--- sourceDocument: Australia Build or modify applications sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/application-development Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia Build or modify applications ft:clusterId : - cadev bundleId : - cadev workflow : - Development, Data, and Analytics --- # Agentic workflows, agents, and skills # Agentic workflows, agents, and skills {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated August 25, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Agentic workflows, agents, and skills Build Agent in ServiceNow enables customers to transform business requirements into configured AI artifacts---agentic workflows, agents, and skills---tailored to their custom scoped applications. This capability accelerates AI integration by generating these components based on the specific data model, roles, and ACLs of an application, reducing the need to build from scratch. Show full answer Show less Access to these features depends on your ServiceNow entitlements and requires ServiceNow Studio or the ServiceNow IDE. Skills must be published before they can be used as tools within other skills. ## Key Features * **Tool Creation Types Supported:** Skills (such as FlowAction, ServiceNow Otto Skill, Inline Script, Explicit Script, SubFlow, WebSearch) and Agents (including catalog items, conversational topics, flow actions, record operations, scripts, search retrieval, subflows, and web searches). * **Reuse Existing Components:** Only FlowActions and Subflows already in the app scope are used; Build Agent reuses these rather than creating new ones. * **Search Retrieval Tool:** For agents requiring knowledge retrieval, Build Agent configures search retrieval tools scoped to your use case by querying existing search profiles and checking semantic search indexes. Note that Australia Patch 3 or higher is required to use this feature. * **Four-Phase Generation Pattern:** * **Assess:** Evaluates readiness of data model for AI integration. * **Analyze:** Identifies use cases based on tables, roles, and flows. * **Design:** Proposes architecture with recommended quick-win implementations. * **Build:** Generates agents and skills scoped to the app's data model, roles, and ACLs. * **In-App Agent Compatibility:** Generated agents work with any custom scoped application. More mature applications with real data and roles yield more domain-specific AI artifacts. * **Governance and Deployment:** Generated agents are automatically registered in AI Control Tower for centralized governance, and all artifacts deploy via standard update sets. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Quickly generate AI-powered agents and workflows that are fully scoped and aligned with your application's unique data and security model. * Leverage existing app components to maintain consistency and reduce duplication. * Enable intelligent knowledge retrieval integrated with your existing search configuration for enhanced AI assistant capabilities. * Ensure centralized governance and easy deployment through AI Control Tower and update sets. * Accelerate the delivery of AI solutions tailored to your business needs without extensive manual development. Build Agent can generate agentic workflows, agents, and skills scoped to your custom app. Turn business requirements into configured AI artifacts without building from scratch. Verify that you have access to ServiceNow Studio or the ServiceNow IDE. Note: Your entitlements determine whether you have access to agentic workflows, agents, and skills in Build Agent. Skills must be published before they can be used as a tool by another skill. Build Agent supports the following tool creation: * Skills: * \*FlowAction * ServiceNow Otto Skill * Script - Inline * Script - Explicit * \*SubFlow * WebSearch {#ba-about-creating-in-app-agents__ul_d53_l2q_x3c} * Agents: * Catalog item: For more information, see [Add a catalog item to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-catalog-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * Conversational topic: For more information, see [Add a conversational topic to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-va-topic-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * Flow action: For more information, see [Add a flow action to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-flow-action-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * ServiceNow Otto Skill: For more information, see [Add a generative AI skill to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-skill-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * Record operations: For more information, see [Add a record operation to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-database-op-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * Script: For more information, see [Add a script to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-script-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * \*\*Search retrieval: For more information, see [Add a search retrieval to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-retriever-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * Subflow: For more information, see [Add a subflow to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-sub-flow-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). * WebSearch: For more information, see [Add a web search to an AI agent](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=add-web-search-ai-agent&version=australia&pubname=australia-intelligent-experiences&ft:locale=en-US). {#ba-about-creating-in-app-agents__ul_qby_3fq_x3c} {#ba-about-creating-in-app-agents__ul_v14_hfq_x3c} Note: 1. \*You can use only FlowActions and Subflows that are already part of your app scope. Build Agent reuses existing FlowActions and Subflows instead of creating new ones. 2. \*\*When you create an agent that requires knowledge retrieval, Build Agent can configure a search retrieval tool scoped to your use case. The tool queries your existing search profiles to identify the best match, retrieves the associated search sources and return fields, and checks whether semantic search indexes are available. Note: You must be on Australia Patch 3 or higher to use the search retrieval tool. {#ba-about-creating-in-app-agents__ol_uvb_zkp_ljc} The agentic capability turns business requirements into fully configured agents, skills, and agentic workflows for custom applications. It first evaluates existing app context, such as tables, roles, business rules, and metadata. Then Build Agent applies a four-phase pattern to generate artifacts scoped to your application's data model, roles, and ACLs: Assess : Evaluates data model readiness for AI. Analyze : Identifies use cases from existing tables, roles, and flows. Design : Proposes an architecture with a recommended quick-win. Build : Generates agents and skills scoped to the application's data model, roles, and ACLs. {#ba-about-creating-in-app-agents__dl_in-app-agents-phases} In-App agents can work with any custom scoped application. Applications with real data, established roles, and defined automation produce more targeted, domain-specific artifacts. Applications with no data or configuration produce agents that aren't scoped to a specific data model. Note: Generated agents are automatically registered in AI Control Tower for centralized governance, and artifacts deploy through standard update sets.