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Update: Google A2A 1.0 Specification for ServiceNow Otto AI Agents (DRAFT)

warren_chan
ServiceNow Employee

58m ago - edited 40m ago

Disclaimer: I’m publishing this Community article as a DRAFT due to high customer demand. We will continue to update this article as questions arise and new features are available.

 

Introduction

In March 2026, Google formally released the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol 1.0 version specification. This guide will highlight the configuration required for ServiceNow customers to migrate from running their ServiceNow A2A server from A2A 0.3 to A2A 1.0.

 

There are 7 “big rocks” covering the specification change between A2A 0.3 to A2A 1.0:

 

warren_chan_0-1792092763878.png

 

Prerequisites

  • Australia Patch 6+
  • ServiceNow Otto AI Agents [sn_aia] 9.0.x+ (September 2026 release)
  • Recommended: the redesigned AI Agent Studio [/aiux/aia/home]
  • For testing: an external AI agent running Google A2A 1.0 specification, acting as A2A client

Instance Configuration

For the A2A 1.0 specification, there are three new configuration points that must be set on the ServiceNow instance.

 

Premium Chat

If you haven’t already, migrate over to the Premium chat experience for your conversational assistant (Otto Panel + Virtual Agent):

https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/intelligent-experiences/now-assist-panel-premium.html

 

Confirm that the system property sn_nowassist_va.show_ai_native_experience is automatically set to true after migrating to Premium chat:

 

warren_chan_1-1792092824133.png

 

Deployment Channel

Confirm that the Deployment Channel for AI Agent A2A is set to AI native chat. This allows for the ServiceNow A2A server to handle both 0.3 and 1.0 specifications of the A2A protocol.

 

Switch to ServiceNow Otto AI Agents application scope.

 

Go to the Now Assist Deployment Channels [sys_now_assist_deployment_channel] table.

 

Filter for Now Assist Deployment = AI Agent A2A

 

Sort by Now Assist Deployment:

 

warren_chan_2-1792092855439.png

 

Select the Deployment Channel record.

 

In the Experience field dropdown, select AI native chat:

 

warren_chan_3-1792092889158.png

 

Save the Deployment Channel record.

 

Deployment Config Attribute

Switch to ServiceNow Otto for Virtual Agent application scope.

 

Go to the Now Assist Deployment Config Attributes [sys_now_assist_deployment_config_attributes] table.

 

Filter for: Deployment Configuration = AI Agent A2A.

 

Sort by Name.

 

Look for Name = route_chat_via_ao_v2. Select the record:

 

warren_chan_4-1792092916090.png

 

Set Value to true:

 

warren_chan_5-1792092936041.png

Integration Configuration

For your A2A integration, configure the application first, then set up your endpoints.

 

Application Settings

Verify your settings in AI Agent Studio. This is largely a carryover from previous implementations running Google A2A 0.3.

 

Login as an administrator.

 

Switch to ServiceNow Otto AI Agents application scope.

 

Go to AI Agent Studio > Settings:

 

warren_chan_6-1792092966505.png

 

This should take you to the redesigned AI Agent Studio at URL /aiux/aia/settings

Under Discoverability, verify your settings:

 

  • For ServiceNow as primary agent (A2A client): Allow ServiceNow to access external AI agents set to Allow
  • For ServiceNow as secondary agent (A2A server): Allow third party access to ServiceNow AI agents set to Allow
  • I’ll leave the Communication mode set to Synchronous in this example.

warren_chan_7-1792092988164.png

 

OAuth Configuration

Login as an administrator.

 

Switch to your desired application scope for configuring the inbound integration. I’m doing mine in Global.

 

Go to System OAuth > Inbound Integrations:

 

warren_chan_8-1792093011539.png

 

Under Inbound integrations, select New integration:

 

warren_chan_9-1792093029423.png

 

In the application connection type modal, I’m going to pick OAuth - Authorization code grant:

 

warren_chan_10-1792093047553.png

 

Fill out the form. Under Details:

  • Name: <the name of your OAuth integration>
  • Provider name: <the name of your OAuth provider, I suggest no spaces>
  • Redirect URLs: <enter if you know it, otherwise set to some default, like https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/login.do>
  • Client ID: <automatically generated>
  • Client secret: <automatically generated>
  • Active: checked

warren_chan_11-1792093066958.png

 

Under Auth scope:

  • Auth scope: a2aauthscope
  • Limit authorization to the following APIs: AI Agent A2A API (should be selected by default)

warren_chan_12-1792093090330.png

 

Under Advanced options (optional), I didn’t make any changes:

 

warren_chan_13-1792093112078.png

 

Save your Inbound integration record.

 

Go to AI Agent Studio > Agentic solutions. In the AI agents list, look for the AI agent that you want to use. Make sure it’s Active.

 

Notice also the improved search in the redesigned AI Agent Studio.

 

warren_chan_14-1792093137623.png

 

Select your AI agent. It opens the node map:

 

warren_chan_15-1792093155487.png

Select the edit (pencil) icon next to the AI agent:

 

warren_chan_16-1792093172875.png

 

On the AI agent configuration page, scroll down to the Access rules section:

 

warren_chan_17-1792093191165.png

 

Make sure that Allow third-party AI agents that meet access requirements to access this AI agent is selected (allowed).

 

Copy your Agent card URL. Notice that the /a2a/v2 API is used by default:

 

https://my-instance-name.service-now.com/api/sn_aia/a2a/v2/agent_card/id/26315fbaeb7e6e1086d3f20dbad0cdef

 

Go to your primary agent (A2A client). Enter your Agent card URL in your client, and discover agents:

 

warren_chan_18-1792093230461.png

 

I can validate from my A2A client that the ServiceNow AI Agent card reads as A2A 1.0:

 

warren_chan_19-1792093271048.png

 

Here's the full Agent card in A2A 1.0. Notice that under supportedInterfaces, both the 0.3 and 1.0 versions appear.

 

{
  "name": "Incident Helper Agent",
  "description": "Enables users to efficiently manage incident records by providing capabilities to fetch incident details, updating Incident comments, and create new incidents. Designed for IT support staff and service desk agents who require quick and reliable incident management operations.",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "provider": {
    "organization": "ServiceNow",
    "url": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/"
  },
  "iconUrl": "",
  "documentationUrl": "",
  "supportedInterfaces": [
    {
      "url": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/api/sn_aia/a2a/v2/agent/id/26315fbaeb7e6e1086d3f20dbad0cdef",
      "protocolBinding": "JSONRPC",
      "protocolVersion": "1.0"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/api/sn_aia/a2a/v2/agent/id/26315fbaeb7e6e1086d3f20dbad0cdef",
      "protocolBinding": "JSONRPC",
      "protocolVersion": "0.3"
    }
  ],
  "capabilities": {
    "streaming": false,
    "pushNotifications": true,
    "extendedAgentCard": false,
    "extensions": [
      {
        "uri": "https://a2ui.org/a2a-extension/a2ui/v0.9",
        "description": "Agent-driven UI rendered from A2UI JSON data parts.",
        "required": false
      }
    ]
  },
  "securitySchemes": {
    "oauth2_authorization_code": {
      "oauth2SecurityScheme": {
        "flows": {
          "authorizationCode": {
            "authorizationUrl": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/oauth_auth.do",
            "tokenUrl": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/oauth_token.do",
            "refreshUrl": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/oauth_token.do",
            "scopes": {
              "a2aauthscope": "Authentication scope for scripted rest API end-points exposed in AI Agent A2A API"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "oauth2_client_credentials": {
      "oauth2SecurityScheme": {
        "flows": {
          "clientCredentials": {
            "tokenUrl": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/oauth_token.do",
            "refreshUrl": "https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/oauth_token.do",
            "scopes": {
              "a2aauthscope": "Authentication scope for scripted rest API end-points exposed in AI Agent A2A API"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "mtls": {
      "mtlsSecurityScheme": {}
    }
  },
  "securityRequirements": [
    {
      "schemes": {
        "oauth2_authorization_code": {
          "list": [
            "a2aauthscope"
          ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "schemes": {
        "oauth2_client_credentials": {
          "list": [
            "a2aauthscope"
          ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "schemes": {
        "mtls": {
          "list": []
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "defaultInputModes": [
    "application/json"
  ],
  "defaultOutputModes": [
    "application/json"
  ],
  "skills": [
    {
      "id": "88e8dc22eb8b621086d3f20dbad0cd13",
      "name": "Create Incident",
      "description": "Create a new Incident. Inputs are the Short description and Description of the Incident to be created. Output is a message stating that the Incident has been created with the Incident number.",
      "inputModes": [
        "application/json"
      ],
      "outputModes": [
        "application/json"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "short_description",
        "description"
      ],
      "securityRequirements": []
    },
  ],
  "signatures": []
}

 

To finish the OAuth authentication flow, I will enter the following values into my A2A client:

warren_chan_21-1792093331672.png

 

When you attempt to authorize as part of the OAuth Authorization Code flow, you will be redirected to your ServiceNow instance to grant access.

 

If you’re authenticating for the first time, and getting an Invalid redirect_uri error, copy the URL from the browser tab/window. Behind the redirect_uri= parameter, you should find your callback URL of your A2A client. It could be something like this:

https://my-primary-agent.us-central1.run.app/oauth/callback

 

You will want to replace this URL into the OAuth Inbound integration record you created earlier in ServiceNow:

 

warren_chan_22-1792093372983.png

 

Save the OAuth Inbound integration record after the update.

 

In the A2A client, re-attempt the completion of the OAuth flow:

 

warren_chan_24-1792093415431.png

 

Notice that the user you are logged in as matters in this scenario! If you are happy with the connection, select Allow. If all is well, you should now have a valid token:

 

warren_chan_25-1792093430441.png

 

You can now begin a conversation with your ServiceNow AI agent:

 

warren_chan_26-1792093449597.png

 

warren_chan_27-1792093465035.png

 

warren_chan_28-1792093485219.png

 

Here's the sample JSON payload for the last exchange - there are many hops in between, but just trimming down to what is relevant and interesting.

 

The request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "SendMessage",
  "params": {
    "message": {
      "messageId": "b8c22251-e938-454c-95eb-10616aa143a8",
      "role": "ROLE_USER",
      "parts": [
        {
          "text": "My short description is \"I can't connect to VPN\". The full description is that I have tried restarting and reinstall my VPN software."
        }
      ],
      "contextId": "1605c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
      "taskId": "9a05c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b"
    },
    "configuration": {
      "acceptedOutputModes": [
        "text/plain",
        "application/json"
      ],
      "historyLength": 10,
      "returnImmediately": true,
      "taskPushNotificationConfig": {
        "id": "aRwQtRNuZ1_iY1YKugFrWw",
        "url": "https://my-primary-agent.us-central1.run.app/a2a/callback/incident-helper-agent-dbb071c7/v1/aRwQtRNuZ1_iY1YKugFrWw"
      }
    }
  },
  "id": "096930d7-c680-49e5-8cb1-e9565fa4fe7a"
}

 

And the response(s):

{
  "task": {
    "id": "9a05c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
    "contextId": "1605c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
    "status": {
      "state": "TASK_STATE_WORKING",
      "message": null,
      "timestamp": "2026-10-15T19:06:48.995048462Z"
    },
    "artifacts": [
      {
        "artifactId": "0",
        "name": null,
        "description": null,
        "parts": [
          {
            "text": "Created Incident Number: INC0010123  \nIncident URL: https://your-instance-name.service-now.com/incident.do?sys_id=7275c6402b4cd3109675f1cfe291bf6a"
          }
        ],
        "metadata": null,
        "extensions": null
      }
    ],
    "history": [],
    "metadata": null
  }
}
{
  "task": {
    "id": "9a05c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
    "contextId": "1605c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
    "status": {
      "state": "TASK_STATE_INPUT_REQUIRED",
      "message": {
        "role": "ROLE_AGENT",
        "parts": [
          {
            "text": "Your incident has been created. Do you have any other incident-related inquiries?\nYes, No"
          }
        ],
        "messageId": "2d148c73-9c12-4832-be87-88be3571d691",
        "contextId": "1605c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
        "taskId": "9a05c6cc2b0cd3109675f1cfe291bf9b",
        "referenceTaskIds": null,
        "metadata": null,
        "extensions": null
      },
      "timestamp": "2026-10-15T19:06:53.007530109Z"
    },
    "artifacts": [],
    "history": [],
    "metadata": null
  }
}

 

For my use case, a new Incident record is created in ServiceNow:

 

warren_chan_29-1792093509105.png

 

API Key Authentication

Coming soon!

 

Resources

See below for additional resources.

 

Documentation

Previous Google A2A 0.3 Community Articles:

 

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40m ago
Updated by:
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