Combined Playbooks in Workflow Studio release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Australia

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Combined Playbooks in Workflow Studio release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Australia

Release version: Australia

Updated August 11, 2026

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Summary of Combined Playbooks in Workflow Studio Release Notes for Upgrades from Zurich to Australia

This consolidated guide provides ServiceNow customers with essential information about Playbooks in Workflow Studio when upgrading from the Zurich release family to the Australia release. It covers new features, changes, deprecations, and upgrade tasks to help you effectively prepare and leverage the latest capabilities in your Playbooks environment.

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Important Upgrade Information

Pre- and post-upgrade tasks: Review and complete tasks before and after upgrading to Australia to ensure a smooth transition.
Workflow Studio app updates: After upgrading to Zurich, update the Workflow Studio application via the ServiceNow Store to access new features. No additional updates are required specifically for Australia.
Application availability: Workflow Studio is part of the ServiceNow AI Platform® and is available by default. New features are delivered through app updates in the ServiceNow Store.

New Features Introduced Since Zurich

Playbook evaluation control: Set child variants to evaluate later in the playbook rather than immediately after triggers.
Agentic Playbooks: Enable AI agents to assist users during runtime activities, including options for collaborative or autonomous AI agent use.
Permission management: Define permissions separately for playbook authors (create, edit, view) and runtime users (view, add optional activities, restart playbooks, complete stages).
Decision branches and routing: Add decision nodes between stages to control subsequent stage execution based on runtime conditions and route users accordingly.
Multiple triggers and scheduling: Configure playbooks to trigger on multiple conditions or on a defined schedule.
Large Language Model (LLM) selection: Choose from NowLLM, OpenAI ChatGPT4-o, Gemini, or Claude for playbook generation and recommendations.
Playbook generation enhancements: Generate playbooks from triggers, knowledge base articles, and receive AI-powered playbook summaries for faster understanding.
Integration with Model Context Protocol (MCP): Expose playbooks as MCP tools for external triggering and execution.
AI skill activities: Incorporate AI-driven tasks directly within playbooks, enabling automated outputs to cascade through playbook flows.

Changes to Existing Features

Trigger flexibility: Activate playbooks without triggers to allow programmatic initiation only.
Scriptable API calling: Configure playbooks to execute based on input objects, removing the need for trigger record references.
Decision activity improvements: Enhanced user experience in Board and Diagram views, including navigation and the ability to add parallel activities within decision branches.
Email body editing: Support mixed content of text and dynamic tokens ("pills") in rich text or HTML editors such as email bodies.
Branding update: The AI experience is now branded as ServiceNow Otto, reflecting in product names but not affecting entitlements.

Deprecations and Removals

No features or functionalities were removed or deprecated between Zurich and Australia, except for the introduction of the now.assist.creator role in Zurich, which remains relevant.

Activation and Additional Requirements

Download and install the latest Workflow Studio app from the ServiceNow Store to access new features and patch fixes.
To use playbook generation features, also install the ServiceNow Otto for Creator application.
No new browser or accessibility requirements were introduced with Australia; existing accessibility improvements from Zurich remain applicable.

Localization and Regional Considerations

Use of OpenAI LLMs for playbook generation is restricted in the APAC region as of Zurich, with no changes in Australia.

Why This Matters to You

These updates empower you to create more dynamic, AI-assisted playbooks with improved control over execution, permissions, and integration. You can automate complex workflows, enhance runtime user experiences, and leverage AI capabilities to streamline process execution. By understanding the upgrade pathway and new capabilities, you can plan your deployment effectively, ensure compliance with permissions, and maximize the value of Workflow Studio in your ServiceNow environment.

Consolidated page of all release notes for Playbooks in Workflow Studio from Zurich to Australia.

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Playbooks in Workflow Studio release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Zurich to Australia.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Playbooks in Workflow Studio to Australia

Before you upgrade to Australia, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	After you upgrade to Zurich, update the Workflow Studio application in the ServiceNow Store.
Australia	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for Playbooks in Workflow Studio.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	Set child variants to evaluate later in a playbook Instead of evaluating immediately after the trigger, set a playbook's child variants to be evaluated after a specific activity in the playbook. Agentic Playbooks Enable AI agents to assist users with activities during runtime. Add permissions for playbook authors Control which playbook authors can create, edit, and view playbooks in Workflow Studio Add permissions for runtime users Control whether runtime users can view a playbook, add optional activities, restart a playbook, and complete work within specific stages. Create decision branches for stages Add a decision node between stages to determine which stage to run next, based on runtime conditions. Set multiple triggers Configure a playbook to run based on any one of multiple triggers. Schedule when a playbook should trigger Configure a playbook to run based on a schedule. Choose your LLM for playbook generation and recommendations Choose between NowLLM, OpenAI ChatGPT4-o, Gemini, Claude for playbook generation and recommendations. Route users to stages based on decisions Send runtime users to a stage based off of the trigger record or input that users provide. Generate a playbook with a trigger Generate a playbook with both a trigger and activities. Zurich Patch 10 Playbook summarization Generate an AI-powered summary of a playbook from the Workflow Studio canvas. The summary covers the playbook's stages, activities, triggers, and inputs, helping you understand quickly about its purpose and flow without reading through each activity individually. Use AI skill as an activity Add an existing AI skill as an activity in your playbook to run lightweight, focused AI tasks as part of the playbook flow. When the playbook reaches the activity, the skill executes, produces structured outputs, and passes those outputs to subsequent activities automatically. Use custom agent in Agentic Playbooks In addition to the default AI Agents, you can add your custom AI Agent for an activity. Choose how you want to use the AI Agents in the activity- Collaborative or Autonomous. Zurich Patch 11 Playbook generation from a KB article Generate a playbook directly from an existing knowledge base article to reduce manual effort when creating playbooks for documented processes. Zurich Patch 12 Playbook as an MCP tool Expose a playbook as a tool in an MCP server, enabling MCP clients to trigger and execute the playbook through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). AI agents autonomous support configurations Configure in the activity definition how you want autonomous support from AI agents for that activity. The additional configurations help you gain more control on the activity in a playbook.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Changes

Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing Playbooks in Workflow Studio features.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	Activate playbooks without a trigger Configure and activate playbooks without specifying triggers, so that playbooks are only triggered programmatically. Implement playbooks that are callable by a scriptable API Configure a playbook that executes with an input object instead of requiring the configuration of a trigger record reference and trigger conditions. Decision activity enhancements User experience improvements to decision activities: In the Board view, select the branch to see a list of dependent activities and branches, and to navigate to them. When a decision or one of its branch nodes is selected in Diagram view, the decision and all of its branches are selected, and the side panel opens. Add parallel activities within decision branches. Enter a combination of pills and text in an email body Enter a combination of text and multiple pills in any rich text / HTML editor container, such as an email body. ServiceNow Otto ServiceNow Otto is the new AI experience brand. This change is reflected in the name of ServiceNow products, including Playbooks. Your product entitlements remain unchanged. Check your entitlements to determine your access to specific features.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Removed

Between your current release family and Australia, some Playbooks in Workflow Studio features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Australia, some Playbooks in Workflow Studio features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	now.assist.creator role
Australia	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Playbooks in Workflow Studio.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	The application comes with the application can be downloaded for patch fixes.Workflow Studio ServiceNow Store app. Workflow Studio is part of the ServiceNow AI Platform® and is available by default. Get the latest Workflow Studio features by downloading the latest Workflow Studio app in the ServiceNow Store, as well as related applications like the Process Automation Content and Process Automation Experience Demo applications. The To use the playbook generation feature in Workflow Studio, download the ServiceNow Otto for Creator application. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Playbooks in Workflow Studio we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	Download the latest Workflow Studio app in the ServiceNow Store to access the newest features.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Playbooks in Workflow Studio we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Playbooks in Workflow Studio, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	In Diagram view, navigate between and configure stages and activities via keyboard. Set the action bar to always show in Diagram view. To learn more, see View all buttons without hover. In Diagram view, use a screen reader to help navigate the designer. Updated color contrast for activities to meet WCAG standards.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Playbooks in Workflow Studio we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	Using OpenAI LLMs for playbook generation is not available in the APAC region.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Playbooks in Workflow Studio we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Zurich	Add permissions for playbook authors and runtime users. Activate a playbook without a trigger. Set multiple potential triggers for a playbook, or trigger a playbook on a schedule. Enable AI agents to complete activities without human intervention during runtime. Set child variants to evaluate later in a playbook. Create decision branches for stages. See Playbooks for more information.
Australia	No updates for this release.