---
title: Accessing Autonomous Engineer
description: Autonomous Engineer is available in ServiceNow Studio. You access it through the Build Agent chat panel by switching the active mode to Autonomous Engineer.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/application-development/access-autonomous-engineer.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-23"
reading_time_minutes: 1
keywords: [Autonomous Engineer, Build Agent, ServiceNow Studio, access, chat panel, mode selector]
audience: programmer
breadcrumb: [Use, Autonomous Engineer, Agentic development on the ServiceNow AI Platform, Building applications]
---

# Accessing Autonomous Engineer

Autonomous Engineer is available in ServiceNow Studio. You access it through the Build Agent chat panel by switching the active mode to Autonomous Engineer.

## Before you begin

Autonomous Engineer must be installed on your instance before you can access it. For installation instructions, see [Install Autonomous Engineer](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-development/install-autonomous-engineer.md).

**Note:**

-   Currently, only admins have permissions to use Build Agent.
-   Autonomous Engineer is a separate application available in the ServiceNow Store. Installing Autonomous Engineer also installs Build Agent as a dependency. Installing Build Agent alone does not install Autonomous Engineer.

## Opening Autonomous Engineer

When you open ServiceNow Studio, the Build Agent chat panel runs in Build Agent mode by default. To switch to Autonomous Engineer, select **Build Agent** from the mode selector in the chat panel and choose Autonomous Engineer.

\[Omitted image "ba-sns-select-plan-mode.png"\] Alt text: Autonomous Engineer option selected from the Build Agent mode selector.

After you select Autonomous Engineer, the chat panel updates to reflect the planning interface. Enter your requirements to begin the planning phase. For information on what to do next, see [Using Autonomous Engineer](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-development/ae-using-autonomous-engineer.md).

**Parent Topic:**[Using Autonomous Engineer](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-development/ae-using-autonomous-engineer.md)