Workday has launched new agentic capabilities in Workday Build, its platform for developers to build custom AI apps and agents that run on Workday. The new capabilities include Developer Agent, which lets developers build AI apps and agents in plain language from the agentic tools they already use; Agent-Ready Tools. The solution provides controlled guardrails for agents to access HR and finance data over Model Context Protocol (MCP). Agent Passport gives agents digital stamps from trusted security and compliance vendors to verify they are safe to deploy.
Agent development tools can accelerate coding, but they often lack the broader controls needed to keep data accurate, secure, and compliant with company policies. In areas such as payroll, benefits, and finance, a single mistake can result in missed pay, data exposure, or regulatory penalties. Developers need tools that let them move quickly without compromising the safeguards they already trust. Workday says its new Workday Build capabilities close that gap.
“Platforms win when they make the hard thing disappear for the developer,” said Gabe Monroy, chief technology officer, Workday. “Anyone can give an agent speed. The hard part is letting it act on the org chart or ledger and trusting every step. That’s the part that Workday Build makes disappear.”
From prompt to production in minutes
The Developer Agent is designed to fit into how developers already work today. Instead of forcing teams into a new interface, it plugs into the agentic development tools they already use. These include Claude Code, Cline, Codex, Cursor, and Google Antigravity. Developers can also leverage Developer Agent to build and deploy custom agents for their company that run on the Workday platform using the open AgentSkills standard.
For example, a developer can type a request like, “Build an agent that alerts finance when a department is trending to go over budget this quarter.” Developer Agent then picks the right Workday Agent-Ready Tools. The solution connects the necessary data and services, and pulls in the documentation and examples needed. Work that used to take days of setup can be done in minutes.
According to Jay Wieczorkowski, general manager, Developer Platform, Workday, “Agentic AI has permanently rewritten the developer playbook. Shifting the focus from writing code to scaling impact.
“Developer Agent brings the power and trust of Workday Build to the agentic tools. Developers love, fast-tracking development so they can focus on something bigger, transforming the way the world works.”
Powering agents to act safely on Workday data
Once an AI agent is built, it needs a safe way to act, like looking up a record, updating a benefit, or triggering an approval. Workday’s new Agent-Ready Tools are a new class of enterprise connectors built specifically for autonomous agents.
Unlike traditional APIs designed for data integrations, Agent-Ready Tools are purpose-built to power agents, providing agents with precise, easy-to-navigate business logic and context while reducing hallucination and latency. Hundreds of Agent-Ready Tools that act across all of Workday connect through open standards like MCP. Agents automatically inherit Workday’s security and delegation model, business process controls, and audit trail.
When agents need to act beyond Workday, developers can build custom agent actions from a library of thousands of pre-built Pipedream connectors and expose them to their agents as Agent-Ready Tools.
Independent, third-party verification that an agent is safe to run
Before an agent goes live, Agent Passport checks its safety and compliance. Its standards-based stamps show which security and compliance tests the agent passed, who verified them, and which standards were applied, giving companies a reliable way to monitor and govern internal and third-party AI agents in Workday.
Cisco is the first attestation partner to support the stamps that appear in Agent Passport. Providing independent, third-party verification that an agent meets open and industry-recognised security and compliance standards. Together, the new Developer Agent, Agent Ready Tools, and Agent Passport give customers a faster, safer way to bring AI into their most important HR and finance decisions.
Enterprise Times: What this means for businesses
For businesses, this means AI agents may become much easier to deploy in sensitive back-office functions. Workday has suggested this can be achieved without taking on the same level of risk that usually comes with automation. The company is trying to remove a major barrier to adoption. Giving companies tools to build agents faster, connect them directly to HR and finance workflows. More importantly, putting controls around what those agents can access and do. In practical terms, helping organisations automate tasks such as approvals, record updates, budget alerts, and workflow triggers more quickly. At the same time, keeping security, auditability, and policy compliance in place.
The bigger business implication is that Workday is positioning AI agents as operational tools rather than experimental add-ons. If these capabilities work as promised, companies could reduce the time and effort needed to turn AI ideas into production use cases, especially in areas where mistakes are costly. The verification layer is also important because it gives business leaders a stronger governance story for internal and third-party agents. This may make adoption easier for risk, compliance, and IT teams to support. In short, the value is not just faster development. But safer and more scalable use of AI in core business processes.
