What's new in IBM® watsonx Orchestrate®

At a glance

This release introduces enhanced chat capabilities, expanded multilingual support, and advanced flow orchestration with agent nodes, alongside improved security controls and voice AI features.

Add agent nodes to your flows

Add agent nodes to agentic workflows in flow builder. Agent nodes enable you to build agent patterns by combining agents with workflow constructs such as foreach loops, branches, and code blocks.

You can:

• Add any agent from your local instance as a workflow node
• Configure the agent node with a user prompt and workflow variables
• Request additional information from the workflow at run time when needed

This feature enables you to build predictable solutions by routing tasks to specialized agents within structured workflows.

Learn more: Adding agents

Access context variables in flow builder

Retrieve and update shared workflow data by using system.context.get_variable() and system.context.set_variable(). System context variables persist for the entire duration of a workflow run, so values can be reused across multiple steps.

You can also access built-in variables, such as wxo_email_id, wxo_tenant_id, and wxo_user_name at any point in your flow without setting them manually.

Learn more: System context variables

Configure user review for document processing nodes

Get notified in chat when a document processing manual review activity is assigned to you in a flow.

This ensures that you respond to review requests promptly. Notifications appear directly in your chat thread, so you can complete reviews without switching tools.

Learn more: Configuring a user review for document extractors and Configuring a user review for document classifiers

Manage versions for agents and tools

Use built-in version management for agents and tools in watsonx Orchestrate. Version management helps you review changes, choose specific versions, and reuse earlier configurations, so you can build safely without disrupting users.

You can:

• View up to five recent versions with summaries and change logs
• Switch versions from View recent versions in the catalog
• Add a specific tool or agent version as a collaborator
• Create a new agent from an older version using Use as template

Learn more: Managing agent and tool versions and Working with agent and tool versions

Preview - Handle multiple activities in chat threads

Handle multiple activities between chat threads by picking the activities that you want to work on from an activity queue.

You can:

• See the activities that are pending in your thread
• Open and switch between queued activities
• Complete tasks directly in chat
• Return control to the agent automatically after each task

When a workflow includes multiple approval steps or user reviews, the activity queue consolidates all actions in a single, and organized view. This approach minimizes context switching and helps keep the workflow moving efficiently.

The notification and queue system uses a session‑based design, helping ensure that alerts remain focused on current activity and do not persist across page reloads.

Learn more: Designing high-performance AI agents

Multilingual support for welcome messages and starter prompts

Create welcome messages and starter prompts once in English. The system automatically converts them when users change their language setting.

You can:

• Create content once and reuse it globally
• Support multiple languages without extra configuration
• Provide content instantly in users' preferred languages
• Maintain one source of truth for your content

This works in both the Orchestrate Chat and embedded chat, reducing maintenance while improving accessibility for global teams.

Learn more: Customizing the welcome message and starter prompts

Use multiple authentication types for ServiceNow tools and agents

Choose from multiple authentication methods when configuring out-of-the-box ServiceNow tools and agents to align with your organization's security requirements.

Supported authentication types:

• OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code
• OAuth 2.0 Password Flow
• OAuth On Behalf Of (OBO)
• OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange
• Bearer Token

You see only the authentication types that are supported by each ServiceNow tool or agent, making it easier to align with your security policies and use your existing enterprise identity infrastructure.

Learn more: Connecting to ServiceNow

Configure embedded chat security at the tenant level

Controls security for all embedded chat implementations with a single tenant-wide toggle.

You can:

• Enable or disable embed security with one click
• Upload your client public key
• Generate an IBM-provided key to encrypt data and protect specific sensitive information
• View keys clearly in the UI with save and discard controls
• Receive warning prompts before disabling security

This ensures consistent, tenant-wide protection for all embedded chat implementations while simplifying key management.

Learn more: Configuring security for embedded chat

Use Deepgram for SaaS voice channels

Use Deepgram as the speech provider for SaaS voice channels with automatic compliance and minimal configuration.

You can:

• Route traffic automatically to the appropriate US or EU endpoint based on your instance location
• Use Deepgram for speech (STT/TTS) without supplying your own API keys on SaaS deployments
• See clear indication that Deepgram is a third-party provider with links to their terms of use

This simplifies compliance for regional data handling, increases transparency about third-party usage, and reduces setup friction for voice capabilities.

Learn more: Configuring voice settings for agents

User silence management for Voice AI agents

Configure how your Voice AI agents handle user silence during phone conversations. This helps you create more natural interactions, reduce dropped calls, and avoid unnecessary wait time.

You can:

• Set a Silence threshold after which the agent identifies the user as silent
• Define a Check-in message that is played when silence is detected. The agent repeats its last response before playing this message
• Configure Number of check-in repetitions to prompt the user before ending the call
• Specify a Call ending message to play before the call ends when the maximum number of attempts is reached.

These controls help you keep conversations moving, give callers thinking time, and prevent calls from ending too early or staying open indefinitely.

Learn more: Creating a voice configuration

Customize your embedded chat header

Add custom buttons and dropdown menus to the embedded chat header. With the new APIs, you can create programmatic customization of embedded chat header items in the full-screen form factor.

APIs included:

• updateCustomHeaderItems()
• getCustomHeaderItems()
• getLocale()

You can:

• Place controls on the left or right side of the header
• Create dropdown menus up to two levels deep
• Update labels, icons, and actions at run time

This lets you embed branded controls, shortcuts, or navigation directly in the chat header. For example, add quick links to help documentation, user settings, or context-specific actions.

Learn more: Details of instance methods

Enhancements to prebuilt agents

Prebuilt agents for Oracle, SAP, Workday, ServiceNow, and Jira now support multi-parameter input, allowing you to submit all required information at once instead of answering multiple prompts. After completing tasks, you will receive contextual suggestions for related actions to help you finish everything in one session.

ServiceNow and Jira agents now let you search knowledge bases in natural language and manage comments directly, while customizable parameters ensure agents understand your organization's specific terminology and workflows.

New prebuilt and partner agents available in the catalog

Other enhancements

Documentation updates

New sections

• The Configuring security with scripting section provides detailed information about how to configure security for the embedded chat programmatically.

• The Creating a language selector in the chat header tutorial explains how to add a language selector dropdown to the chat header.

• The Managing agent and tool versions section describes how to view, and select versions from the catalog.

• The Working with agent and tool versions section explains how to use specific versions when building new agents.

Updated sections

• The Code blocks section was updated to improve transparency and clarity by explaining why functionality is limited and what benefits users gain as a result.

• The Customizing the welcome message and starter prompts section was updated to include information about multilingual support in chat.

• The Connecting to Slack section was updated to add a note for builders creating Slack apps.

• The Configure the SIP trunk was updated with the latest instructions.

• The Creating a voice configuration section was updated to include information about user silence management for voice agents.

• The Configuring security for embedded chat section was updated to explain how to enable or disable security for embedded chat.