SKILL: Creating Agent Users in Microsoft Entra Agent ID

Overview

An agent user is a specialized user identity in Microsoft Entra ID that enables AI agents to act as digital workers. It allows agents to access APIs and services that strictly require user identities (e.g., Exchange mailboxes, Teams, org charts), while maintaining appropriate security boundaries.

Agent users receive tokens with

idtyp=user

idtyp=app

Prerequisites

• A Microsoft Entra tenant with Agent ID capabilities
• An agent identity (service principal of type

  ServiceIdentity

  ) created from an agent identity blueprint
• One of the following permissions:

  • AgentIdUser.ReadWrite.IdentityParentedBy

    (least privileged)

  • AgentIdUser.ReadWrite.All

  • User.ReadWrite.All

• The caller must have at minimum the Agent ID Administrator role (in delegated scenarios)

Important: The

identityParentId

must reference a true agent identity (created via an agent identity blueprint), NOT a regular application service principal. You can verify by checking that the service principal has

@odata.type: #microsoft.graph.agentIdentity

and

servicePrincipalType: ServiceIdentity

.

Architecture

Agent Identity Blueprint (application template)
    │
    ├── Agent Identity (service principal - ServiceIdentity)
    │       │
    │       └── Agent User (user - agentUser) ← 1:1 relationship
    │
    └── Agent Identity Blueprint Principal (service principal in tenant)

idtyp=app

agentUser

idtyp=user

Step 1: Verify the Agent Identity Exists

Before creating an agent user, confirm the agent identity is a proper

agentIdentity

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/servicePrincipals/{agent-identity-id}
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Verify the response contains:

{
  "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.agentIdentity",
  "servicePrincipalType": "ServiceIdentity",
  "agentIdentityBlueprintId": "<blueprint-id>"
}

PowerShell

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Application.Read.All" -TenantId "<tenant>" -UseDeviceCode -NoWelcome
Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method GET `
  -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/servicePrincipals/<agent-identity-id>" | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3

Common mistake: Using an app registration's

appId

or a regular application service principal's

id

will fail. Only agent identities created from blueprints work.

Step 2: Create the Agent User

HTTP Request

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/microsoft.graph.agentUser
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>

{
  "accountEnabled": true,
  "displayName": "My Agent User",
  "mailNickname": "my-agent-user",
  "userPrincipalName": "my-agent-user@yourtenant.onmicrosoft.com",
  "identityParentId": "<agent-identity-object-id>"
}

Required Properties

accountEnabled

true

displayName

mailNickname

userPrincipalName

alias@verified-domain

identityParentId

PowerShell

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.ReadWrite.All" -TenantId "<tenant>" -UseDeviceCode -NoWelcome

$body = @{
  accountEnabled    = $true
  displayName       = "My Agent User"
  mailNickname      = "my-agent-user"
  userPrincipalName = "my-agent-user@yourtenant.onmicrosoft.com"
  identityParentId  = "<agent-identity-object-id>"
} | ConvertTo-Json

Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method POST `
  -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/microsoft.graph.agentUser" `
  -Body $body -ContentType "application/json" | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3

Key Notes

• No password — agent users cannot have passwords. They authenticate via their parent agent identity's credentials.
• 1:1 relationship — each agent identity can have at most one agent user. Attempting to create a second returns

  400 Bad Request

  .
• The

  userPrincipalName

  must be unique. Don't reuse an existing user's UPN.

Step 3: Assign a Manager (Optional)

Assigning a manager allows the agent user to appear in org charts (e.g., Teams).

PUT https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{agent-user-id}/manager/$ref
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>

{
  "@odata.id": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{manager-user-id}"
}

PowerShell

$managerBody = '{"@odata.id":"https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/<manager-user-id>"}'
Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method PUT `
  -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/<agent-user-id>/manager/`$ref" `
  -Body $managerBody -ContentType "application/json"

Step 4: Set Usage Location and Assign Licenses (Optional)

A license is needed for the agent user to have a mailbox, Teams presence, etc. Usage location must be set first.

Set Usage Location

PATCH https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{agent-user-id}
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>

{
  "usageLocation": "US"
}

List Available Licenses

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/subscribedSkus?$select=skuPartNumber,skuId,consumedUnits,prepaidUnits
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Requires

Organization.Read.All

Assign a License

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/{agent-user-id}/assignLicense
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <token>

{
  "addLicenses": [
    { "skuId": "<sku-id>" }
  ],
  "removeLicenses": []
}

PowerShell (all in one)

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.ReadWrite.All","Organization.Read.All" -TenantId "<tenant>" -NoWelcome

# Set usage location
Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method PATCH `
  -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/<agent-user-id>" `
  -Body '{"usageLocation":"US"}' -ContentType "application/json"

# Assign license
$licenseBody = '{"addLicenses":[{"skuId":"<sku-id>"}],"removeLicenses":[]}'
Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method POST `
  -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/users/<agent-user-id>/assignLicense" `
  -Body $licenseBody -ContentType "application/json"

Tip: You can also assign licenses via the Entra admin center under Identity → Users → All users → select the agent user → Licenses and apps.

Provisioning Times

Agent User Capabilities

• ✅ Added to Microsoft Entra groups (including dynamic groups)
• ✅ Access user-only APIs (

  idtyp=user

  tokens)
• ✅ Own a mailbox, calendar, and contacts
• ✅ Participate in Teams chats and channels
• ✅ Appear in org charts and People search
• ✅ Added to administrative units
• ✅ Assigned licenses

Agent User Security Constraints

• ❌ Cannot have passwords, passkeys, or interactive sign-in
• ❌ Cannot be assigned privileged admin roles
• ❌ Cannot be added to role-assignable groups
• ❌ Permissions similar to guest users by default
• ❌ Custom role assignment not available

Troubleshooting

Agent user IdentityParent does not exist

identityParentId

agentIdentity

400 Bad Request

409 Conflict

userPrincipalName

usageLocation

References

• Agent identities
• Agent users
• Agent service principals
• Create agent identity blueprint
• Create agent identities
• agentUser resource type (Graph API)
• Create agentUser (Graph API)