The Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing topics, which are blueprints for conversations between a virtual agent and user. You can design topics that help your users resolve common work issues or guide them through self-service tasks. You can also view and manage conversational subflows and actions for LLM-enabled conversations in Virtual Agent Designer.

Virtual Agent conversations are built using topics. When building a topic, there are various components (controls) that you can use to build the logic of a conversation, as well as the responses that the user sees. Virtual Agent conversations can also include subflows and actions if they were made conversational in Workflow Studio or topics that include subflows and actions through the Action utility node. Conversational subflows and actions are only available in Virtual Agent Designer if Now Assist in Virtual Agent has been configured. Conversational subflows and actions only appear to users during a conversation if the Subflows and actions skill is turned on in Now Assist Admin. For more information, see Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

Note: Conversational subflows and actions are not applicable to the Virtual Agent Designer legacy topic cards page view.

Virtual Agent can use either generative AI or Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to match the user's request with the appropriate conversation or topic.

With large language model (LLM) topic discovery, you can use generative AI through Now Assist in Virtual Agent to match the user's request with the desired conversation or topic. With Now Assist in Virtual Agent, you can test and publish your models from within Virtual Agent Designer. Now Assist in Virtual Agent uses LLMs and generative AI skills to improve deflection rates and reduce the amount of time-consuming work that Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery requires. For more information, see LLM topic discovery in Virtual Agent.

With NLU/keyword topic discovery, the topic author associates the topic with an intent within an NLU model. An intent describes what the user wants to achieve. User utterances are matched with intents to determine the most appropriate topic for the user. Associating a topic with a model and intent is called mapping.

If you're using ServiceNow NLU/keyword topic discovery, then Virtual Agent Designer integrates with NLU Workbench so that you can map topics to new or existing models and intents without leaving the interface. In addition, you can also modify utterances, test, train, and publish your models from within Virtual Agent Designer.

Virtual Agent Designer home page

Note: An updated Virtual Agent Designer user interface is available when you install Now Assist in Virtual Agent and turn on the Now Assist Topics skill. This content assumes that you have activated this skill and can see the list view. If this skill is not activated, you will see the legacy UI and topics page. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer legacy topics page.
When you open Virtual Agent Designer, the home page lists the assets in your instance. These assets include topics, topic blocks, setup topics, small talk topics, custom controls, subflows, actions, and AI agents.
Note: Along with small talk topics, you can also set small talk filters to redirect conversations based on unexpected user statements. For more information, see Configure small talk filters.
On the home page, you can access and edit any of these assets in Virtual Agent Designer, and create topics, topic blocks, setup topics, small talk topics, and custom controls.
Note: Conversational subflows and actions are available in Virtual Agent Designer if Now Assist in Virtual Agent has been configured. Conversational subflows and actions are also shown in Virtual Agent Designer if the Now Assist Panel is available. For more information on the Virtual Agent Designer Panel, see Now Assist panel

You can test and preview active topics to verify that they work as intended. You can also sort and search for topics. When you have many assets, use the search bar Search icon. and filter icon Filter icon. to quickly organize and find your topics. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer home page.

Each topic list entry identifies the asset and provides the following information by default:
FieldDescription
Name Name of the topic. Template topics also contain (Template) in the name.
Type Topic types include Topic, Topic Block, Setup Topic, Small Talk, Custom Input Control, Custom Response Control, Subflows, Actions, and AI agents.
Status Status types include Draft, Modified (with unsaved changes), or Published.
Active Whether the asset is active or inactive.
Last modified Time (minutes, hours, days, or months) that the asset was last modified.
Description Description of the asset. For topics, this field is created and updated on the Properties tab.
Figure 1. Example topic list entry
Topic list entry that shows the topic name, type, status, active condition, when last modified, a short description, creator username, and row actions icon.

When you open a topic, a tab is displayed in the navigation header bar. The topic's name is shown on the tab, and a red dot appears if the topic has unsaved changes. Hover over the tab to view the scope in which the topic was created.

Figure 2. Example topic tab
Topic tab that displays the topic name, saved condition, and application scope.

When you open a subflow or action, a tab is displayed in the navigation header bar. This tab opens the subflow or action in Workflow Studio within the Virtual Agent Designer environment.

Topic properties

Use the topic Properties tab to identify a Virtual Agent asset and how it's used. The properties you can specify depend on the method of topic discovery used in your instance: LLM or NLU/keyword. For example, if you have activated Now Assist and are working with an LLM topic, the Properties tab includes fields for what you want the topic to do and which assistants to use. If you have activated NLU, you can select NLU/keyword from the Type drop-down menu when you create a topic. The Properties tab includes fields for identifying the NLU model and intent for the topic.

Use the Properties tab to do the following:
  • Specify the name and type of asset, such as topic, topic block, custom control, and so on.
  • Specify the model type, purpose of the topic, and which assistants can run this topic for Now Assist customers.
  • Specify the model type, add a topic description, specify the purpose of the topic, and select which assistants can run this topic for Now Assist customers.
  • Control who uses the topic and what channels it can run in.
  • Associate live agent variables with a topic.
  • Add keywords to the topic or map the topic to a ServiceNow NLU model and intent.

For more information, see Topic Properties tab.

Topic flow

When you create or update a topic, topic block, or custom control, you build the conversation flow on the Flow tab. In the default view, the flow looks like a diagram. Use the controls for user inputs, bot responses, and utilities to define the flow. The status of the topic and NLU model (if used) appears in the upper-right corner of the window.

The Table View option in Virtual Agent Designer displays the nodes in your conversation flow as a table, rather than as a diagram. Each node is identified in a corresponding row in the table. You can add, change, or delete nodes using these table rows.

For example, instead of dragging controls and dropping them onto the canvas, you can select Add new node to insert a node into the appropriate row in the table. When you focus on a particular row (node), the corresponding property sheet for the node is displayed.

As you create or update your design, you might find it helpful to switch between the diagram view and the Table View using the Table View option. If your conversation contains many nodes, the Table View lets you review all the nodes in your conversation quickly. You can use the Search table option to quickly find a particular node or control.

Use the Flow tab to do the following:

For more information, see Topic Flow tab.

NLU model and intent mappings

If you activated NLU on your instance, the NLU Intent tab is available for your topics in Virtual Agent Designer. Once you have bound the topic to a model and intent on the Properties tab, you can use the NLU Intent tab to do the following:
Note: The virtual_agent_admin role includes the nlu_admin role, which enables topic authors to work on ServiceNow models.

For more information about this tab, see Topic NLU Intent tab.

Topic languages

The Languages tab displays the topic's translation status for languages that have been activated on the instance for both LLM and NLU conversations. If you're using NLU/keyword, you can also review the language mappings for that topic.

Use the Languages tab to do the following:

For more information about this tab, see Topic Languages tab.