servicenow-mcp-ai — ServiceNow MCP Server

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A Model Context Protocol server that lets an MCP client (VS Code, Claude Desktop, etc.) run commands against a ServiceNow instance through its REST APIs — Table, Aggregate, Attachment, Import Set, Batch and CMDB, plus the Service Catalog, Change Management and Knowledge plugin APIs. Credentials are kept in a local env file and can be updated at runtime through a tool.

Upgrading from 1.x? v2.0 makes writes plan-by-default: create/update/delete and the other record-write tools return a non-mutating preview unless you pass apply: true (or set SN_WRITE_MODE=apply to restore the v1 "execute immediately" behaviour). See the CHANGELOG → 2.0.0 for the full migration note.

Contents: Quick demo · Features · Requirements · Setup · Configure credentials · Run / debug · Develop · Tools · Resources · Prompts · Project structure · Security notes · Project documentation · Support

Built and maintained in my own time — if it helps, a GitHub Sponsors tip keeps it going. Full Support options are near the end.

Quick demo

Three things the platform makes hard, one call each. Point your MCP client at an instance (Setup) and ask:

1. "Where is this field actually used?" — every script, business rule, client script, UI policy/action and ACL that touches it, as JSON or a Mermaid graph. The IDE-grade find usages ServiceNow has no button for:

// servicenow_where_used
{
  "kind": "field", // "table" | "field" | "script"
  "name": "u_cost_center",
  "mermaid": true, // also render a reference graph
}

2. "What runs when I save this record?" — the full automation chain in execution order (display → before → after → async business rules, then flows, workflows and notifications), each with its condition — a logical test that runs nothing:

// servicenow_trace_table_event
{
  "table": "incident",
  "operation": "update", // insert | update | delete | query
}

3. "What drifted between dev and prod?" — a Markdown diff of tables, columns, scripts (by SHA-256) and plugins between two configured profiles, with a CI-friendly exit code so a pipeline can block a risky deploy:

servicenow-mcp-ai drift dev prod   # report on stdout; exit 1 on drift, 0 if clean

All three are read-only and work against any instance — including a free PDI — with the model and client of your choice.

Features

• Full Table API: query, read, create, update and delete records on any table, with encoded queries, field selection and pagination.
• Extra ServiceNow APIs: Aggregate (Stats), Attachment (list/upload/download/delete), Import Set, Batch (many REST calls in a single request), plus table/column metadata (sys_db_object, sys_dictionary).
• Process & plugin APIs: CMDB (class-aware CI CRUD + meta via IRE), Service Catalog (browse/order items), Change Management (typed creation + conflict detection) and Knowledge (article search). Plugin-scoped APIs report clearly when not active on the instance.
• Script intelligence: read and search the instance's own code (business rules, script includes, client scripts, UI policies/actions, scheduled jobs, transform/REST scripts, ACLs) and get a table's full automation picture — all read-only over the Table API.
• Flow tracing & code checking (Phase 8): deterministically trace what a table operation runs (flows package — business rules, flows, workflows and notifications, in order, with a Mermaid flowchart), read Flow Designer flows and run history, and lint scripts against a local rule set with an aggregate code-health report (codecheck). Run ATF tests via the CI/CD API (atf, opt-in, non-default — the run tools execute on the instance).
• Self-documentation: a local Markdown knowledge base (read/write/search) plus deterministic Mermaid generators (ER diagrams from references, record-lifecycle flowcharts from business rules) so the server builds durable, reusable context.
• Prompts: ready-made workflows (incident triage, change impact analysis, document a table) that orchestrate the tools.
• Tool packages: load only the tool groups you need via SN_TOOL_PACKAGES (default profile core; all enables everything).
• Basic or OAuth 2.0 authentication over HTTPS; the password/token is never echoed back.
• Least-privilege controls: table allow/deny lists and a global read-only mode.
• Resilience: per-request timeout, retry with backoff and Retry-After, SSRF guard, and a result-size guard.
• MCP tool annotations and resources, structured error payloads, and structured logging on stderr.
• Credentials in an env file (project, ~/.config, or SN_ENV_FILE), updatable at runtime via servicenow_set_credentials.

Requirements

• Node.js 20+ (enforced: engines + a runtime guard with a clear message; the project targets the version in .nvmrc).

Setup

From source (for development):

npm install
npm run build

Or run the published package directly, without cloning:

npx servicenow-mcp-ai

Register it with an MCP client (Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat, the Inspector…) by pointing the server command at npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "servicenow-mcp-ai"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code plugin (zero-config — installs the server wired up):

/plugin marketplace add IvanBBaev/servicenow-mcp-ai
/plugin install servicenow-mcp-ai

VS Code — install the ServiceNow MCP extension from the Marketplace (code --install-extension ivanbbaev.servicenow-mcp-ai); it registers the server in Copilot Chat (agent mode) automatically, no manual mcp.json. Source: extension/.

Credentials are read from ~/.config/servicenow-mcp-ai/.env (or real environment variables) — see below.

Quickstart

The fastest path is three lines of Basic auth — set these (in the env file or the real environment) and you are connected:

SN_INSTANCE=dev12345.service-now.com
SN_USER=your.username
SN_PASSWORD=your-password

Everything else is optional tuning; see the full Environment variables reference for the rest.

Past a quick try, prefer OAuth over a stored password. For anything shared or long-lived, run the one-time npx servicenow-mcp-ai login instead — it stores a refresh token, not your password. See Configure credentials → OAuth 2.1.

Verify your setup

Once the three variables are set, confirm the connection before you start:

1. Run the servicenow_test_connection tool — it reads one sys_user record and reports ok, HTTP status and latency.
2. Run servicenow_check_capabilities — it previews which admin-restricted sys_* tables the connected user can actually read.

Or do both from the shell in one shot:

npx servicenow-mcp-ai doctor   # checks credentials, reachability and capabilities

Configure credentials

Credentials live in .env at the project root (git-ignored):

SN_INSTANCE=your-instance.service-now.com
SN_USER=your.username@example.com
SN_PASSWORD=your-password

SN_INSTANCE accepts dev12345, dev12345.service-now.com or a full https:// URL.

You can also set or change them at runtime by calling the servicenow_set_credentials tool — the new values are written straight back to the env file.

The env file is resolved in this order: SN_ENV_FILE, then ~/.config/servicenow-mcp-ai/.env (XDG) if present, then the project-root .env. A global/npx install therefore writes to your user config rather than into node_modules. Real environment variables always take precedence over the file.

OAuth 2.1 (Authorization Code + PKCE) — recommended

Register an Authorization Code OAuth API endpoint in ServiceNow with a loopback redirect URL (e.g. http://localhost:53682/callback), set SN_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID (and SN_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET for a confidential client), then run the one-time interactive login:

npx servicenow-mcp-ai login

It opens the browser, you approve, and the obtained refresh token is stored in your env file. The server then runs non-interactively (refresh_token grant) — no password is ever stored. PKCE (S256) is always used.

The OAuth 2.0 password grant (ROPC) is deprecated in OAuth 2.1 and disabled on many instances; prefer login. client_credentials and refresh_token grants remain supported for service accounts. See .env.example.

Supported authentication methods

Every inbound REST auth method ServiceNow offers is covered:

Environment variables

All settings are read from .env (or the real process environment, which takes precedence). Only the first three are required; the rest are optional tuning knobs. See .env.example for a template.

Two-axis access policy

Access is controlled on two independent axes, because a table restriction does not reach the plugin-backed APIs (Change, Catalog, Knowledge…). Guard both:

So denying the change_request table still leaves the Change Management API (sn_chg_rest) able to read/write changes — the package axis is why it exists. See Security notes for the full model (including how the Batch API obeys both axes).

List syntax: table lists (SN_TABLES_ALLOW / SN_TABLES_DENY) are comma-separated; package lists (SN_TOOL_PACKAGES, SN_PACKAGES_DENY, SN_PACKAGES_READONLY) accept commas or whitespace. Surrounding spaces are trimmed in both, and table matching is case-insensitive — so SN_TABLES_DENY=Change_Request, sys_user works.

Run / debug

• VS Code: open the Command Palette and start the server defined in .vscode/mcp.json, then use it from Chat.
• MCP Inspector: npm run inspector
• Directly: npm start

Command-line interface

The published servicenow-mcp-ai binary (run it directly, or via npx servicenow-mcp-ai) has three invocations. All connection settings come from environment variables / the env file (see Environment variables); only drift takes positional arguments.

login operates on the active profile (SN_ACTIVE_PROFILE, default default) and reads, for that profile:

• SN_INSTANCE — required; the target instance.
• SN_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID — required; client id of an Authorization Code OAuth API endpoint.
• SN_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET — optional; for a confidential client.
• SN_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI — optional; loopback URL, default http://localhost:53682/callback. Must match the redirect registered on the endpoint.
• SN_OAUTH_SCOPE — optional; requested OAuth scope.

On success it writes SN_AUTH=oauth, SN_OAUTH_GRANT=refresh_token and SN_OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN back to the env file (profile-prefixed when the profile is not default). The authorization URL is printed on stderr in case the browser does not open automatically.

drift takes two positional profile names; each must resolve to a configured profile (SN_PROFILE_<NAME>_*, or the bare SN_INSTANCE / SN_USER / SN_PASSWORD keys for default). The Markdown report is written to stdout (capture it as a CI artifact); a one-line drift summary goes to stderr.

CI drift gate (DF-3)

Compare two configured profiles and fail a pipeline on configuration drift:

servicenow-mcp-ai drift dev prod   # report on stdout; exit 1 on drift, 0 if clean, 2 on error

Develop

npm run check     # full gate: build, lint, format check, coverage-gated tests, prod audit
npm test          # unit tests only (node:test; needs a prior npm run build)
npm run lint      # ESLint (flat config + typescript-eslint)
npm run format    # format with Prettier

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the conventions (one commit per task, tests ship with the change, generated docs).

Tools

This table is generated from the tool registrations — edit the tool definitions in src/tools/, then run npm run docs:readme.

All tools carry MCP annotations (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint) so clients can apply the right confirmation UX.

Tool packages

Tools are grouped into packages so you can expose only what a given client needs (fewer tools keep the model focused). Set SN_TOOL_PACKAGES to a comma/space separated list of profiles or package names:

• core (default) — table, schema, aggregate, attachment.
• all — every package below.
• Individual packages: table, schema, aggregate, attachment, importset, batch, catalog, change, knowledge, cmdb, scripts, flows, codecheck, docs, instance, email, atf.

The admin tools (servicenow_set_credentials, servicenow_get_status) are always registered, regardless of the active packages. Unknown names are ignored. servicenow_get_status reports the resolved enabledPackages.

# Only table + batch tools (plus the always-on admin tools)
SN_TOOL_PACKAGES=table,batch

Presets

If you would rather not curate the list yourself, three named presets cover the common roles. The admin tools are always on, so they are not listed. Each preset also has a one-word alias — SN_TOOL_PACKAGES=reader|developer|admin — that expands to the same package set.

The developer preset builds on the reader set; the docs package includes the Mermaid diagram generators. Use the alias for brevity or spell the packages out to add or drop one.

Examples

Query the 5 most recent active incidents:

// servicenow_query_table
{
  "table": "incident",
  "query": "active=true^ORDERBYDESCsys_created_on",
  "fields": ["number", "short_description", "priority", "state"],
  "limit": 5,
}

Create an incident:

// servicenow_create_record
{
  "table": "incident",
  "fields": {
    "short_description": "Printer on 3rd floor is down",
    "urgency": "2",
    "impact": "2",
  },
}

Update credentials at runtime:

// servicenow_set_credentials
{
  "instance": "dev98765.service-now.com",
  "user": "admin",
  "password": "••••••",
}

Resources

Read-only metadata is also exposed as MCP resources, so clients can attach it declaratively instead of calling a tool:

Prompts

Ready-made workflows are exposed as MCP prompts; they orchestrate the tools and insist on reading real values from the instance:

Project structure

.
├── .env                   # credentials (git-ignored; or ~/.config/servicenow-mcp-ai/.env)
├── .env.example           # template
├── .github/workflows/     # CI: build + lint + test
├── .vscode/mcp.json       # VS Code MCP server registration
├── eslint.config.js       # ESLint flat config
├── .prettierrc.json       # Prettier config
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts           # bootstrap: load env, register, connect stdio
│   ├── registry.ts        # registers all tool groups
│   ├── resources.ts       # MCP resources (status, tables, schema, docs)
│   ├── prompts.ts         # MCP prompts (triage, change impact, document table)
│   ├── http.ts            # shared REST client (auth, retry, SSRF)
│   ├── auth.ts            # Basic + OAuth 2.0 providers
│   ├── host.ts            # host resolution + SSRF guard
│   ├── policy.ts          # table allow/deny + read-only guards
│   ├── settings.ts        # numeric env settings
│   ├── logging.ts         # structured stderr logger
│   ├── result.ts          # tool results + structured errors
│   ├── servicenow.ts      # Table API client
│   ├── config.ts          # env file read/write + location
│   ├── api/               # aggregate, attachment, import set, batch, catalog, change, knowledge, cmdb, scripts, diagrams, docs, meta
│   └── tools/             # tool registration per API group
├── test/                  # node:test unit + mock-fetch tests
└── build/                 # compiled output (after npm run build)

Note on names: the npm package and the GitHub repository are both servicenow-mcp-ai (the unscoped servicenow-mcp was already taken on npm); the local working folder is servicenow-mcp. The difference is cosmetic and does not affect the build or runtime.

Security notes

• The env file is git-ignored — do not commit real credentials.
• The env file is written owner-only (0600) — it holds a plaintext password.
• The server uses the stdio transport and only logs to stderr; secrets and raw encoded queries are never logged.
• The password/token is never returned by any tool.
• Hosts are restricted: without SN_ALLOWED_HOSTS, only *.service-now.com instances are contacted (internal/loopback always blocked), so a redirected or mistyped host cannot silently receive credentials. Set SN_ALLOWED_HOSTS to opt in a custom or sovereign-cloud domain.
• Prefer OAuth 2.0 over Basic where possible (SN_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID).
• Apply least privilege with SN_TABLES_ALLOW / SN_TABLES_DENY and SN_READONLY=true for read-only deployments.
• Table policy does not cover plugin APIs. SN_TABLES_DENY=change_request blocks the Table API path, but the Change Management API (sn_chg_rest) can still read/write changes. To restrict the plugin-backed surfaces use SN_PACKAGES_DENY (drop the whole package) or SN_PACKAGES_READONLY (register only its read tools). The Batch API obeys both axes too: a sub-request to a denied package's path is refused, and writes to a read-only package are blocked — a batch cannot be used to bypass the package policy.

Project documentation

Support

This project is built and maintained in my own time. If it saves you or your team time, please consider supporting its continued development — sponsorship directly funds new tools, bug fixes and keeping pace with ServiceNow's REST surface.

• GitHub Sponsors — one-off or recurring, with no platform fee taken out (the preferred option).
• Ko-fi — quick one-off support; it also accepts PayPal, so it's the fallback for anyone without a GitHub account.
• Donate (Donatree) — a no-account donation page (card, PayPal and more) for a one-off tip.

Trademark

servicenow-mcp-ai is an independent, community-built project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ServiceNow, Inc.

"ServiceNow", the ServiceNow logo, "Now", and related marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and other countries. They are used in this project's name and documentation only nominatively — to identify the platform this software interoperates with — and no affiliation or endorsement is implied. All other product names and marks are the property of their respective owners.

This project is licensed under the MIT License; that license covers the source code and does not grant any rights to use the ServiceNow trademarks.