--- title: Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept... description: At Build 2026, Microsoft shipped Scout, its first always-on work agent, built on OpenClaw — an open-source agent runtime created by an independent developer.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept everything around it | daily.dev og:description: At Build 2026, Microsoft shipped Scout, its first always-on work agent, built on OpenClaw — an open-source agent runtime created by an independent developer.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/boxysTXti.png og:image:alt: Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept everything around it og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept everything around it **[The New Stack](https://daily.dev/sources/newstack)** · 9 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary At Build 2026, Microsoft shipped Scout, its first always-on work agent, built on OpenClaw — an open-source agent runtime created by an independent developer. Rather than building its own runtime, Microsoft open-sourced the base layer and focused its engineering on the control plane above it: governed Entra identity per agent, policy-conformance systems with audit trails, and Work IQ grounding tied to Microsoft 365 data. The move mirrors how Google handled Android — making the base free while monetizing the managed services around it. Microsoft Execution Containers push agent sandboxing into the Windows kernel, creating an enforcement floor for any runtime. The analysis argues that the runtime layer is no longer where value or margin lives; identity, governance, grounding, and containment are the real products. Teams building enterprise agents are advised to adopt open runtimes and invest in compliance and auditability instead. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Microsoft Scout, New Enterprise Autopilot Built on OpenClaw, Announced at Build 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-scout-new-enterprise-autopilot-built-on-openclaw-announced-at-build-2026-x5zzprpef) · InfoQ · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#microsoft](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#openclaw](https://daily.dev/tags/openclaw) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept everything around it","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti"},"datePublished":"2026-06-07T15:05:54.591Z","dateModified":"2026-06-18T21:22:32.298Z","description":"At Build 2026, Microsoft shipped Scout, its first always-on work agent, built on OpenClaw — an open-source agent runtime created by an independent developer....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/502873e964c27c6c9e703baab1662463?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/502873e964c27c6c9e703baab1662463?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The New Stack","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The New Stack","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/newstack","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/newstack"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-just-made-the-agent-runtime-free-and-kept-everything-around-it-boxystxti","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,microsoft,ai-agents,openclaw","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The New Stack","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/newstack"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Microsoft just made the agent runtime free — and kept everything around it"}]} ```