Microsoft launches Copilot Managed Runtime public preview with SDK and CLI

Microsoft has announced a public preview of Copilot Managed Runtime, an enterprise hosting layer for running custom-built applications inside a Microsoft 365 tenant. The runtime sits underneath apps built in Copilot Cowork, Copilot Code, and Microsoft Copilot Studio, and is now opening up to third-party build tools through a new SDK and command-line interface.

With AI-assisted development, generating functioning code is easier than ever, but the work after code—cloud resource provisioning, identity configuration, data access policies, deployment, and lifecycle management—remains fragmented. Microsoft's answer is to fold that operational layer into the runtime itself. Apps deployed to the host use Microsoft Entra identity for access, inherit organizational policies governing connectors, data, and endpoints, and get versioning and deployment controls out of the box. The company operates the platform; tenant IT sets the guardrails.

For developers, the SDK and CLI cover the full lifecycle rather than just packaging finished apps. They can scaffold and configure projects, define data connections, generate typed TypeScript services for connectors, preview apps locally, and deploy through the same toolchain. Code remains Git-backed and editable, so a developer can pull an app created in Copilot Cowork down and extend it with familiar web technologies without standing up a separate runtime or governance stack.

The management side includes a new Apps experience in the Microsoft 365 admin center, a single inventory where administrators can review access, usage, health, and policy across apps regardless of which tool produced them. That addresses a practical problem: as the pool of people who can build applications expands, so does the operational surface IT has to track. A centralized inventory provides one view, and the runtime lets IT enable or disable apps and review default policies in a consistent place.

The company is also opening up to external tooling. Lan Roche, Head of Global Partnerships at Lovable, is quoted saying an app built with Lovable can now run inside a Microsoft tenant "the same way everything else does: same sign-in, same policies, same app inventory." Microsoft positions this as separating open build from managed run: teams choose whatever authoring experience fits, while IT gets a common operating layer.

What is not clear from the announcement is how this differs in practice from Microsoft's existing low-code runtime for Power Platform, and how the preview's policy enforcement holds up across heterogeneous third-party SDK integrations. The announcement also does not detail pricing or production support timelines. The separation of build and run is a sensible governance model on paper; its value depends on whether the runtime's identity and policy enforcement is genuinely consistent across all the build tools it claims to support.

The preview is available, with Copilot Cowork, Copilot Code, and Copilot Studio already wired in and SDK-based third-party apps supported. Administrators can start reviewing the default policies and controlling app visibility in the admin center. Whether the platform delivers on "same policies" for every tool remains to be tested by organizations actually running it.