ServiceNow launched Action Fabric, an architecture layer that opens its full platform workflows to its own and external AI agents, at its annual Knowledge 2026 event on May 13 local time.

Action Fabric supports external AI agents connecting directly to ServiceNow through an MCP server to run workflows and playbooks, process tickets, or read data and context.

That enables AI agents to directly execute many business automation processes companies have built on the ServiceNow platform.

All actions executed through Action Fabric automatically pass through an AI Control Tower, which verifies identity, permissions and audit trails.

Anthropic is joining Action Fabric as the first design partner. Under the partnership, Anthropic's autonomous task execution desktop app Claude Cowork will connect directly to the ServiceNow governance system. When corporate users request access permissions in Cowork, ServiceNow automatically runs the appropriate approval process. There is no need as before to file a ticket with an IT help desk and wait for it to be handled. ServiceNow adopted a headless architecture for Action Fabric.

Headless refers to direct access to underlying logic using only APIs and MCP without a user interface. The same security and audit standards apply to internal processes whether a user resets a password directly on the platform screen or an AI agent handles it instead.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott (빌 맥더멋), discussing opening the platform even to rival agents, cited that the more agents perform tasks through ServiceNow, the more operational data flows into the CMDB and context engine, building insight into customer organisations. Which company holds the richest execution layer becomes key to attracting agents, he said. He also said that as the number of agents grows, richer operational data accumulates.