracts the data layer. Without it, a developer building an agent that needs email context must implement an Exchange connector, manage token refresh, handle pagination, enforce the user's permissions model, and parse mail format. Work IQ handles all of that, exposing processed, permission-scoped intelligence instead of raw API responses. This maps directly onto the [[copilot-cowork]] architecture, where Work IQ grounding is the shared foundation for Cowork's multi-step agentic workflows.
For Copilot Studio agents, Work IQ integration is available by default — the same context layer that powers M365 Copilot Chat is available to custom studio agents. The Work IQ MCP tools (Mail, Teams, Calendar) are also available as individual tool additions, enabling agents to take real actions (draft and send emails, schedule meetings) rather than only answer questions.
Limitations¶
The Work IQ API is in public preview as of April 30, 2026, and carries standard preview caveats (API shapes may change, SLAs do not apply). Dataverse integration was announced for Summer 2026 and is not yet broadly available. The March 2026 background post noted that MCP and A2A access formats were future items, so availability may be in partial rollout at the time of tenant activation — check aka.ms/WorkIQ for current status.
Changelog¶
2026-05-19 — Page created from three B-tier sources: Copilot Studio Blog (Apr 30 2026), Microsoft 365 Copilot Blog (Mar 9 2026), Microsoft Mechanics Blog (May 14 2026). Confidence 82. Topics: Work IQ API public preview, three-layer architecture, A2A/MCP/REST formats.