
This is a known limitation of the Teams connector runtime inside Copilot Studio. The "Get Messages" action often fails with SystemError even when permissions are correct. Common causes:
1. Channel type matters
Copilot Studio struggles to retrieve messages from Private or Shared channels. Make sure you're targeting a Standard channel.
2. Payload too large
If the channel has many messages (or messages with rich content like Adaptive Cards, Loop components, meeting system messages), the response payload exceeds the connector's internal limit and throws a SystemError.
3. Quick test
Create a new Standard channel with just a few plain-text messages and point your tool there. If it works, the issue is payload size or unsupported message types in your original channel.
4. Recommended workaround
The most reliable approach is to bypass the native connector and use a Power Automate flow as a tool instead. The flow calls Microsoft Graph API directly, lets you filter/paginate messages, strip unsupported content, and return clean data back to your agent. This gives you full control over error handling and payload size.
5. For debugging
Try running the same "Get Messages" action in a Power Automate flow (outside Copilot Studio). If it works there, the issue is confirmed to be in the Copilot Studio connector runtime layer, which currently doesn't expose detailed diagnostics.
Hope this helps!
Paolo
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