When ServiceNow announced the #BuildWithBuildAgent challenge, I was immediately curious.
Not because of swag.
Not because it’s a competition.
But because this was the first time ServiceNow openly encouraged developers to build real applications using the new AI-powered Build Agent and the modern ServiceNow IDE.
If you’ve been around the platform long enough, you know that building custom apps often meant switching between multiple tools — Studio, UI Builder, Flow Designer, component bundles, and much more.
But the introduction of the ServiceNow IDE combined with a conversational Build Agent changes everything.
This challenge made me to take a real use case and ask:
“How much can I build with prompts, and how well can AI complement a developer inside the SN ecosystem?”
As I'm someone who is really into vibe coding, I definitely wanted to check this out, and here are my genuine findings about this entire hype.
A look into the future of app development on the Now Platform
The ServiceNow development experience has quietly undergone one of its biggest evolutions in years — and it all starts with the ServiceNow IDE.
For years, we developers relied on Studio, UI Builder, and a collection of tools spread across the platform that was really confusing at times. The IDE changes that completely. It brings everything into a single modern environment where you can write TypeScript, build Fluent UI components, preview experiences, auto-deploy bundles, and manage your entire application lifecycle.
It feels like having VS Code with a GitHub copilot enabled, UI Builder, and a workspace editor combined into one great, powerful interface with a even greater source control like with git.
But what truly makes it more awesome is something new:
The ServiceNow Build Agent, powered by Claude 4 Sonnet. Released along with Zurich version.
ServiceNow IDE, the Build Agent uses Claude 4 Sonnet, one of the most capable reasoning models available today.
Unlike generic AI tools, Claude Sonnet is tuned to:
- Understand ServiceNow terminology
- Recognize platform objects (tables, fields, ACLs, pages, data resources)
- Generate Now Experience components
- Scaffold Workspaces
- Write server scripts and REST APIs
- Understand best practices for scoped apps
- And interact deeply with the platform structure
That’s what makes the Build Agent so different.
It doesn’t just generate code random—
it builds ServiceNow applications the way a real developer would.
And that’s exactly what I used to build a demo project using this:
The Idea: A Simple Global Directory for ServiceNow Mentors
In the ServiceNow ecosystem, experts and mentors are everywhere — answering questions, running events, writing blogs, delivering sessions. But there’s no single, user-friendly place to explore who they are.
So I decided to build one.
The requirements were simple:
✔ A portal where people can submit their mentor/expert profile
✔ A database table to store the profiles
✔ A workspace dashboard to visualize data
✔ Charts showing specialization and geographic distribution
✔ A card-based mentor directory
✔ A detail page for each mentor
✔ A consistent, modern UI
And the twist?
I wanted to build everything with just six prompts using the Build Agent. Though we have 10 prompt limit for PDIs, I wanted to do it different and more challenging.
The Build: 6 Prompts, One Complete Application
Getting Started with Build Agent
If you're new to the Build Agent experience, the first step is to set yourself up properly.
Make sure you request a ServiceNow Developer Instance running the Zurich release, because Build Agent is supported only from Zurich onward.
Once your instance is ready:
Request your instance here - ServiceNow Developers
- Navigate to All → ServiceNow IDE
- Open the IDE and create a Workspace — this is mandatory before you can start prompting
- After the workspace is created, you will see a clean, VS Code–style interface with a repository folder already in place
- On the right-hand side, you’ll find the Build Agent panel — this is where all your prompting happens
A key thing to note:
Each PDI gives you only 10 prompts.
So be strategic, clear, and concise with your Prompts.
Below is a example of well structured prompt. (My first prompt)
Create a new scoped application called “MentorMap Portal”.
Create a table named “mentor_profile” with these fields:
- full_name (String, mandatory)
- category (Choice: AI, Platform, Security, Customer Workflows, Other)
- country (String)
- city (String)
- image_url (URL)
- linkedin_url (URL)
- short_bio (String, 500 chars)
- active (True/False)
Enable auto-number prefix MTR.
Generate a form layout and list view (full_name, category, country, city, active).
Create 5 sample mentor records for testing.
Application menu:
- Add top-level menu "MentorMap Portal" with module links:
* Directory (opens Experience)
* Submit Profile (opens public Experience page)
* Manage Profiles (list view, visible to mentor_admin)
Acceptance Criteria:
- mentor_profile table exists with fields + autosn.
- Role and ACLs created and visible.
- Application menu entries added.I have added a few snips from final version of the application i built as a video file and hope to see you guys try it out, trust me ServiceNow agents are just awesome.
Join the #BuildWithBuildAgent Challenge! Get recognized, earn exclusive swag, and inspire the ServiceNow Community with what you can build using Build Agent. Join the Challenge.
Final Thoughts
Building this application was not just fun — it was really a great experience. The combination of the ServiceNow IDE and Build Agent isn’t just a new way of building apps; it’s a new development philosophy.
It’s collaborative.
It’s AI-augmented.
And it drastically increases productivity.
Even though there are still a very lot of areas for improvement still I strongly believe this is the future of building on the Now Platform — and we are only at the beginning. Looking forward to what ServiceNow has up its sleeve.
