Managing AI agents in Virtual Agent Designer

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated May 19, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managing AI agents in Virtual Agent Designer

    This content explains how ServiceNow customers can view and manage AI agents within Virtual Agent Designer, focusing on integration with AI Agent Studio. It highlights that while AI agents can be viewed in Virtual Agent Designer, creation, editing, testing, and deletion must be done exclusively in AI Agent Studio.

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    Note that an updated Virtual Agent Designer UI is available when the Now Assist Topics skill is enabled; otherwise, users see a legacy interface.

    Key Features

    • Viewing AI Agents: Customers can see all AI agents activated for Virtual Agent Designer, including details such as name, type, status (e.g., Published), active state, last modified time, and description.
    • Visibility and Availability Controls: Using row actions in the list, customers can toggle settings for AI agents:
      • Promoted: Shows the AI agent as a suggested conversational asset for a selected assistant.
      • Discoverable: Allows the AI agent to be invoked when matched with user utterances.
      • Visible: Makes the AI agent appear when users select the “Show me everything” option during conversations.
      • Active: Determines if the AI agent is available in conversations.
    • Editing Restrictions: Deleting or editing AI agents cannot be done in Virtual Agent Designer; these actions require AI Agent Studio access.
    • Enabling AI Agents in Virtual Agent Designer: AI agents appear in Virtual Agent Designer only if enabled in AI Agent Studio under the Define availability tab by:
      • Turning on the Display toggle for Virtual Agent.
      • Selecting the assistants where the AI agent is discoverable.
      • Specifying user roles permitted to access the AI agent in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Practical Application

    ServiceNow customers with the virtualagentadmin role can efficiently manage AI agent visibility and availability within Virtual Agent Designer, optimizing which AI agents end users can interact with through virtual assistants. By controlling promotion, discovery, visibility, and active status, customers tailor conversational experiences without needing to switch to AI Agent Studio for every management task.

    For full lifecycle management—including creation, editing, testing, and deletion—customers must use AI Agent Studio, ensuring clear separation of viewing and administrative capabilities.

    View AI agents created in AI Agent Studio through Virtual Agent Designer.

    Note:
    An updated Virtual Agent Designer user interface is available when you install Now Assist in Virtual Agent and turn on the Now Assist Topics skill. This content assumes that you have activated this skill and can see the list view. If this skill is not enabled, you will see the legacy UI and topics page. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer legacy topics page.

    Role required: virtual_agent_admin

    When you select an AI agent, it opens in AI Agent Studio. AI agents currently can't be created or edited in Virtual Agent Designer. You can only view them in Virtual Agent Designer. They can be created, edited, tested, and deleted only in AI Agent Studio. For more details, see AI Agent Studio.

    AI agents in Virtual Agent Designer

    Select the AI agents option to see all the AI agents activated for Virtual Agent Designer.

    AI agents in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Column Description
    Name Name of the AI agent. Select the AI agent to open it in AI Agent Studio.
    Type AI agent.
    Status Status type such as Published.
    Active Whether the AI agent is active or inactive.
    Last modified Time when the AI agent was last modified.
    Description Description of the AI agent.

    Use the row actions icon ( Row actions icon.) to work with visibility settings for Promoted, Discoverable, Visible, and Active:

    Option Description
    Promoted Option to toggle the AI agent's Promoted status to show as a suggested conversational asset in the virtual assistant.

    You must first select an assistant to promote the AI agent.
    Discoverable Option to toggle the AI agent's Discoverable status. If discoverable, the AI agent is invoked when matched with a user's utterance.
    Visible Option to toggle the AI agent's visibility to users. If visible, the AI agent appears whenever the Show me everything option is selected in the conversation.
    Active Option to toggle the AI agent's active status. If active, the AI agent is available within the conversation.
    Delete Delete option for AI agent is inactive in Virtual Agent Designer. The AI agent can only be deleted from AI Agent Studio.

    AI agents become available in Virtual Agent Designer based on the display settings in AI Agent Studio. To enable an AI agent to appear in Virtual Agent Designer, perform the following:

    1. Navigate to All > AI Agent Studio > Overview and select the AI agent.
    2. Select the Define availability tab.
    3. In the Virtual Agent card:
      • Turn on the Display toggle.
      • Select the assistants where the AI agent becomes discoverable.
      • Select the user roles that can access the AI agent in Virtual Agent Designer.

      Virtual Agent card in an AI agent.

    For detailed information about creating AI agents, see Create an AI agent.