Quick start guide (C#) (preview)

[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

Get started with Teams AI Library (v2) quickly using the Teams CLI.

Set up a new project

Prerequisites

• .NET v.8 or higher. Install or upgrade from dotnet.microsoft.com.

Instructions

Install the Teams CLI

Use your terminal to install the Teams CLI globally using npm:

npm install -g @microsoft/teams.cli@preview

Creating Your First Agent

Let's create a simple echo agent that responds to messages. Run:

teams new csharp quote-agent --template echo

This command:

1. Creates a new directory called Quote.Agent.
2. Bootstraps the echo agent template files into your project directory.
3. Creates your agent's manifest files, including a manifest.json file and placeholder icons in the Quote.Agent/appPackage directory. The Teams app manifest is required for sideloading the app into Teams.

The echo template creates a basic agent that repeats back any message it receives - perfect for learning the fundamentals.

Running your agent

Navigate to your new agent's directory:

cd Quote.Agent/Quote.Agent

Install the dependencies:

dotnet restore

Start the development server:

dotnet run

In the console, you should see a similar output:

[INFO] Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime Now listening on: http://localhost:3978
[WARN] Echo.Microsoft.Teams.Plugins.AspNetCore.DevTools ⚠️  Devtools are not secure and should not be used production environments ⚠️
[INFO] Echo.Microsoft.Teams.Plugins.AspNetCore.DevTools Available at http://localhost:3978/devtools
[INFO] Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
[INFO] Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime Hosting environment: Development

When the application starts, you'll see:

1. An http server starting up (on port 3978). This is the main server which handles incoming requests and serves the agent application.
2. A devtools server starting up. This is a developer server that provides a web interface for debugging and testing your agent quickly, without having to deploy it to Teams.

Let's navigate to the devtools server. Open your browser and head to http://localhost:3978/devtools. You should see a simple interface where you can interact with your agent. Send it a message!

Next steps

Now that you have your first agent running, learn about the code basics to understand its components and structure.

Otherwise, if you want to run your agent in Teams, check out the Running in Teams guide.

Resources

• Teams CLI documentation
• Teams DevTools documentation
• Teams manifest schema
• Teams sideloading