How to trigger an agentic workflow through UI action

JK9903 · 2 weeks ago

Hello Everyone,

I'm trying to trigger an agentic workflow from a custom UI Action, and I need the conversation/output to appear in the Now Assist side panel not just run silently in the background.

Use case: Generating a Change Request resolution plan. The Agentic workflow should propose values for each field, and the user should be able to review and approve the plan directly in the Now Assist panel before it's applied.

What I've tried so far:

Created the trigger via the "Agentic Workflow – Channel and Status" configuration. This does generate a UI action automatically, and clicking it does kick off the use case — I can confirm execution via the sys_generative_ai_log table, and I see a now assist icon with a message as "working on this" some similar message. However, the Now Assist panel itself never opens, so the user has no visibility into the plan being generated or a way to review/approve it.
Built a Flow using the "AIA Trigger Use Case" action. This also successfully triggers the use case, but again nothing surfaces in the Now Assist panel.
Replicated an OOB UI action ("Generate Resolution Plan") that appeared to do something similar for another use case, hoping to reuse its approach for mine but this hasn't worked either.

Question: What's the correct/supported way to wire a UI action (or Flow trigger) to a Now Assist use case so that execution opens the Now Assist panel and drives the conversation there, rather than just running the use case invisibly? Is there a specific trigger type, client script event, or configuration step in AI Agent Studio that connects a UI action click to the panel UI specifically?

Any pointers official docs, similar setups, or things to check would be appreciated.

Docs/community post which I already referred
Trigger options for Agentic Workflow or AI Agent - ServiceNow Community

Thanks,
JK

KPNow · a week ago

When we trigger an Agentic Workflow or Now Assist Use Case backend-first (via Flow Designer's AIA Trigger Use Case or a standard Server-Side UI Action), ServiceNow executes the LLM pipeline asynchronously. It logs the turn in sys_generative_ai_log, but it does not fire a client-side layout event to open the Now Assist panel flyout in Next Experience or Configurable Workspaces.

The Now Assist Panel requires a Client-Side Trigger Event (specifically through UI Builder, Workspace Client Scripts, or the sn-component-now-assist-panel shell API) to open the side panel and bind the conversation session ID to the user's active UI session.

To trigger the Agentic Workflow and open the panel dynamically with full interactive capabilities, your configuration must fulfill three elements:

Trigger Channel: Set to Now Assist Panel (or In-Product / Workspace Panel), not just Status Change or Record Trigger.
Client-Side Execution: Use a Workspace / Client UI Action that emits a panel event or opens the canvas modal.
Actionable / Interactive Skill Payload: The Agentic Workflow output must return an interactive UI Card (Approval / Review component) rather than plain text.

Step 1: Check the Channel Configuration in AI Agent Studio

Open AI Agent Studio > Agentic Workflows (or Now Assist Admin > Skills / Use Cases).
Open your Change Request Resolution Plan Agentic Workflow.
Under Channels & Access / Display Experience, verify that Now Assist Panel (and/or Configurable Workspace Panel) is explicitly checked.

Step 2: Configure the Client UI Action (Workspace / Next Experience)

If you are operating in Configurable Workspaces (SOW / CSM / ITSM Workspace), a standard server script won't open the side panel. You need a Client-side UI Action that communicates with the Workspace Shell.

Set the UI Action parameters as follows:

Client: true
Onclick: openNowAssistPanel()
Workspace Actionable: true

Step 3: Triggering via Script Include / Server UI Action Alternative

If you prefer a Server UI Action that initializes the Agentic Workflow state before opening the panel, use the sn_one_extend or sn_aia API to generate the session ID, then redirect the Client payload to open the side panel.

Step 4: Add Actionable Response Nodes (for Review & Approval)

For the user to review values (e.g., proposed risk assessment, implementation steps, backout plan) and approve them directly inside the panel:

Inside Agentic Workflow Builder, go to the Response / Output Generation node.
Select Interactive / Adaptive Card output format instead of Text Output.
Bind the fields to a Form Approval/Review Component inside the card.
Add two action buttons on the card: Approve & Apply: Executes a subflow/tool that updates the change_request fields with the proposed values.

Regenerate / Reject:

Feeds feedback back into the agentic loop.