Combined Playbook release notes for upgrades from Yokohama to Australia

Consolidated page of all release notes for Playbook from Yokohama to Australia.

How to use this page

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

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

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

• Upgrade information

After you upgrade to Australia, update the Workflow Studio application in the ServiceNow Store.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## New features

Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for Playbook.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

• Support for Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) with playbook generation

Generate playbooks from inputs that refer to custom actions, flows, subflows, content from installed spokes, or activity definitions. Include the names of commonly used and recently published actions, subflows, flows, and activity definitions available on your instance in your playbook generation requests.

• Generate playbooks with the OpenAI GPT-4o LLM

Use the OpenAI GPT-4o LLM to generate a playbook from text.

• Translate playbooks content

Add custom translations for labels, descriptions, and UI Layout properties in your playbooks.

• Restart playbook activities that end in error

Configure activities so that end users can restart any activity that ends in an error and variant conditions are automatically re-evaluated when playbooks are restarted.

• Add more fields in Create Task activities

Add more fields in a more configurable Create Task activity.

• Create a checklist directly in Workflow Studio

Create a checklist directly in the side panel without needing a checklist template.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Create decision branches for stages

Add a decision node between stages to determine which stage to run next, based on runtime conditions.

• Route users to stages based on decisions

Send runtime users to a stage based off of the trigger record or input that users provide.

• 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.

• 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.

• Generate a playbook with a trigger

Generate a playbook with both a trigger and activities.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

• Ideal path for a playbook

Use ideal path to identify the intended execution path or view upcoming work hidden behind conditions. Ideal Path enables playbook authors to define and visualize the preferred process route. The end users of a playbook gets runtime visibility into the expected workflow path, improving process clarity, usability, and observability.

• 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.

• Go back activity

Use the Go Back activity to define a conditional return point in a playbook. When placed in a decision branch, the activity directs the playbook to loop back to a specified point. The playbook can look back to an earlier activity, stage, or the start of the playbook based on the branch outcome. This enables conditional retry and re-evaluation logic without duplicating flow structure.

• 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.

• Preview an activity’s runtime UI

Preview an activity’s runtime UI directly from the diagram canvas, with a real-time side-by-side preview that updates as you edit.

• Fluent support for Playbooks

Build, edit, and manage playbooks as code with the Fluent domain-specific language (DSL) in the ServiceNow IDE or a local SDK.

• 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.

• Use AI agents as a playbook activity

Use an existing AI agent as an activity in your playbook to automate tasks. The AI agent gathers the required context, performs the work, and produces outputs that subsequent activities can consume.

• Nested playbooks

Nest playbooks as a step within other playbooks to enable the following scenarios:

-   Define sets of activities for reuse across multiple playbooks to help avoid duplication.
-   Break up large playbooks for easy maintenance and fast load time in Playbook Designer.

• Simplified end-user playbook experience

Implement a wizard experience for guiding your end users through a sequence of steps to achieve an outcome, such as servicing a printer.

• Automated Test Framework support for playbooks

The Automated Test Framework can be used to create automated tests to confirm your playbooks run as planned.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Changes

Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing Playbook features.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

• Trigger label updated

The trigger is now labeled “Start” in Workflow Studio.

• Change triggers in any playbook

Edit triggers when you duplicate a playbook, in a variant, etc.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

• 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.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

• Required role update

Any tasks that previously required only the admin role now require the playbook.admin role instead.

• ServiceNow product tiers

The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you a new AI experience with three licensing tiers available:

-   Foundation: AI basics to deliver insights
-   Advanced: AI to boost productivity across relevant use cases
-   Prime: Act autonomously with all AI assets, and create your own

Depending on your license, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents.

• Changes in the Now LLM service

The Now LLM Service is no longer the default model provider for new or inactive AI assets. A third-party LLM is now selected by default, while existing configurations using the Now LLM Service continue unchanged. The Now LLM Service is still available for manual selection.

• 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.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Removed

Between your current release family and Australia, some Playbook features or functionality were removed.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Deprecations

Between your current release family and Australia, some Playbook features or functionality were deprecated.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

• -

• If you have the old Create Task activity in your existing playbooks, it will continue to function. You just can’t add the extra fields that are available only in the new Create Task activity.

• If you have the old Checklist activity in your existing playbooks, it will continue to function. You just won’t be able to update the checklist directly in Workflow Studio the way that you can with the new Checklist activity.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

• now.assist.creator role

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

The now.assist.creator role is no longer a required role to generate a playbook or playbook recommendation when using Now Assist.

Starting with the September 2026 release, Gemma 4 joins our growing portfolio of open-weight models available through Now LLM Service. We’re committed to bringing you the latest industry advancements while maintaining sovereignty-focused options, all hosted and governed by ServiceNow with the infrastructure and data protections you rely on today. Older models will remain available for existing published AI skills, agents, and agentic workflows, but will no longer be available for new development or configuration. For details, see the KB3066214: ServiceNow Otto Model Upgrades article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Activation information

Review information on how to activate Playbook.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

• Activation information

The Playbooks application comes with the 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 Process Automation Content and Process Automation Experience Demo. The Playbooks application can be downloaded for patch fixes.

To use playbook generation features in Workflow Studio, download the ServiceNow Otto for Creator application. To use Agentic Playbooks, enable it through Now Assist.

Visit the ServiceNow Store 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.

Important: Playbooks is available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the “Activation information” section of these release notes.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Playbook we have noted them here.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Playbook we have noted them here.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Playbook, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Playbook we have noted them here.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>## Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Playbook we have noted them here.

<table class=“custom-rows”><thead><tr><th class=“filter”>

Release

</th><th>

Release notes

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>

Yokohama

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Zurich

</td><td>

No updates for this release.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Australia

</td><td>

• Playbooks are structured, guided workflows that lead users, agents, or technicians through the steps required to complete a business process, such as case resolution or work order fulfillment.

• Playbooks consist of sequential stages, each containing activities that can be manual tasks, automated actions, or guided decisions, ensuring consistency and conformance across records.

• Benefits include eliminating the need to memorize processes, providing real‑time guidance, automating routine steps, and enabling administrators to update processes centrally, which applies to all users.

• Playbooks support use cases across multiple domains.

See Explore for more information.

</td></tr></tbody> </table>Parent Topic:Products combined by family