As part of the Zurich release, we are excited to introduce the ServiceNow Build Agent, an innovative agentic AI tool designed to transform how developers create, edit, and deploy full-stack ServiceNow applications. With Build Agent, you have an agentic developer at your fingertips, ready to assist you with various tasks, including building an app, writing documentation, or brainstorming ideas, all through a simple chat mechanism - often referred to as ‘vibe coding’.
Build Agent overview
The ServiceNow Build Agent, part of Now Assist for Creator, is available in the ServiceNow Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and will be available in ServiceNow Studio starting early next year. Developers from diverse backgrounds and skill levels can use Build Agent to enhance productivity and streamline the development process.
Within the ServiceNow IDE, the Build Agent appears as a chat panel, allowing users to interact with it through an easy-to-use multi-turn conversation interface. You can simply describe your desired task or application in your natural language, and the agent will automatically get to work. It does so with speed, control, and enterprise-grade governance and readiness.
The Build Agent understands natural language prompts, autonomously generates full-stack applications, oversees the entire build process, and responds to feedback. It generates all the necessary code, organizes files clearly, and manages both the core logic and user interface components of the application.
While its primary function is to build applications, the Build Agent's capabilities go beyond that. It can perform various code-related tasks, such as rewriting tables, explaining and documenting code, validating and enhancing existing applications, fixing application errors, and more. For example, the Build Agent can utilize the Run Query tool to query a specific table within your instance and return the top five records or derive specific insights.
Remember: If you ever get stuck or are unsure of what to do next - just ask Build Agent!
Benefits of using Build Agent
Build Agent accelerates application development and prototyping on the ServiceNow AI Platform. It automates many repetitive and time-consuming tasks that developers perform manually, resulting in:
- Reduced development backlogs
- Quicker deployment of new applications
- Understanding of existing applications and documentation
- Increased developer productivity
- Reduction in overall development cost
Vibe coding best practices
To get the most out of your agentic AI companion, follow these proven strategies:
- Design before coding: Outline your app’s workflow with tools like ServiceNow's Flow Designer, Figma, Miro, or Lucidchart. Choose a method that supports collaboration and helps you form a clear vision before starting development.
- Start with a clear plan: Collaborate with the Build Agent to outline your plan, required tables, and other metadata types. Define what’s in scope and break down the features by section.
- Communicate clearly: Consider the Build Agent your app development partner. Be clear and specific in your instructions and clarify your goals to ensure the agent delivers exactly what you need.
- Test early and often: Use the agent's capabilities to add sample records and test the app on the instance. It can even build ATF tests for you!
- Version control: Use Git to track changes and keep your workspace clean. Regular commits and resets help maintain a modular structure.
- Troubleshooting & self-correction: If you encounter an issue, utilize the agent’s self-correction loop and provide error messages directly. Simply ask Build Agent for help and ask it to debug your application issue.
- Maximise UI and integration: Utilize third-party NPM libraries such as Material UI or Tailwind to enhance your user interface and features. The ServiceNow Build Agent simplifies the integration of these libraries and allows you to customize the appearance of your app. Don't hesitate to experiment with prototypes and new designs.
- Documentation and instructions: Keep clear rules and documentation in your project folder for the agent's access when needed. Utilize the Build Agent for detailed explanations, and documentation of what it implemented. Build Agent can also read or create any Knowledge base articles.
- Iterate and experiment: Prototyping is one of Build Agent’s strengths. View it as a junior developer provide it with clear instructions, structure, and guardrails. Once your vision is complete (or close to it) ask Build Agent for an ideal prompt it would use to create this application.
Getting started with Build Agent
Ready to get started using the Build Agent? We are delighted to provide two simple options to get started whether you are an existing ServiceNow customer or someone that just exploring the platform and it’s capabilities.
- Customer instance: Existing customers can upgrade their instance to Zurich and activate Build Agent (Trial) without needing a contract. It has a limit of 25 calls/month. If your account exceeds this limit you can wait for your interactions to reset, or buy Creator Pro Plus and activate Build Agent from Now Assist for Creator.
- Personal developer instance: Anyone can go to developer.servicenow.com and request a Zurich release PDI. It comes with Build Agent activated, with a limit of 10 calls/month. There is a limitation of one PDI per account.
Once you have it installed and activated the Build Agent skill, you can create a new application or edit an existing one. If you are comfortable with ‘vibe coding’ jump right in, but if not, we created several prompts to help you understand the possibilities with Build Agent in ServiceNow IDE.
Don't worry we already asked Build Agent introduces itself in the form of a modern app 👋 🤖
Build Agent prompting guide
This prompting guide highlights a key skill Build Agent has alongside a prompt to explore the skill.
Brainstorming: Leads sessions, refines ideas, captures requirements
Try This Prompt:
"Help me brainstorm a ServiceNow app for managing office supplies. I want employees to request supplies and managers to approve them."
What You'll See: Build Agent will ask clarifying questions, suggest features, identify tables needed, and create a complete app concept with user stories and technical requirements.
Developer Learning: Answers ServiceNow development questions, summarizes documents, gives examples
Try This Prompt:
"Explain ServiceNow business rules to me. What are they, when do I use them, and can you show me a simple example?"
What You'll See: Build Agent will provide clear explanations with practical examples, best practices, and working code samples that demonstrate real ServiceNow development concepts.
Documentation: Creates KB articles, generates readme files for source code
Try This Prompt:
"Create documentation for a ServiceNow app that tracks employee training records, including setup instructions and user guide."
What You'll See: Build Agent will write professional documentation with clear sections, setup steps, user instructions, and technical details - ready to share with your team.
App Creation & Learning: Builds apps to help users learn technical concepts interactively
Try This Prompt:
"Build me a simple task tracking app so I can learn how ServiceNow tables, forms, and business rules work together."
What You'll See: Build Agent will build a working ServiceNow application with explanations of each component, perfect for hands-on learning and understanding ServiceNow development.
Bonus Power User Prompt:
"Create a comprehensive incident management enhancement with custom fields, automated notifications, and a modern dashboard - then deploy it so I can test it."
What You'll See: End to end ServiceNow development from concept to deployment, showcasing advanced technical skills and real-world application building.
App Testing: Creates comprehensive automated tests, validates app functionality, ensures quality
Try This Prompt:
“Create some tests to ensure this app works when we do system changes or upgrades."
What You'll See:
Complete ATF test suites that includes:
Form testing - Field validation, required fields, UI actions
Server-side testing - Business rule execution, data validation
Navigation testing - Menu items, page flows, user journeys
API testing - REST endpoint validation and response checking
End-to-end workflows - Complete user scenarios from start to finish
Summary
As recap here are the 3 key things to remember about ServiceNow Build Agent:
- Natural language understanding: The Build Agent gets what you're saying.
You can chat with it just like a trusted business partner or developer, making it easy to ask for help. It’s there for you from start to finish, and it also considers your feedback. - Context aware development: It autonomously generates full-stack applications, while comprehending the ServiceNow data model and leveraging the platform’s appropriate controls and integration capabilities.
- Versatile capabilities: Besides creating and enhancing applications, Build Agent can perform various code-related tasks, such as rewriting tables, explaining code, validating and enhancing existing applications, fixing errors, and more.
Adopting ‘vibe coding’ strategies with Build Agent enhances your development process, fosters efficient and flexible collaboration. This approach leads to quicker, cleaner, and more innovative application building, where you and the AI work together, taking one intelligent step at a time.
We hope you found this blog post informative and helpful. We love hearing from our readers! This blog was the collaboration between the App Engine Product Management team, user research and our technical writing and content team. If you have any prompts suggestions, questions or comments, please leave them below. In the meantime, check out some additional resources on ServiceNow Build Agent.
