Premium chat
Now Assist panel premium chat is an AI chat experience built into your ServiceNow environment that lets you ask questions, get answers from your organization's knowledge, and take action on records — all in one place. It supports file uploads, web search, and multi-step agentic tasks, so you can handle more complex requests without leaving the panel.
To begin, select the Now Assist icon 
to display the Now Assist panel.
| Item number | Description |
|---|---|
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1 - Expand |
Expands the chat into a 90% screen-size window. The 90% screen-size window can’t be resized or moved. Selecting the icon again resizes the chat back into the floating window. You can also resize the chat window using the window's edges. |
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2 - Pin |
Positions, or pins, the Now Assist panel to the screen. |
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3 - Close |
Closes the Now Assist panel. |
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4 - Chat history Chat history with unread chats |
Displays the Chat History window. A red dot appears on the icon if you have any unread chats. |
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5 - New conversation |
Starts a new Now Assist panel conversation. |
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6 - Input bar |
Enter your prompt or request. |
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7 - Voice input |
If voice input is enabled, select the microphone icon and speak your message. Your speech is transcribed and appears in the input bar in real time.
Note: Voice input must be enabled by an
administrator before it is available. Administrators can enable or disable voice input at the instance level. Individual users can also turn voice input on or off. |
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8 - Add files & images/Include Web |
Add files and images Upload files during conversations to help the assistant understand your request. The assistant reads uploaded files and uses that content to fill required fields and answer questions. You can also upload images to help the assistant understand a visual situation. The assistant analyzes the uploaded content and can answer natural-language questions about
it, generate summaries, and recommend or execute actions based on what it sees. For example:When referencing visual content, the assistant can identify specific image regions in its response.
Uploaded files are retained only during your active session and cleared automatically when the session ends. Supported file formats are:You can upload a maximum of 5 files per conversation. You can change the model provider at the instance level by navigating to . If the provider is set to anything other than Azure, the Add files & images option will not be visible.
Include Web If you select the Include Web option, the assistant's search is expanded to include internet results alongside internal knowledge base articles and catalog items. Your prior conversation context carries over when Include Web is enabled, though sensitive personal information such as your name, email address, and phone number is removed before being shared externally. To help answer location-aware or company-specific questions, publicly available information such as your location and company name may be included in the web search. Responses indicate which parts of the answer come from web sources, and citations for web results show the page title and web link. The Include Web setting is preserved if you return to a past conversation that had it enabled. |
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9 - Previously used prompts |
Prompts that you've previously entered. |
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10 - Now Assist message |
Indicates that the answers are generated by AI. |
, the Chat History window appears:| Item | Description |
|---|---|
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A - New Chat
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Start a new conversation. You may be prompted with a greeting message along with any promoted conversational assets such as topics, subflows, and actions, or suggested queries. If more than 6 promoted topics are enabled, the first 6 topics appear along with a View all topics option that displays the complete list. |
| This record |
Conversations related to the current record you're viewing. This section appears only when you're viewing a specific record, such as an incident or case. When you open the Now Assist panel while on a record, the most recent conversation associated with that record is automatically displayed. Conversations in this section are identified by the record number prefix in the conversation title—for example, INC0012345 — My laptop won't turn on. The same conversation may appear in both This record and Active sections if it's still in progress. When you navigate to a different record, the This record section updates to show conversations for the new record. When you navigate to a home page or list view, this section is hidden. |
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B - Active |
Chats where you can continue the conversation. Unread chats are indicated with a red dot. Active chats include both record-specific conversations and general conversations. Record-specific conversations may also appear in the This record section if you're currently viewing that record. Active chats move to the Closed chats section after two hours of inactivity. Configure this 2-hour time limit in the Messaging Channels [sys_cs_channel] table. To change the inactivity time limit, select the NASS record from the Messaging Channels [sys_cs_channel] table and populate the Conversation Idle Timeout field. If more than 12 active chats are running, a Show more link appears. Selecting Show more displays an additional 10 chats. When you navigate to a record page, the panel displays the most recent conversation associated with that record in the This record section of Chat History. If you navigate away and return to the same record, the panel restores that conversation automatically. If you switch to a different record, the This record section updates to show conversations for the new record. Conversations tied to a specific record are identified by the record number prefix in the conversation title — for example, INC0012345 — My laptop won't turn on. |
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C - Closed |
A message closes when the designated time passes (2 hours of inactivity) or you receive this response: It looks like you're finished with this chat, so I'll go ahead and close it. Turn on closed chats by selecting the Show closed chats check box in . After being turned on, closed chats are displayed for as long as they're available in the Conversations [sys_cs_conversation] table. If more than four closed chats are available, a Show more link appears. Selecting Show more displays an additional 10 closed chats. Closed chats cannot be reopened. Hovering over a closed chat displays the delete icon. |
The Now Assist feedback icons panel consist of these elements:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
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1 - [Chat name] |
The name of the conversation. If you select a promoted asset or query, that asset's title becomes the chat name. If instead you enter a prompt into the Reply to Now Assist field, your initial prompt becomes the chat name. The chat name appears in both the Now Assist subheader and section. |
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2 - Thumbs up (like) Thumbs down (dislike) |
Select the thumbs up icon if the response was helpful, or the thumbs down icon if it wasn't. |
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3 - Copy |
Copy the response. |
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4 - Download |
Displays a menu with options to download the conversation as a PDF or DOC file. |
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5 - Sources and more |
Opens a panel showing the sources used to generate the response, along with related content. From the panel you can select View all results to navigate to the global search page. |
Now Assist panel is available on Next Experience and ServiceNow Studio. The following screenshots show the Now Assist panel in a workspace and on Core UI screens under Next Experience.
| Next Experience | Core UI |
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Response feedback
. If the response wasn't helpful, select the dislike thumbs down icon 
. When you select the thumbs up or thumbs down icon, you are prompted to provide detailed feedback by selecting one or more reason check boxes. You can also select
Other to add comments or suggestions (up to 300 characters). After making your selection, select Submit to submit your feedback, or select X to close the dialog
without submitting feedback. All submitted feedback is captured, stored, and made available through analytic dashboards.
may appear in the feedback icons panel. This icon appears alongside synthesized responses in Virtual Agent, clarifying questions in Virtual Agent, and regular search results or Virtual Agent fallback topics whenever a synthesized response is unavailable. Selecting the go to search results icon redirects you to the search results page and begins a search query using the last five chat utterances you entered. Additionally, a copy message icon (
) appears on received Virtual Agent responses.Agentic conversations
Admins must first enable AI agents before end users can experience agentic conversations. Now Assist panel discovers and executes agentic workflows. For more information on agentic workflows, see Now Assist agentic workflows and Multiple conversations in Now Assist AI agents.
When you ask a question to the Now Assist panel premium chat, the agent understands the query and begins a flow. When you submit a message with multiple questions or requests, Now Assist panel premium chat answers them consecutively. It can reason, plan, and execute across AI agents, Now Assist panel topics, conversational actions and subflows, catalogs, Knowledge Base articles, custom skills, and any Now Assist supported skills to help you. You receive on-screen messages showing where the agent is in the agentic processing flow prior to receiving the response. After the processing completes, a View AI Steps
section header appears where you can expand and view the processing flow steps. You can stop the agentic processing flow at any time by selecting the End flow icon (
). After an action starts, it can't be stopped. Selecting the End flow icon only stops the subsequent processing
steps.
If your question is unclear or could apply to multiple topics, Now Assist evaluates your request and may ask for clarification before responding. This helps you receive a focused, relevant answer rather than an overwhelming list of results. If the assistant is confident it understands your intent, it responds immediately without asking for clarification. If no relevant answer is found, the assistant displays a message and suggests an alternative, such as contacting support.
You can explore a response in more depth without asking your original question again. Follow-up requests such as "show more detail," "compare sources," "summarize by theme," or "what's missing?" remain anchored to the same retrieved context. The context resets when you start a new conversation. You can also start a follow-up conversation in the Now Assist panel directly from a search result in workspace. When viewing a search result, select the follow-up option to open the Now Assist panel with the result as context for your next question.
Processing messages are short status updates that appear on-screen while Now Assist works on your request. They reflect what Now Assist is actively doing at each step, such as searching for information or analyzing a document, and update as each step completes. Processing messages don’t appear for simple interactions such as greetings, which are handled instantly.
When an agentic workflow requires your input before it can continue, the processing messages pause and no loading indicator is displayed. After you provide the requested input, a new processing message appears to indicate that Now Assist has resumed processing your request.
When you view search results in a workspace, you can continue exploring a topic by asking a follow-up question in the Now Assist panel. Select Ask a follow-up from the search result to open the Now Assist panel and then enter your follow-up question in the input bar.
Streaming responses
After you enter a question or request on the Now Assist panel, Now Assist gathers information from Knowledge Base articles, external content, product documentation, catalog items, and workflows and combines them into a synthesized, comprehensive answer. Instead of waiting for
the entire message to render, the synthesized response streams in real time and stops streaming after delivery. An animated sparkle icon () appears while the response is generated and changes to the static sparkle icon after the response has fully loaded. Synthesized responses include inline citations that identify the sources used to generate the answer. Up
to three inline citations appear within the response. Select a citation to open the source in a new browser tab. To view all sources and related results, select Sources and more. External links, such as those
from web search results, open in a new browser tab. Your current tab and Now Assist conversation are not affected.
Fallback options
A fallback state can occur whenever search results are unavailable. Scenarios where search results are unavailable include when Now Assist didn't understand the query, complaint small talk was found, or an error occurred. When search results are unavailable, the Search the web fallback option may appear. If you select the Search the web fallback option, the web search mode is triggered and uses the internet to search for the results. Only the last query entered into the conversation is considered when entering web search mode via this Search the web fallback option. For more information about where and how to enable fallback options, see .
If Now Assist can't find relevant results for your query, or if an answer is based on limited evidence, Now Assist displays a message to let you know. It may also suggest ways to improve your results, such as rephrasing your query, broadening your search scope, or specifying a time frame or source.
If Now Assist can't find relevant results in your organization's internal content, an Include the Web button appears in the chat. Selecting it reruns your query with web results included and turns on Include Web mode for the rest of the conversation. Unlike the Search the web fallback option, which only applies to your most recent query, selecting Include the Web expands all subsequent responses to include web results.