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Topic best practice

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Posted on by SK-01091159-0

Hey, I have created a custom topic in my Copilot Studio agent. The topic is structured as follows:

Trigger: when a response has been generated
Action: if the citation is empty, create a Planner task and end the topic
Action: refine the response and remove the citation
Action: if the call is automatic, respond by email
Action: if the call is via chat, respond in chat

Would you consider this topic too complex?

Thank you for your support

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Calling actions from Copilot Studio

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11manish 3,745 on at

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Based on your description, the topic is not excessively complex, and if it's working correctly, there's no immediate need to redesign it. However, from a solution architecture and long-term maintenance perspective, it's generally better to keep each topic focused on a single responsibility. Separating validation, response formatting, and channel-specific delivery into smaller, reusable components will make the solution easier to maintain, troubleshoot, and extend as your Copilot Studio agent evolves.

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SK-01091159-0 61 on at

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Thank you.

Can you please give a short overview how you will set up the architecture?

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trice602 16,409 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi there!

I wouldn't say the topic is too complex, but I would question whether a Topic is the best place for that logic.

In modern Copilot Studio, Topics are increasingly used for conversational scenarios, while post-processing actions such as checking citations, creating Planner tasks, and routing responses are often easier to manage in Agent Flows or Power Automate.

The channel-based branching (email vs. chat) is fine, but the citation validation and escalation workflow feels more like orchestration logic than conversational logic.

For maintainability, I'd consider moving the Planner/escalation portion outside the Topic and letting the agent focus on generating the response.

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Valantis 6,939 on at

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Hi @SK-01091159-0,

Here's a concrete architecture suggestion.

Split the current topic into three pieces:

1. Keep the "When a response has been generated" system topic as the entry point, but make it lightweight. Its only job: capture the response and citation, then call an Agent Flow.

2. Agent Flow (handles orchestration):
- Check if citation is empty → if yes, create Planner task and return a flag
- If citation exists, refine the response (strip citation formatting)
- Return the cleaned response + the empty-citation flag back to the agent

3. Back in the topic, two Send message nodes branching on channel:
- Check System.Channel or a variable you set from the flow output
- Email path → call the email action
- Chat path → respond in chat

This way the topic only handles what it should: conversation flow and channel routing. The validation and escalation logic lives in the flow where it's easier to debug, update, and reuse across other topics if needed.

The key principle: topics handle conversation, flows handle business logic.

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SK-01091159-0 61 on at

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Thank you. I find it very exciting to see what is possible with Agent Flows.

I have a few governance-related questions about this.

Should I create a trigger in the agent, or is it better to create an action in the Agent Flow and then use the “Run an agent” action?

Is it better to use many small Agent Flows, or one large flow with IF or Case branches?

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