Microsoft Scout

Microsoft Scout is a desktop AI application for Windows and macOS that takes action on your behalf. It reads and writes files, runs shell commands, controls a browser, queries your Microsoft 365 data and works autonomously in the background. Launched on 2 June 2026, it is Microsoft's entry into the personal agent category. You describe what you need in a chat conversation and Scout carries out the work, with your approval before sensitive actions.

Scout combines local and cloud capability in a single desktop application. It edits and searches documents in your workspace, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and code files. It executes shell commands, builds, tests and scripts under a three-tier permission system. It automates browsers, navigating pages, filling forms and interacting with web applications. And it connects to Microsoft 365, working with Outlook mail, calendar and inbox rules, Teams chats, channels, presence, meeting transcripts and room booking, Microsoft To Do, SharePoint Lists, and OneDrive and SharePoint files, including sharing them with named people. It asks for approval before it changes shared information. It can also delegate complex work to sub-agents that run in parallel, and it remembers preferences and context across conversations. Two background modes run unattended: Heartbeat performs periodic check-ins every 15 to 120 minutes, and Automations run on a schedule or a trigger.

Integration depth is unusual for a personal agent because most of it is local. Scout acts as a Model Context Protocol client, connecting out to tool servers such as filesystem, playwright and WorkIQ, and administrators can disable individual tool servers or permission kinds through Group Policy. Scout does not publish an MCP server of its own. It processes prompts and content through GitHub Copilot and inherits its model catalog, so the models available are whichever ones an administrator has enabled, spanning Microsoft and third-party providers including open-source models.

Pricing: Microsoft Scout is a preview feature and Microsoft publishes no price for it. Every user needs two paid licenses. The first is a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, from $21/mo billed annually per user on the Business plan for smaller organizations or $30 per user per month paid yearly on enterprise plans. The second is a GitHub Copilot Business or Enterprise seat, at $19 and $39 per user per month, because Scout runs on the GitHub Copilot app and bills token usage through the user's GitHub account. Access also requires two administrator gates. An administrator turns on Copilot Frontier for the organization in the Microsoft 365 admin center, then enables the app on user devices through an Intune policy and an admin attestation. A GitHub Copilot license alone does not grant Frontier access, and Frontier access does not work without one. Usage-based costs for Frontier features are billed through Copilot Credits and vary by feature, role and subscription. Microsoft 365 E7, at $99 per user per month paid yearly, includes Microsoft 365 Copilot and so covers the first license, but it does not include the GitHub Copilot seat.

Microsoft Scout is built for organizations already licensed for Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot Business or Enterprise, where an administrator completes both access gates, so individuals cannot obtain it on their own. It is prerelease software, and Microsoft states that preview features may have restricted functionality and may not be released for general availability. Scout runs on the user's own machine and acts on local files and the shell rather than in the cloud. People who want a personal agent they can buy directly should look at Gemini Spark, and people who want an agent that plans and runs work across Facebook, Instagram and Meta's other apps should look at Meta Muse.

Current state Q4 2026: Microsoft Scout remains a Frontier preview and its documentation is marked prerelease. The July and August 2026 releases added Microsoft To Do, Teams meeting transcripts and room booking, SharePoint Lists, Outlook inbox rules, file sharing, sign-in with GitHub Enterprise Cloud, per-message model and reasoning controls, and access to folders outside the workspace once a user grants it. Availability is determined by Frontier enrollment rather than by a country list, dangerous shell commands are blocked by default, and Microsoft does not validate custom skills that users create. On September 25, 2026 Microsoft announced that Scout is becoming Autopilot, a cloud-hosted agent with its own identity, memory, computer and workspace in the customer's tenant. Autopilot expands to private preview at the end of September 2026 and is billed in Copilot Credits.