Build Agent release notes
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Summary of Build Agent Release Notes - Australia Release
The ServiceNow Build Agent application enables developers to create, edit, and deploy full-stack applications and metadata using a conversational AI interface. The Australia release enhances Build Agent with expanded integration, improved user experience in ServiceNow Studio, and broader support for metadata and AI models. These updates help developers streamline app development, reduce manual tasks, and leverage generative AI capabilities directly within their familiar development environments.
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Key Features
- Integration with ServiceNow Studio: Access Build Agent directly in ServiceNow Studio, including a new icon in the application banner for easy launch and contextual launch support that carries over tab and preview context into the chat panel.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) Support: Connect Build Agent to external MCP servers within ServiceNow Studio, enabling integration of external tools and data sources into the AI-assisted build workflow, reducing context switching.
- Expanded Metadata Support: Work with a wider range of metadata types such as flows, Service Catalog items, inbound email actions, UI components, and enhanced Service Portal capabilities, enabling richer app customization.
- New AI Models and Providers: Choose from newly supported AI models including Anthropic Claude on AWS Sonnet 4.6 and Azure OpenAI GPT 5.4 to tailor AI assistance to organizational needs.
- Update Set Accessibility: View and access update sets created by Build Agent directly from the chat panel with checkpoint links opening update sets in new tabs, simplifying version control and change tracking.
- UI Validation Tool: Validate user interface outputs during app creation using Playwright-based UI checks integrated into both ServiceNow Studio and IDE, identifying UI issues with diagnostic context.
- Semantic Search: Utilize semantic search capabilities to find relevant instance artifacts (tables, scripts, business rules) by meaning rather than exact keywords, improving artifact discovery during development.
- Test Agent Integration: Run Automated Test Framework (ATF) tests from the Build Agent chat panel with automatic saving of test results and seamless updates to test artifacts, supporting continuous regression testing.
- Expanded File Type Support: Upload various file types (images, documents, code) to Build Agent to describe development requirements, enhancing input flexibility for AI-driven app building.
- Agentic Workflows and Skills Creation: Convert business requirements into fully configured agents, skills, and workflows with Build Agent inspecting existing app configurations for tailored outputs.
- Preview Generated Artifacts: Review tables, flows, and scripts generated by Build Agent inline in ServiceNow Studio before saving or committing changes, enabling better control over automation outputs.
- New Licensing Tiers: The ServiceNow AI Platform introduces Foundation, Advanced, and Prime licensing tiers to align AI capabilities and access with customer entitlements.
Key Outcomes
- Enhanced Developer Productivity: Developers can build and manage applications more efficiently by leveraging AI-driven conversational interfaces directly within ServiceNow Studio and IDE.
- Reduced Context Switching: Integration with MCP servers and external resources streamlines workflows by bringing data and tools into the Build Agent environment.
- Improved Testing and Validation: Built-in UI validation and test agent features enable early detection of issues and facilitate ongoing quality assurance without leaving the build context.
- Greater Flexibility and Control: Expanded metadata support, semantic search, and artifact previews give developers more precise control over application components and generated outputs.
- Consistent Experience Across Environments: Personal development instances (PDIs) now mirror production Build Agent versions, ensuring a unified development experience across environments.
- Broader AI Model Choices: Selecting from additional AI providers and models allows organizations to optimize AI assistance according to specific needs and compliance requirements.
Activation and Dependencies
Build Agent is enabled by default as part of the ServiceNow AI Platform and requires the Now Assist for Creator license for full functionality, including the new Add AI button and advanced AI features.
Related Applications
- ServiceNow Studio: Centralized environment for building and deploying custom applications, now integrated with Build Agent.
- ServiceNow IDE: Source code development environment with Build Agent support for scoped applications.
- Now Assist for Creator: Provides generative AI skills and agents that enhance app development efficiency using Build Agent.
- Agentic Development Tools: Enable building applications using natural language descriptions for workflows, skills, and integrations on the ServiceNow AI Platform.
The ServiceNow® Build Agent application enables developers to create, edit, and deploy full-stack applications and metadata through a conversational interface. Build Agent was enhanced and updated in the Australia release.
Build Agent highlights for the Australia release
- Use Build Agent in ServiceNow Studio.
- Work with additional Model Context Protocol (MCP) support.
- Create apps and metadata in the global scope.
- Choose from newly supported models.
- Access update sets created in Build Agent directly from the chat panel.
See Build Agent for more information.
New in the Australia release
- Australia Patch 3
- MCP server support in ServiceNow Studio
- Connect Build Agent to external MCP servers in ServiceNow Studio. Previously, MCP server connectivity was only available in the ServiceNow IDE.
- Additional MCP server integrations
- Integrate Build Agent with newly supported MCP servers.
- Access update sets from Build Agent
- View update sets created by Build Agent from within the chat panel in ServiceNow Studio. Each checkpoint includes a button that opens the relevant update set in a new tab.
- UI validation tool in ServiceNow Studio
- Validate user interface output during app creation with the UI validation tool in Build Agent, now available in ServiceNow Studio.
- Search retrieval tool support
- Use the Search retrieval tool to enable agents to fetch and present relevant information from configured data sources in response to user queries. Agents can surface knowledge articles, catalog items, and other indexed content directly within the agentic workflow, reducing the need for users to navigate to separate search interfaces.
- Support for more file types
- Upload more types of files to Build Agent to describe what you want to build, including images, documents, and text and code files.
- Australia Patch 2
- MCP Client integration
- Connect Build Agent to external MCP servers to bring tools and data sources directly into your build workflow. External resources participate alongside Build Agent on the ServiceNow AI Platform, which helps reduce context switching and manual data transfer between tools.
- Create agentic workflows, agents, and skills
- Turn business requirements into fully configured agents, skills, and agentic workflows for your custom applications. Build Agent inspects the existing tables, roles, business rules, and metadata in your app to create tailored in-app agents and tools.
- Test Agent for Build Agent
- Use Test Agent to execute Automated Test Framework (ATF) tests right from the Build Agent chat panel for test artifacts created in the same session. When tests fail, the generated tests and test results are saved in the standard ATF record tables and can be scheduled for continued regression testing for the app. If tests are edited by the test agent after troubleshooting, those edits are automatically saved to the test records.
- UI validation tool
- Validate user interface output during Build Agent app creation in the ServiceNow IDE using the integrated UI validation, which runs Playwright-based UI checks on Cloud Runner and surfaces failures with diagnostic context directly in the Build Agent panel.
- Semantic search for instance artifact discovery
- Use semantic search in Build Agent to locate relevant instance artifacts, including tables, scripts, and business rules during build and edit tasks. Find files, applications, and knowledge on your instance based on meaning instead of exact keywords.
- Additional model support
- Choose the provider and model that fits your organizational needs in Build Agent, which now supports Anthropic Claude on AWS Sonnet 4.6 and Azure OpenAI GPT 5.4.
- Expanded metadata support
- Work with more metadata types in Build Agent, which now supports flows, Service Catalog configurations, inbound email actions, dictionary overrides, choice lists, condition builder query conditions, and enhanced Service Portal capabilities.
- Contextual launch for Build Agent
- Include context from ServiceNow Studio tabs and component preview screens when you open Build Agent, which helps reduce the need to manually search for and specify context in the chat panel.
- Australia Patch 1
- ServiceNow product tiers
- The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you a new AI experience with three licensing tiers available:
- Foundation: AI basics to deliver insights
- Advanced: AI to boost productivity across relevant use cases
- Prime: Act autonomously with all AI assets and create your own
Depending on your entitlements, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents.
- Additional metadata support
- Work with more metadata types in Build Agent, which now supports email.
- Australia Early Availability
- Build Agent in ServiceNow Studio
- Access Build Agent in ServiceNow Studio to build apps conversationally in a consolidated development environment.
- Improved LLM support
- Use AWS Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.5 in Build Agent for contextual conversations.
- New metadata support
- Work with more metadata types, as Build Agent now supports the following:
- Email integration
- List controls
- Service Catalog items
- UI components
- UI policies
- UI views
- Workspaces
UI changes
- Australia Patch 3
- New button prompt to add AI to an app
- A new Add AI button when you first open the Build Agent chat panel starts a guided conversation to help you define and generate a skill or agent. Note:You must have a Now Assist for Creator license for the new button to appear.
- Open Build Agent from ServiceNow Studio banner
- A new icon
in the ServiceNow Studio application banner provides another way to access Build Agent.
- Australia Patch 2
- Generated artifact preview
- Preview generated tables, flows, and scripts that Build Agent creates in ServiceNow Studio so you can review and approve changes inline before saving or committing them to the application.
Changed in this release
- Australia Patch 1
- Build Agent version parity for PDIs
- Personal development instances (PDIs) are now updated to match the latest Build Agent version, delivering a consistent experience across both personal and production-track instances. Developers testing and building on PDIs have access to the same capabilities available in production environments.
- Updated interaction limits
- To provide developers more room to iterate, the following Build Agent limits have been increased:
- Build Agent (Trial): 100 prompts per instance per 30-day cycle
- PDIs: 25 prompts per instance per cycle
Note:Limits are per-instance, not per-user. Only submitted prompts, which doesn't include plan approvals, contribute to the limit.
- Australia Early Availability
- Support for global scope
- Build apps and metadata in the global scope.
Activation information
Build Agent is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Note:
Build Agent is dependent on Now Assist for Creator. For more information, see Now Assist for Creator release notes.