Getting started with Virtual Agent Designer

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 24, 2026
  • 9 minutes to read
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    Summary of Getting started with Virtual Agent Designer

    The Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram-based tool within ServiceNow that enables customers to create and manage conversation assets, or blueprints, for Virtual Agent interactions. These conversations help users resolve common issues and complete self-service tasks by building topics composed of various logic controls and user responses.

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    Depending on your ServiceNow license, you may have access to features including generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents. Assistant Designer provides additional capabilities such as managing conversational subflows, actions, custom skills, and AI agents, especially when integrated with Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    Key Features

    • Asset Library: Centralized management of topics, topic blocks, setup topics, small talk topics, custom controls, subflows, actions, and AI agents. Includes robust search, filtering, and sorting to organize large numbers of assets effectively.
    • Topic Design and Flow: Visual diagram or table views for building conversation flows using user inputs, bot responses, and utilities. Supports script variables, entities, and nodeless entities to customize interactions.
    • Topic Properties: Configuration options vary based on topic discovery method—LLM or NLU/keyword—including specification of models, intents, assistants, usage controls, channels, and live agent variables.
    • Language Support: Translation management and testing for activated languages, including editing translations and mapping NLU languages and entities.
    • LLM and NLU Topic Discovery: Use large language models (LLMs) via Now Assist for generative AI topic matching or traditional NLU models with intent mapping. Assistant Designer integrates with NLU Workbench for model management.
    • Testing and Debugging: Preview, test, and debug both LLM and NLU topics within Assistant Designer’s chat test window to ensure correct behavior before publishing.
    • Topic Lifecycle Management: Create, duplicate, migrate (from NLU to LLM), publish, delete, and promote topics and conversational assets. Promotion includes ordering and condition-based prioritization of suggested assets.
    • Management of Conversational Subflows, Actions, Custom Skills, and AI Agents: Accessible and manageable through Assistant Designer, enabling rich and extensible Virtual Agent conversations.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlined Conversation Building: Intuitive diagram and table views help accelerate development of Virtual Agent topics tailored to your organizational workflows and user needs.
    • Enhanced AI Capabilities: Leverage generative AI and LLMs through Now Assist to improve topic discovery and deflection rates, reducing manual intent configuration and training effort.
    • Centralized Asset Management: Efficiently organize, search, and control Virtual Agent assets and their properties, including controlling who can access topics and on which communication channels they run.
    • Multilingual Support: Manage translations and test conversations in multiple languages to serve diverse user populations.
    • Seamless Integration: Manage NLU models and intents without leaving Virtual Agent Designer, improving productivity and reducing context switching.
    • Robust Testing and Debugging Tools: Validate conversation logic and AI behavior before deployment to ensure high-quality user experiences.
    • Flexible Asset Promotion and Discovery: Prioritize and promote conversational subflows, actions, and topics within assistants to guide users effectively.

    Next Steps

    ServiceNow customers can begin by exploring the Assistant Designer asset library to view and create conversation assets. Activate Now Assist in Virtual Agent and related skills to unlock advanced LLM features. Use the Properties and Flow tabs to configure and design conversation topics tailored to your business needs. Leverage testing tools to validate and refine conversations before publishing. Regularly manage and update assets, including translations and AI models, to maintain effective Virtual Agent performance.

    The Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing assets, which are blueprints for conversations between a Virtual Agent and a user. You can design topics that help your users resolve common work issues or guide them through self-service tasks.

    Virtual Agent conversations are built using topics. When building an asset, there are various components (controls) that you can use to build the logic of a conversation, as well as the responses that the user sees.

    Note:
    Depending on your license, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents. For more information, see ServiceNow product tiers.
    You can also view and manage the following in Assistant Designer:
    • Conversational subflows and actions for LLM-enabled conversations

      Virtual Agent conversations can include subflows and actions if they were made conversational in Workflow Studio or topics that include subflows and actions through the Action utility node.

      • Conversational subflows and actions are available in Assistant Designer only if Now Assist in Virtual Agent has been configured.
      • Conversational subflows and actions are also shown in Assistant Designer if the Now Assist Panel is available. For more information on the Now Assist Panel, see Now Assist panel.
      • Conversational subflows and actions only appear to users during a conversation if the Subflows and actions skill is turned on in Now Assist Admin. For more information, see Now Assist in Virtual Agent.
      Note:
      Conversational subflows and actions are not applicable to the Virtual Agent Designer legacy topic cards page view.
    • Custom skills

      You can view custom skills created in Now Assist Skill Kit through Assistant Designer. For more information, see Managing custom skills in Assistant Designer Asset library.

    • AI agents

      You can view AI agents created in AI Agent Studio through Assistant Designer. For more information, see Managing AI agents in Assistant Designer.

    Virtual Agent can use either large language model (LLM) or Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to match the user's request with the appropriate conversation or topic.

    With LLM topic discovery, you can use generative AI through Now Assist in Virtual Agent to match the user's request with the desired conversation or topic. With Now Assist in Virtual Agent, you can test and publish your models from within Virtual Agent Designer. Now Assist in Virtual Agent uses LLMs and generative AI skills to improve deflection rates and reduce the amount of time-consuming work that Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery requires. For more information, see LLM topic discovery in Virtual Agent.

    With NLU/keyword topic discovery, the topic author associates the topic with an intent within an NLU model. An intent describes what the user wants to achieve. User utterances are matched with intents to determine the most appropriate topic for the user. Associating a topic with a model and intent is called mapping.

    If you're using ServiceNow NLU/keyword topic discovery, then Assistant Designer integrates with NLU Workbench so that you can map topics to new or existing models and intents without leaving the interface. In addition, you can also modify utterances, test, train, and publish your models from within Virtual Agent Designer.

    Assistant Designer Asset library

    Note:
    An updated Assistant Designer Asset library 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 activated, you see the legacy UI and topics page. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer legacy topics page.
    When you open Assistant Designer, the Asset library lists the assets in your instance. These assets include topics, topic blocks, setup topics, small talk topics, custom controls, subflows, actions, and AI agents.
    Note:
    Along with small talk topics, you can also set small talk filters to redirect conversations based on unexpected user statements. For more information, see Configure small talk filters.
    In the Asset library, you can access and edit any of these assets, and create topics, topic blocks, setup topics, small talk topics, and custom controls, in Virtual Agent Designer

    Assistant Designer Asset library page.

    Note:
    Conversational subflows and actions are available in Assistant Designer if Now Assist in Virtual Agent has been configured. Conversational subflows and actions are also shown in Assistant Designer if the Now Assist Panel is available. For more information on the Now Assist Panel, see Now Assist panel.

    You can test and preview active topics to verify that they work as intended. You can also sort and search for topics. When you have many assets, use the search bar and filter icon to quickly organize and find your topics. For more information, see Assistant Designer Asset library.

    Each topic list entry identifies the asset and provides the following information by default:
    Field Description
    Name Name of the topic. Template topics also contain (Template) in the name.
    Type Topic types include Topic, Topic Block, Setup Topic, Small Talk, Custom Input Control, Custom Response Control, Subflows, and Actions.
    Status Status types include Draft, Modified (with unsaved changes), or Published.
    Active Whether the topic is active or inactive.
    Last modified Time (minutes, hours, days, or months) that the topic was last modified.
    Description Description of the topic. For topics, this field is created and updated on the Properties tab.

    When you open a topic, a tab is displayed in the navigation header bar. The topic's name is shown on the tab, and a red dot appears if the topic has unsaved changes. Hover over the tab to view the scope in which the topic was created.

    Topic tab that displays the topic name, saved condition, and application scope.

    When you open a subflow or action, a tab is displayed in the navigation header bar. This tab opens the subflow or action in Workflow Studio within the Assistant Designer environment.

    Assistants

    For LLM topics, the Select assistant list enables you to filter the assets based on the LLM Virtual Agent (assistant) selected. By default the following assistants are available for Assistant Designer Asset library:
    • Now Assist in Virtual Agent (default)
    • Now Assist Panel - Platform (default)

      For the Now Assist Panel - Platform (default) assistant, if you want AI agents to be Discoverable, Visible, or Promoted, set the Value field in the system property sn_aia.enable_aiagents_discovery to True. If the Value field is set to False, then AI agents can't be set as Discoverable, Visible, or Promoted. To enable this property, you must contact ServiceNow support.

    Select an assistant.

    You can create assistants from Conversational interfaces > Assistants. For more information about creating assistants, see Create a chat assistant.

    For more information about LLM assistants, see LLM assistants.

    Topic properties

    Use the topic Properties tab to identify a Virtual Agent asset and how it’s used. The properties you can specify depend on the method of topic discovery used in your instance: LLM or NLU/keyword. For example, if you have activated Now Assist and are working with an LLM topic, the Properties tab includes fields for what you want the topic to do and which assistants to use. If you have activated NLU, you can select NLU/keyword from the Type drop-down menu when you create a topic. The Properties tab includes fields for identifying the NLU model and intent for the topic.

    Use the Properties tab to do the following:
    • Specify the name and type of asset, such as topic, topic block, custom control, and so on.
    • Specify the model type, purpose of the topic, and which assistants can run this topic for Now Assist customers.
    • Specify the model type, add a topic description, specify the purpose of the topic, and select which assistants can run this topic for Now Assist customers.
    • Control who uses the topic and what channels it can run in.
    • Associate live agent variables with a topic.
    • Add keywords to the topic or map the topic to a ServiceNow NLU model and intent.

    For more information, see Topic Properties tab.

    Topic flow

    When you create or update a topic, topic block, or custom control, you build the conversation flow on the Flow tab. In the default view, the flow looks like a diagram. Use the controls for user inputs, bot responses, and utilities to define the flow. The status of the topic and NLU/Keyword model (if used) appears in the upper-right corner of the window.

    The Table View option in Virtual Agent Designer displays the nodes in your conversation flow as a table, rather than as a diagram. Each node is identified in a corresponding row in the table. You can add, change, or delete nodes using these table rows.

    For example, instead of dragging controls and dropping them onto the canvas, you can select Add new node to insert a node into the appropriate row in the table. When you focus on a particular row (node), the corresponding property sheet for the node is displayed.

    As you create or update your design, you might find it helpful to switch between the diagram view and the Table View using the Table View option. If your conversation contains many nodes, the Table View lets you review all the nodes in your conversation quickly. You can use the Search table option to quickly find a particular node or control.

    Use the Flow tab to do the following:

    For more information, see Topic Flow tab.

    NLU model and intent mappings

    If you activated NLU on your instance, the NLU Intent tab is available for your topics in Virtual Agent Designer. Once you have bound the topic to a model and intent on the Properties tab, you can use the NLU Intent tab to do the following:
    Note:
    The virtual_agent_admin role includes the nlu_admin role, which enables topic authors to work on ServiceNow models.

    For more information about this tab, see Topic NLU Intent tab.

    Topic languages

    The Languages tab displays the topic's translation status for languages that have been activated on the instance for both LLM and NLU conversations. If you're using NLU/keyword, you can also review the language mappings for that topic.

    Use the Languages tab to do the following:

    For more information about this tab, see Topic Languages tab.