Workday has introduced new tools in Workday Build for developers creating AI agents and applications on the platform for HR, finance, and IT.
This release includes three products: Developer Agent, Agent-Ready Tools, and Agent Passport. This package is designed to enable developers to build agents in their existing coding environment, connect them to business data, and test them against security and compliance standards.
Developer Agent is intended for software teams that use natural language prompts in coding tools such as Claude Code, Cline, Codex, Cursor, and Google Antigravity. Developers can use it to create custom agents that run on Workday and use the open AgentSkills standard.
This tool is intended to fit into current developer workflows rather than requiring a separate interface. For example, a developer can ask for an agent to alert the finance department when the department is likely to exceed its quarterly budget. The system selects relevant Workday tools, data connections, and documentation.
Gabe Monroy, Chief Technology Officer at Workday, said: “Platforms win when they solve difficulties for developers.
“Anyone can bring their agents up to speed, but the hard part is getting them to work off an org chart or ledger and trusting them every step of the way. Workday Build eliminates that,” Monroy said.
developer focus
Workday is positioning its launch around the challenges software teams are facing as companies expand the use of AI in sensitive business processes. Agent building tools help developers write code faster, but errors in payroll, benefits administration, or financial records can create operational and regulatory risks.
The Developer Agent is intended to reduce the setup effort required to build applications on Workday systems. Workday says this automates service and document selection and can reduce development time for some tasks from days to minutes.
“We’re excited to partner with Workday,” said Jay Wieczorkowski, general manager of developer platforms at Workday. “Developer Agent brings the power and reliability of Workday Build to the agent tools developers love, helping them develop faster so they can focus on bigger things: transforming the way the world works.”
Workday also includes endorsements from customers and partners who are already using or evaluating our products. Jules Mayberry, Workday developer at Waste Connections, said the tool provides a starting point for building agents on top of existing applications, allowing them to spend more time working with business stakeholders.
“As the sole developer at Waste Connections, Developer Agent provides a real starting point for building agents on top of your existing Extend apps and takes care of the technical work for you so you can build cool and creative apps and agents while you learn,” said Jules Mayberry, Workday Developer at Waste Connections. “That means spending more time with stakeholders to really understand what the business needs.”
Bharath Srinivas, chief technology officer of Accenture’s Workday Business Group, said the launch has the potential to help consultants and clients build reusable agent skills tied to business expertise.
“Developer Agent is a significant advancement that enables clients to co-create knowledge-encoded agents and reusable agent skills to turn expertise into action and business value,” said Bharath Srinivas, Chief Technology Officer, Workday Business Group, Accenture. “This allows us to embed real-world process intelligence directly into agent skills, managed by people who understand the business. Beyond productivity gains, this represents a tectonic shift in how we deliver value.”
data access
Agent-Ready Tools constitute the second part of the release. Workday described these as connectors for autonomous agents that need to perform actions such as retrieving records, updating benefits, and triggering approvals.
Unlike traditional APIs, these tools are structured to present business logic and context in a way that AI agents can use more directly. They connect through open standards such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) and inherit the platform’s existing security model, delegated controls, and audit trails.
When working outside of Workday, developers can also use the Pipedream connector to create custom agent actions and expose them through the same framework. This suggests that Workday is looking to expand its relevance beyond tasks that reside entirely within its own software stack.
Industry analysts are increasingly focused on whether major software vendors can leverage AI agents in business settings without creating new governance issues. Workday’s approach is to tie agent development more closely with existing process management in human resources and financial systems.
“Every developer I talk to is feeling the pressure to build agent automation faster,” said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research. “Workday’s new Developer Agent gives you the choice to bring your own tools, embed the Developer Agent, or use Sana Agent for a broader range of agent AI. Workday is the only enterprise platform vendor that offers developers these three options to achieve development velocity in the age of agent AI.”
verification layer
The third product, Agent Passport, is designed to test and monitor AI agents before and after deployment. Workday said it applies standards-based stamps that indicate what security and compliance tests an agent passed, who verified it, and what standards were used.
Agent Passport checks agents against public frameworks such as OWASP LLM Top 10, NIST AI RMF, and MITER ATLAS. Cisco is the first certification partner to provide validation visible within the service.
This validation element addresses a growing concern for enterprise technology buyers who are evaluating not only in-house built agents, but also third-party tools that may interact with employee records, financial data, and workflow systems. By adding a layer of oversight, Workday seeks to make governance part of the development process rather than an afterthought.
Developer Agent and Agent-Ready Tools are available to early access customers through Workday Extend Professional. Agent Passport will be followed by early access, with Cisco serving as the service’s first external validator.
