Combined Playbook release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Brazil

reference brazil Updated Nov 6, 2026 10 min read brazil-zurich-playbook-release-notes.md
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Consolidated page of all release notes for Playbook from Zurich to Brazil.

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 Zurich to Brazil.

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 Brazil

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

  • Upgrade information

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

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## New features

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

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).

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.

Generate a playbook directly from an existing knowledge base article to reduce manual effort when creating playbooks for documented processes.

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.

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.

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.

Instead of evaluating immediately after the trigger, set a playbook's child variants to be evaluated after a specific activity in the playbook.

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

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

Enable AI agents to assist users with activities during runtime.

Control which playbook authors can create, edit, and view playbooks in Workflow Studio

Control whether runtime users can view a playbook, add optional activities, restart a playbook, and complete work within specific stages.

Configure a playbook to run based on any one of multiple triggers.

Configure a playbook to run based on a schedule.

Choose between NowLLM, OpenAI ChatGPT4-o, Gemini, Claude for playbook generation and recommendations.

Generate a playbook with both a trigger and activities.

Australia

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.

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).

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.

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.

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 directly from the diagram canvas, with a real-time side-by-side preview that updates as you edit.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Changes

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

Configure and activate playbooks without specifying triggers, so that playbooks are only triggered programmatically.

Configure a playbook that executes with an input object instead of requiring the configuration of a trigger record reference and trigger conditions.

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 text and multiple pills in any rich text / HTML editor container, such as an email body.

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

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

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.

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 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.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Removed

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

No updates for this release.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Deprecations

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

  • now.assist.creator role

Australia

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. The latest industry advancements are available alongside sovereignty-focused options. All models are hosted and governed by ServiceNow with the same infrastructure and data protections. 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.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Activation information

Review information on how to activate Playbook.

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

  • 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.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Additional requirements

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

No updates for this release.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Browser requirements

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

No updates for this release.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Accessibility information

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

No updates for this release.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Localization information

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

No updates for this release.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

## Highlight information

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

Release

Release notes

Zurich

No updates for this release.

Australia

  • 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.

Brazil

No updates for this release.

**Parent Topic:**[Products combined by family](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/delta-zurich-brazil/rn-combined-intro.md)
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