Playbook Experience release notes

  • Release version: Store
  • Updated June 11, 2026
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    Summary of Playbook Experience Release Notes

    The Playbook Experience application in ServiceNow offers a dynamic, process-driven interface to guide users through workflows, improving task management, automation, and user engagement. This comprehensive release history details continuous enhancements, fixes, and new features from October 2021 through June 2026, focusing on usability, accessibility, AI integration, testing capabilities, and customization options. ServiceNow customers can leverage these improvements to optimize process execution and enhance agent productivity across various workflows such as Customer Service Management (CSM), Field Service Management (FSM), and HR Playbooks.

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    Key Features and Enhancements

    • AI and Agentic Playbooks: Introduced agentic playbooks that integrate AI agents to pre-fill form activities and assist with task completion, enhancing efficiency while maintaining human-in-the-loop review via the Now Assist panel.
    • Automation Test Framework (ATF) Support: Enabled testing of Playbook Experience components using ATF to ensure quality and reliability in automated workflows.
    • Custom Layout and UI Controller: Added the Playbook Custom Layout Controller with new fields and presets to offer intuitive ordering, compact mode forcing, and parent record support, allowing tailored playbook interfaces and better process visibility.
    • Improved Navigation and Accessibility: Enhanced UI components such as Activity Viewer, Stage Pickers, and Compact Mode for better keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and visual feedback including progress and status icons.
    • Performance and Usability Fixes: Resolved various issues including duplicate declarative action executions, incorrect form section headings, and styling inconsistencies. Improved portal and mobile experience with optimized page refresh behavior and form validation.
    • Playbook Restart and Control: Added the ability to restart playbooks from the beginning, specific stages, or activities, providing greater control over workflow execution.
    • Mobile Playbook Enhancements: Introduced mobile-specific events such as barcode scanning and launcher screen navigation, improving mobile user interaction.
    • Declarative Actions and Automation: Extended declarative actions like Open List, Resolve, and Restart, improving automation within playbook activities and supporting seamless task transitions.

    Fixes and Stability Improvements

    • Fixed accessibility issues including keyboard focus, semantic roles for screen readers, and color contrast improvements to meet WCAG standards.
    • Corrected behavior of AI-assisted activities, ensuring proper permissions and accurate activity states.
    • Resolved UI glitches such as persistent loading indicators, incorrect work notes propagation, and activity picker display anomalies.
    • Addressed portal and workspace-specific issues including playbook availability messages, record generator behavior, and scroll bar corrections.
    • Enhanced performance by optimizing event handling to prevent duplicate executions and by improving auto-refresh mechanisms for mobile and portal environments.
    • Improved integration with UI Builder by providing bundled components, presets, and compatibility updates for dynamic layouts and activity UIs.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlined Workflow Execution: Playbooks now support AI-driven automation and better control features to accelerate task completion with human oversight, reducing manual workload.
    • Customization and Flexibility: Customers can customize playbook layouts, control activity visibility, and configure restart points to better align playbooks with organizational processes.
    • Improved Testing and Quality Assurance: Integration with Automation Test Framework allows customers to validate playbook functionality and ensure consistent performance.
    • Enhanced User Experience: Accessibility enhancements and UI improvements provide a more inclusive and efficient interface for agents and fulfillers.
    • Robust Integration: Compatibility with portal environments, mobile devices, and UI Builder extends playbook usability across multiple platforms and devices.

    Version history for the Playbook Experience application on the ServiceNow Store.

    Important:
    For details on system requirements and family compatibility, view the application listing on the ServiceNow Store website.

    Version history

    Version 29.3.0 - June 2026 (Australia)
    • Fixed:
      • The Playbook stage picker header hid stages at 400% browser zoom or 320px viewport width in the CSM/FSM workspace.
      • A playbook activity was incorrectly marked complete when its Declarative Action UI action returned an error.
      • Single-section playbook activity forms incorrectly displayed the section heading (for example, "Variables").
      • Work notes entered on a playbook activity form were added to the parent record's Work Notes component after Update or Mark Complete.
      • Saving an unmodified playbook activity form left the loading indicator on screen until refresh.
      • The Restart Stage action did not appear on a playbook stage when its display conditions were met.
      • Playbook card status action element was keyboard-focusable without a semantic role for screen reader users.
    Version 28.5.2 - May 2026 (Zurich)
    • New: The Automation Test Framework (ATF) can now be used to test the Playbook Experience
    • Fixed:
      • Declarative Actions configured on workspace forms were firing twice in Zurich due to the CLIENT_SCRIPT_EXECUTION_REQUESTED event propagating to the parent form. Event propagation is now stopped at the Playbook component level, ensuring each action executes exactly once.
      • Form section headings were incorrectly displayed when a Playbook activity contained only a single form section. Section headings are now suppressed for single-section activities. For multi-section activities, the first section heading is also correctly hidden while subsequent section headings remain visible.
      • When filling out work notes on a form, it no longer populates the work notes fields elsewhere in a configurable workspace.
    Version 29.2.1 - April 2026 (Australia)
    • Fixed:
      • When triggering a record in a custom layout type, the Playbook portal erroneously displayed a messageThere are no playbooks available.
      • HTML formatting defined via sys_ui_message translations (such as custom fonts and colors) was not applied on the initial load of a Playbook activity until the form was refreshed.
    Version 28.4.2 - April 2026 (Zurich)
    • Fixed
      • Declarative Actions configured on workspace forms were firing twice in Zurich due to the CLIENT_SCRIPT_EXECUTION_REQUESTED event propagating to the parent form. Event propagation is now stopped at the Playbook component level, ensuring each action executes exactly once.
      • HTML formatting defined with sys_ui_message translations (such as custom fonts and colors) was not applied on the initial load of a Playbook activity. Styling now renders correctly on first load without requiring a form refresh.
      • Form section headings were incorrectly displayed when a Playbook activity contained only a single form section. Section headings are now suppressed for single-section activities. For multi-section activities, the first section heading is also correctly hidden while subsequent section headings remain visible.
    Version 29.1.2 - March 2026 (Australia)
    • New:
      • The Automation Test Framework (ATF) can now be used to test the Playbook Experience
      • Reorganization and New fields have been added to the Playbook Custom Layout Controller:
        • Fields in controller and sections are ordered intuitively
        • Force Compact Mode field is provided for showing compact mode regardless of screen size
        • Only show selected playbook field is provided to show one playbook at time
        • Has parent record field is provided for standalone playbook vs record driven playbook support
        • Playbook to launch is provided for mapping to specific playbook process definitions.
    • Changed:
      • Playbook generation features have new distinct and uplifted experience
      • Wizard Layout Stepper enhancements have been added for visual progress, reflow, and actions
    • Fixed: Keyboard navigation improvements have been made
    Version 28.4.1 - March 2026 (Zurich)
    • Agent as Activity: This enables executing any custom agent inside a playbook.
    • Gen AI Big Rock: AI visual uplift for Playbook Generation and Agentic Playbooks.
    • UX Enhancements: Continued modernization of the Agentic Playbooks experience.
    Version 26.4.0 - February 2026 (Xanadu)
    • Fixed: When Expand first prioritized card is set to false, focused mode playbooks now show activity content
    • Changed: Added more robust analytics tracking
    Version 28.3.1 - December 2025 (Zurich)
    • Changed: Enabled AI Agents to complete activities in playbooks automatically
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected behavior for activities that are assisted by AI Agents
      • Corrected required permissions for cancelling playbooks
      • Corrected decision activity behavior
      • Corrected the defaultValue property for inputFormControllerFieldItem and inputFormControllerSections
      • Corrected behavior for Incident playbook
      • Corrected behavior for Playbook Experience Demo
      • Corrected behavior for the Vertical Activity Picker component
      • Corrected behavior for error messages
      • Corrected general styling and icon behavior in playbooks to improve overall user experience
    Version 28.2.2 - October 2025
    • Fixed: Updated styling and icons for Playbook activities that are assisted by AI Agents
    Version 27.3.3 - October 2025

    Fixed: Corrected playbook record generator behavior to show a form on load when glide.sys.domain.use_domain_determining_field is enabled and default domain is sys_domain.

    Version 26.3.5 - October 2025

    Changed: Updated ACL record to only be editable by maint users.

    Version 28.2.1 - September 2025 (Zurich)
    • New: Added agentic playbooks. Combine the power of AI agents with pre-defined, customizable playbooks, organizations can streamline processes, reduce manual effort, and achieve higher levels of efficiency. Enable form-based activities to be pre-filled by AI Agents, accelerating manual human work. Humans in the loop will review and modify or accept AI Agent suggested form values before marking activities as complete. Human agents can also view the AI Agents' reasoning and progress via the Now Assist panel.
    • Fixed: Corrected key accessibility (a11y) and other high-priority behavior to improve overall user experience.
    Version 28.1.1 - August 2025 (Zurich)
    • New:
      • Enhanced UI components of the Activity Viewer, Stage and Activity Picker, Horizontal Stage Picker, and Compact Mode
      • Added the ability to select activities from the Horizontal Stage Picker
      • Added Back declarative action
    • Fixed:
      • Stopped showing placeholder activities in the Optional Activity modal
      • Updated the Open record declarative action behavior in the playbook incident form field for Service Portal and Workspaces
      • Updated the Open list declarative action on the Show list of records activity to redirect and open list
      • Updated the Resolve declarative action on Incident Resolution to move the activity to a Complete state
      • Corrected the User form activity using the new form controller to update the associated record properly
      • Stopped User form fields from overflowing and showing outside of a playbook card
      • Enhanced accessibility features for Keyboard focus, selected state and contrast in Coral default/dark theming
      • Corrected the Activity Picker dropdown dismissing on the selected activity
      • Restricted Keyboard actions on pending stages
    • Changed:
      • Updated the Restart button in the restart warning modal from primary-negative color to primary-positive color
      • Renamed all platform level out of the box activities to match new naming convention
    Version 27.3.1 - August 2025 (Yokohama)
    Changed: Updated to show declarative actions in archived playbooksFixed: Corrected the Open List declarative action to work with the Service Operations Workspace
    Version 27.2.1 - May 2025 (Yokohama)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected to allow delegated developers and admins to test playbooks
      • Corrected playbook performance in the portal when dynamic height is set to true
      • Stopped cutting off playbook activity border for longer height activities
      • Corrected playbook to remain visible when selecting optional activities
    Version 26.3.4 - May 2025 (Xanadu)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected to allow delegated developers and admins to test playbooks
      • Corrected playbook performance in the portal when dynamic height is set to true
    Version 25.2.7 - April 2025
    Fixed: Corrected the link for Preview in Playbook.
    Version 26.2.5 - April 2025
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected scroll bar for Service Portal playbooks that use the Focused Layout
      • Corrected the link for Preview in Playbook
      • Stopped showing an empty UI Builder page when opening the Edit Default UI in UI Builder link
    Version 27.1.4 - April 2025
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected scroll bar for Service Portal playbooks that use the Focused Layout
      • Corrected the link for Preview in Playbook
      • Stopped showing an empty UI Builder page when opening the Edit Default UI in UI Builder link
    Version 27.1.2 - March 2025 (Yokohama)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected to show all activities after previous ones are completed in HR Playbooks
      • Corrected to allow delegated developers and admins to test playbooks
      • Made playbook content visible in the background when opening a record from a list activity
      • Removed title page tooltip from Playbooks in Portal
      • Made playbook content visible again in Optional Activities mode
    Version 25.2.6 - March 2025 (Washington DC)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected to show all activities after previous ones are completed in HR Playbooks
      • Corrected to allow delegated developers and admins to test playbooks
    Version 27.1.1 - February 2025 (Yokohama)
    New: Out-of-the-box activity definitions that use a list component come with a UI Builder now-presentational-list component bundle and preset.
    Version 26.3.2 - February 2025 (Xanadu)
    • Changed:
      • Improved the portal page refresh behavior to handle the following use cases:
        • Without Full Page Refresh: When a user initiates a Record Generator playbook, the portal page URL updates to reflect the table and sysId of the created record without performing a full page refresh.
        • With Full Page Refresh: If the "Full Page Refresh after Record Generator" widget option is enabled, the URL updates with the table and sysId, followed by a full page refresh (current behavior).
        • Preserving Query Parameters: In both scenarios, only the table and sysId are updated in the URL, while all other query parameters remain unchanged.
    Version 26.2.2 - November 2024 (Xanadu)
    • New: Added a Guided view mode to the Playbook Activity Viewer
    • Changed:
      • Updated the Table field in Playbook Content Item to take up to 80 characters
      • Stopped showing inactive activities in the Activity Definition picker in activity overrides
    • Fixed:
      • Stopped the Playbook Form Validation from firing multiple times
      • Corrected access for the "Preview in Playbook" UI Action
      • Corrected auto-refresh behavior for lists in the mobile playbook environment
      • Corrected tooltip in playbook heading to only show once
      • Stopped showing activities as Pending when they should be In Progress in HR Playbook
      • Set stepper playbook preset to "sm"
      • Stopped showing conditional lanes when run conditions are not met
      • Corrected population of the declarative action model field 'is_last_in_playbook'
    Version 26.1.3 - September 2024 (Xanadu)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected tooltip to only show once when playbook title is truncated
      • Updated lists to auto-refresh when using mobile playbook
      • Updated stages with unmet run conditions to hide
      • Updated stages to stop incorrectly showing "Pending" state instead of "In Progress" HR Playbooks
      • Corrected the value for the stepper preset size
      • Updated activities in focus view to render even when screen height is shorter than the activity
    Version 25.2.3 - September 2024 (Washington DC)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected tooltip to only show once when playbook title is truncated
      • Updated stages with unmet run conditions to hide
      • Updated stages to stop incorrectly showing "Pending" state instead of "In Progress" HR Playbooks
      • Updated playbook form to save data when the field is of type "checkbox"
      • Corrected declarative actions to show in activities when the associated record is changed
    Version 26.1.2 - August 2024 (Xanadu)
    • New:
      • Added a "Starting" indicator to the first activity in a playbook to prevent a process of sequential activities from being blocked.
      • Added UIB Presets for the now-stepper when using the Playbook Custom Layout Controller.
      • Added a "Hide Back to Playbook" toggle to turn on/off the "Back to Playbook" button in compact mode in the Playbook Connected and Playbook Activity Viewer.
      • Improved Accessibility and WCAG Compliance.
      • Updated Playbook Activity UIs to be compatible with the Form Controller in UI Builder.
    • Changed:
      • Changed the option in the declarative action assignment page to "Overflow menu" instead of "Header Dropdown".
      • Moved the declarative actions overflow menu to the bottom right of the Playbook Card.
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected Activity Override's activity definition reference picker to only show the active activity definitions.
      • Updated Playbook Cards to load the list and checklist components when expanded.
    Version 25.2.1 - May 2024 (Washington DC)
    • New:
      • Added bundled components for the Focused Vertical, Focused Horizontal, Stacked Vertical, and Stacked Horizontal custom layouts so that you can add layouts to new or existing pages.
      • Added the record generator function to Custom Layouts so that you can directly configure a record generator for your playbook in UI Builder.
    • Fixed: Modals no longer result in blank pages when creating records through them.
    Version 25.1.3 - April 2024 (Washington DC)
    • Fixed:
      • Corrected to open the first activity that is in progress when you select a stage.
      • Corrected optional activities to be placed correctly when added through a scripted API.
      • Corrected Download and Delete file attachment declarative actions to work in Portal playbooks.
    Version 25.1.2 - February 2024
    • New:
      • Added the function to restart a playbook from the beginning, from certain stages, or from certain activities if restart is enabled and defined in the Workflow Studio process design environment.
      • Added to support using playbooks in Portal:
        • Dynamic Catalog Content Type when creating a catalog item
        • A Scripted Extension Point
        • A Portal page
        • A Portal widget
        • A UIB page
      • Added Next Activity and Previous Activity client actions for the focused activity viewer and for layouts using focused activity viewer.
      • Apply reflow to out-of-the-box standalone and custom layout playbook components so that the UI adjusts when you resize your window or zoom.
      • Added form sections to playbook forms.
      • Added the following mobile playbooks events:
        • Scan Barcode allows users to scan barcodes.
        • Open Launcher Screen allows users to open launcher screens.
        • Initial Load Started and Initial Load Completed streamlines the display of loaders between the native mobile and playbook web-based loaders.
        • Playbook AMB update received lets the mobile controller know when an activities record has changed.
    • Fixed: Key performance, accessibility, and user experience improvements, such as showing playbook forms in activity UIs.
    Version 24.2.2 - December 2023 (Vancouver)
    • Fixed:
      • You no longer receive the "needs previous activity to finish before proceeding" error when using new record generators, custom activity UIs, or show list of records.
      • You must have write access to use the Save and mark complete declarative action.
    Version 24.2.1 - November 2023
    • Changed:
      • Improved readability of the vertical stage and activity pickers with new progress indicators, status icons, priority icons and more.
      • Updated forms for completed activities to display as forms instead of key-value pairs.
    • Fixed: Corrected color contrast of adding optional activities to meet accessibility standards.
    Version 24.1.2 - September 2023 (Vancouver)
    • Fixed:
      • Updated permissions so that pd_admin role users without write access to a trigger can still cancel a record.
      • Corrected UIB page for Activity UIs so that the entire Activity UI displays.
    Version 24.1.1 - August 2023 (Vancouver)
    • Changed:
      • Added support for more mobile API features like the perform function
      • Added the playbook title to the mobile page
      • Added a Leave playbook button that you can add to the last activity
    • Fixed:
      • Updated to show only the correct tooltip when hovering on an activity
      • Corrected filter appearance
    Version 22.2.1 - August 2023 (Tokyo)
    Fixed: Corrected payload mapping for the Playbook Open Record action.
    Version 23.1.4 - April 2023
    • Fixed:
      • Playbook Custom Layouts:
        • Corrected the button label from 'Show stages flag' to 'Show stages' in the Activity Picker
        • Updated the 'Create Task' declarative action in the new CSM playbook layout to carry over the account, contact, and consumer from parent case to new task
        • Updated Horizontal Stage Picker to hide stage when all activities are hidden
        • Updated Horizontal Stage Pickers to respond to declarative actions
        • Added optional activities for the Horizontal Stage Picker configuration
        • Added resizable panes to all templates
        • Stopped looping behavior when selecting a stage in the Horizontal Stage Picker after filtering
        • Hid activity card progress icons temporarily
        • Corrected blurriness of icons for selected pending activities
    • Accessibility:
      • Corrected focus issues for the Horizontal Stage Picker
      • Made minor visual changes
    Version 23.1.1 - February 2023
    • New:
      • Customize the layouts of your Playbook by arranging modular components.
        • The Playbook Custom Layout UI Controller provides access to the underlying process data, so you can also create your own process-aware UI components.
        • If you're using the provided components, Presets can automatically use data from the Playbook Custom Layout UI Controller as inputs for the components.
        • See progress and navigate between stages in a horizontal bar instead of the standard vertical view.
        • If you're not sure where to start, choose from 4 layout templates to try.
    Version 22.1.2 - November 2022 (Tokyo)
    • New: The Link to destination feature from UI Builder is also available in Playbook now
    • Fixed: Performance optimization
    Version 21.4.1 0 November 2022 (San Diego)
    • New: The Link to destination feature from UI Builder is also available in Playbook now
    • Fixed: Performance optimization
    Version 22.0.4 - August 2022 (Tokyo)
    • New: Playbooks now auto advance to the next stage, without a user having to manually navigate
    • Fixed: Key performance, accessibility, and user experience improvements to the Playbook Experience components
    Version 21.3.3 - August 2022 (San Diego)
    • New:
      • Agents and fulfillers no longer need to manually navigate to the next stage of a Playbook. Auto Advance now does this for you.
      • The Playbook form component has adopted the new client script behavior.
    Version 21.2.3 - May 2022 (San Diego)
    • New:
      • Significant performance optimizations to default Activity UIs including adoption of new proxied data broker.
        • Note: users should update any existing custom Activity UIs to adopt the new data broker
      • New "Open List" declarative action for opening lists in new tab
    Version 20.5.1 - May 2022 (Rome)
    Fixed: Security bug.
    Version 20.4.2 - February 2022
    Fixed: User time zones are now honored in Playbook Forms.
    Version 20.3.3 - October 2021
    Changed: The "Mark Complete" declarative action used by the User Form activity now saves the associated record before completing an activity.