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"No GPT component found for connected agent" when your agent calls another agent

Mitigatedsince 8 July 2026

Last verified

Details & related

Assessment

Confidence
Confirmed officialConfirmed by Microsoft documentation or an official statement.
Severity
Blocking
Typical time lost
Minutes

Identification

ToolsOrchestrationAll channels

Verification & changes

  1. Verified

    Doc check by human: Error reference and connected-agents doc re-read during seed migration; error string, cause and republish fix are still documented.

  2. Change

    Provisionally approved by the Product Owner; external LLM quality review pending.

  3. Change

    Initial record created from the seed dossier (migration wave 1).

Related

Are you in the right place?

  • Your main agent calls a connected agent and the call fails.
  • The error message reads: "No GPT component found for connected agent".
  • The connected agent works fine when you test it on its own.
  • The connected agent's description or instructions are empty, or were never published.

If instead the main agent picks the wrong agent or tool → see Agent picks the wrong tool. If instead your agent leaves a topic mid-question → see Topic exits mid-question. If instead a Fabric data agent does not respond as expected → separate limitations (record planned).

What's happening

A connected agent is a tool from the main agent's point of view. The orchestrator can only call it through its published metadata: name, description, instructions. When description or instructions are missing, there is no "GPT component" to call — hence the error. The published copy matters, not what you see in the editor. If you added instructions but never republished, the main agent still sees the empty version. Picture ordering from a restaurant whose menu page is blank: the kitchen may be excellent, but nothing can be ordered. The fix is configuration on the connected agent, followed by a republish of that agent (documented as of 2026-07-08).

For technicians

The error reference names the missing description/instructions cause explicitly and prescribes configure-then-republish. Related multi-agent limits apply (documented as of 2026-07-08). An agent cannot be a main agent and a connected agent of another main agent simultaneously. Multi-level agent chaining is unsupported; hierarchies must stay flat.

How to fix it

Solution 1

Official fix

Configure the connected agent, then republish it

  1. Open the connected agent itself in Copilot Studio — not the main agent.
  2. Check its "Description"; write one if it is empty.
  3. Check its "Instructions"; add them if they are missing.
  4. Select "Publish" on the connected agent and confirm.

✅ You should now see: a publish confirmation with a fresh timestamp on the connected agent.

  1. Return to the main agent.
  2. Retest the request that failed.

✅ You should now see: the main agent calls the connected agent without the error.

Check that it worked

Ask the main agent a question that must route to the connected agent, in the published channel. Expected: the connected agent's answer arrives, and "No GPT component found for connected agent" no longer appears.

If it didn't work

  • The republish has not propagated. Publishing updates channels asynchronously. See Teams answers with an old version — propagation delay is suspect number one.
  • You published the main agent instead. The fix lives on the connected agent. Verify the publish timestamp on the connected agent itself.
  • The description exists but says nothing. A one-word description can still route badly. Write it like function documentation → see Agent picks the wrong tool.
  • The hierarchy breaks a documented limit. Agents cannot chain over multiple levels. Flatten to one main agent with directly connected agents.

Prevent it next time

  • Run a connected-agent checklist before every go-live: description written, instructions written, agent published.
  • Treat every connected-agent change like a release: change, publish, retest from the main agent.

Evidence

  • Official documentationlearn.microsoft.com

    The error reference documents 'No GPT component found for connected agent' with missing description or instructions as the cause and republishing as the fix.

  • Official documentationlearn.microsoft.com

    The connected-agents documentation requires descriptions and instructions and lists the multi-agent limitations, including the chaining ban.