Playbook builder

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Playbook Builder

    Playbooks are integral components of Workflow Studio, enabling streamlined authoring, configuration, and monitoring of playbooks, flows, subflows, actions, and decision tables. Access the Workflow Studio landing page via Process Automation > Workflow Studio, where playbooks are displayed by default for easy navigation.

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    Key Features

    • Main Header: Displays current playbook information, including status and activation state. Allows toggling between Diagram and Board views, undoing or redoing actions, and navigating to errors.
    • Design Space: Build playbooks in Diagram or Board view. Activities can be organized into stages to represent steps in a business process, automating operations on the ServiceNow AI Platform.
    • Side Panel: Configure activities and stages, including adding/editing names and descriptions, defining start rules, and setting properties for activity behavior and AI agent performance.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the Playbook Builder, ServiceNow customers can efficiently create and manage automated workflows tailored to their business processes. The ability to test and activate playbooks ensures they function as intended when triggered, enhancing operational efficiency and reliability.

    Playbooks are a component in Workflow Studio. Workflow Studio gives you a streamlined way to author, configure, and monitor playbooks, flows, subflows, actions, and decision tables in one place.

    Workflow Studio landing page

    You can view the Workflow Studio landing page by navigating to Process Automation > Workflow Studio. The landing page opens to Playbooks by default, but you can easily navigate to flows, subflows, actions, and decision tables. For more information on Workflow Studio, see Workflow Studio.

    Playbooks builder

    The builder for Playbooks consists of the main header, design space, and side panel.

    Main header
    The main header displays information about the playbook that you're currently designing. In the main header, you can:
    • See the status and activation state of your playbook.
    • Toggle between Diagram and Board view.
    • Undo or redo your actions.
    • See and navigate to your errors via the error tray.
    • Turn Optional activities on or off.
    • Test and activate your playbook so that it runs as expected when triggered. You can also preview the Playbook Experience during testing. For more information, see Playbook statuses and activation states.
    • In the More actions menu, you can also deactivate or duplicate your playbook.
    • Also in the More actions menu, access the properties of your playbook. You can add or edit the name or description for your playbook, enable playbooks to restart, and edit the behavior of your trigger. For more information, see Process definition properties.
    Design space
    Build your playbooks in either Diagram or Board view. You can perform most of the same functions in either view.
    Note:
    Decision activities are not available in Board view, and Optional activities are not available in Diagram view.
    Organize activities into stages to design your playbook.
    • An activity represents one step within your overall business process. An activity can automate operations on the ServiceNow AI Platform, such as creating or updating records, displaying record information, and running automated actions in the background.
    • Organize a set of activities into stages within your business process.
    For more information, see Stages and activities.
    Side panel
    The side panel lets you configure your activities, and stages. In the side panel, you can:
    • Add or edit the name and description for your stage or activity.
    • Define the start rule for your stage or activity.
    • Define what your activity or stage does when restarted.
    • Add or edit the inputs for your activity.
    • Define additional properties for how your activity renders during runtime.
    • Define if and how an AI agent performs the activity.

    For more information on creating a playbook, see Getting started with Playbooks.