Overview ✨
Partners using the Liongard MCP integration through Microsoft Copilot may see the message “The agent is currently unavailable. It has reached its usage limit. Please try again later.” even when Liongard shows plenty of remaining AI credits. This usually means the Liongard side is healthy, but the Microsoft side has hit a licensing, credit, or environment usage limit.
Ref:
🔑 Key point: Liongard AI credits and Microsoft Copilot / Copilot Studio capacity are separate. Having Liongard credits remaining does not guarantee the Microsoft-hosted agent can continue serving requests.
What this means in practice
Liongard AI credits and Microsoft Copilot/Copilot Studio capacity are separate components of the overall AI experience, and availability on one side does not necessarily indicate availability on the other.
Liongard AI credits are used for Liongard-side AI functionality, including AI activity and MCP-backed query consumption.
Example :
Microsoft Copilot / Copilot Studio capacity controls whether the Microsoft-facing agent can execute, accept prompts, and facilitate the interaction with Liongard.
Example :
Because these resources are managed independently, an organization may have available Liongard AI credits while the Microsoft-facing experience is unavailable due to exhausted capacity, licensing requirements, tenant configuration, or environment-level limitations.
As a result, a usage-limit or capacity-related error presented through the Microsoft experience does not necessarily indicate that the Liongard AI credit allocation has been exhausted. The request may be prevented from reaching Liongard before Liongard-side credit consumption occurs.
This distinction is important when troubleshooting AI availability, as the point at which the request is being rejected should be determined before assuming the issue is related to Liongard AI credit usage.
Most likely root cause
A common cause of this behavior is that the Microsoft-facing experience is subject to a separate Microsoft credit or capacity pool, which may have been exhausted or may not be available under the organization's current licensing and billing configuration.
It is important to distinguish between agent access and how Microsoft funds the usage:
Agent access: End users generally do not require a dedicated Microsoft license simply to interact with a published agent.
Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing: For supported scenarios in Teams, SharePoint, or Copilot Chat, users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license may have their usage handled through the licensed experience rather than consuming Microsoft Copilot Credits.
Microsoft Copilot Credits: When users are not covered by the applicable Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing path, usage may instead consume Microsoft Copilot Credits through mechanisms such as pay-as-you-go billing or prepaid capacity.
Capacity and tenant configuration: Even when Liongard AI credits are available, the Microsoft-facing agent can still be unavailable if the applicable Microsoft capacity has been exhausted, billing is not configured, licensing requirements are not met, or tenant/environment limits have been reached.
Therefore, when a Microsoft-facing agent reports a usage or capacity limit while Liongard AI credits remain available, troubleshooting should focus first on the Microsoft licensing, credit, capacity, and tenant configuration rather than assuming that Liongard AI credits have been exhausted.
⚠️ Important: Per Liongard guidance, end users generally do not need a special Microsoft license just to interact with a published agent. However, what does change is how usage is funded. With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, usage in Teams, SharePoint, or Copilot Chat for supported answers is zero-rated. Without that license, usage draws from Microsoft Copilot Credits such as pay-as-you-go or prepaid packs.
How the two billing models work together
Component | What it controls | Why it matters here |
Liongard AI credits | Consumption on the Liongard side for AI-assisted answers and MCP-backed interactions | If these remain available, Liongard is still able to fulfill requests that reach it |
Microsoft Copilot / Copilot Studio credits or zero-rated licensed usage | The Microsoft-side ability to run and serve the published agent | If this pool is exhausted or unavailable, Microsoft stops the interaction before Liongard is called |
So if Liongard shows low usage, but Microsoft shows 0 credits or the agent reports a usage cap, the system can fail on the Microsoft side first.
Other possible causes besides exhausted Microsoft credits
Exhausted Microsoft credits are one possible cause of usage-limit errors, but similar behavior can result from several other Microsoft-side capacity, licensing, entitlement, or configuration conditions.
Shared tenant capacity: Microsoft Copilot Studio capacity may be shared across multiple agents or workloads within the tenant. Activity from other agents can therefore affect the capacity available to the affected agent.
User licensing differences: Users may have different Microsoft licensing assignments, which can affect how supported Copilot interactions are funded or metered.
Environment-level capacity or entitlement: The agent may be deployed in a Copilot Studio environment where the available capacity, billing configuration, or entitlement does not match the organization's expectations.
Trial or evaluation limitations: Trial or evaluation licensing can provide access for development and testing but may have restrictions on publishing, production usage, capacity, or supported channels.
Channel-specific requirements: Availability and usage behavior can vary depending on where the agent is published or accessed, such as Teams, SharePoint, or Copilot Chat. Each channel may have its own licensing, publishing, access, or capacity considerations.
Tenant or administrative configuration: Tenant-level policies, environment settings, billing configuration, or administrative restrictions may prevent the agent from processing requests even when capacity appears to be available elsewhere.
When troubleshooting a usage-limit error, these conditions should be evaluated alongside the available Microsoft and Liongard credit balances to determine where the request is being restricted and which capacity or entitlement is actually being consumed.
Recommended troubleshooting steps
1. Confirm Liongard-side status
1. Confirm Liongard-side status
Verify Liongard AI credit consumption in billing.
Navigate to : Your Name At Top Right Corner > Company Settings > UsageConfirm the MCP server is still configured and enabled.
Validate the bearer token used for the integration is still active.
Navigate to : Admin > AI Preferences > Access TokensCheck whether any Liongard-side errors appear during attempted use.
If Liongard credits remain available and no Liongard-side authentication issue exists, continue with Microsoft-side validation.
2. Confirm Microsoft licensing path
2. Confirm Microsoft licensing path
Determine whether the affected users have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
If yes, confirm the interaction path is one that Microsoft treats as zero-rated for supported answers.
If no, confirm whether the tenant has Copilot Credits, prepaid packs, or pay-as-you-go configured for agent usage.
Verify the agent is published with the correct paid license path. Liongard documentation notes that building may be possible with trial access, but publishing requires a paid Copilot Studio license path.
3. Check for shared pool depletion
3. Check for shared pool depletion
Review whether other Copilot Studio agents are active in the same Microsoft tenant.
Confirm whether those agents share the same Microsoft credit pool.
Compare timing of failures with broader tenant usage spikes.
‼️ Why this matters: You may see only light Liongard usage and still hit Microsoft exhaustion if other agents, flows, or users in the same Microsoft environment are consuming the shared capacity.
4. Review the agent’s publish model and environment
4. Review the agent’s publish model and environment
Confirm the agent was published into the intended environment.
Check whether the environment is tied to a valid paid entitlement.
Verify there is no environment-specific limit, expired trial, or suspended billing condition.
Retest directly in the published channel, such as Teams or Microsoft Copilot, rather than only in a builder/test interface.
5. Test with a known licensed user
5. Test with a known licensed user
If possible, ask one user with a confirmed Microsoft 365 Copilot license to test the agent in the target channel.
If the licensed user succeeds while others fail, the issue is likely licensing or Microsoft funding path by user.
If all users fail, the issue is more likely tenant-wide Microsoft capacity, publishing entitlement, or environment configuration.
6. Check Microsoft admin and usage reporting
6. Check Microsoft admin and usage reporting
Review Microsoft 365 admin and Copilot Studio usage pages for credit consumption and capacity.
Check if any relevant billing warnings, environment capacity alerts, or service restrictions are displayed.
Confirm whether the Microsoft side reflects 0 available credits or exhausted prepaid capacity.
What Liongard documentation supports
As outlined in our MCP documentation, Microsoft licensing and consumption models can change over time, so the current Microsoft licensing guidance should always be verified when evaluating licensing or capacity-related behavior.
Our documentation establishes the following:
Building an agent requires access to Copilot Studio through an eligible Microsoft licensing path.
Publishing an agent requires a paid Copilot Studio licensing path.
End users do not necessarily need a dedicated Microsoft license simply to interact with a published agent. However, how that interaction is funded or metered can differ based on the user's Microsoft licensing.
When users have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, supported usage through experiences such as Teams, SharePoint, or Copilot Chat may be zero-rated rather than consuming Copilot Credits.
When users do not have the applicable Microsoft 365 Copilot license, supported usage may instead consume Microsoft Copilot Credits, depending on the Microsoft licensing and billing model in place.
Based on this guidance, having available Liongard AI credits does not by itself guarantee that the Microsoft-facing MCP experience will be available. The Microsoft licensing, capacity, and consumption path must also be considered when troubleshooting usage or capacity-related errors.
Quick Action plan for the partner
Verify whether affected users have Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses assigned.
Confirm whether the published agent is using zero-rated licensed usage or Microsoft Copilot Credits.
Check whether Microsoft credits or prepaid capacity are currently exhausted.
Review whether other agents in the same tenant are consuming the shared Microsoft pool.
Confirm the agent is published under a supported paid licensing path, not a limited trial scenario.
If Microsoft capacity is exhausted, replenish Microsoft-side capacity or move testing to a properly licensed user.
If needed, open a Microsoft support case for Copilot Studio usage-limit validation, since the blocking message originates on the Microsoft side.
Additional resources ⭐️
🚨 Note : We may occasionally provide links to third-party tools or resources for additional reference. These resources are offered for convenience only, and Liongard does not control, maintain, or guarantee their functionality, accuracy, or availability. Please review and use any third-party resources at your own discretion.