mcp-server-servicenow 0.5.1

MCP server for ServiceNow - 19 tools + 5 resources for table, CMDB, system, and update set operations

ServiceNow MCP Server

Connect Claude AI to ServiceNow. 19 tools + 5 resources for incidents, CMDB, update sets, and more —
accessible from Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client over stdio or Streamable HTTP.

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Table API · CMDB · Update Sets · Aggregation · Resources · OAuth 2.1+PKCE · Streamable HTTP · Claude Code Plugin · 4 Skills

What This Does

This MCP server lets AI assistants interact directly with a ServiceNow instance. Instead of copy-pasting between ServiceNow and your AI tool, Claude can query incidents, create records, explore CMDB relationships, and manage update sets through natural conversation.

Built with FastMCP 3.1 for decorator-based tool definitions, MCP resources, and dual transport support.

Native vs Community

ServiceNow shipped a native MCP Server in Zurich (2025). Here's when to use each:

	Native (Zurich+)	This project
SN version	Zurich+ only	Any version (Tokyo+)
Entitlement	Requires Now Assist SKU	None (MIT, free)
Auth model	OAuth 2.1 + PKCE via AI Control Tower	OAuth 2.1 + PKCE via FastMCP proxy
Governance	AI Control Tower policies	Self-managed
Table access	Governed by CT config	Full table API access
AI models	Now Assist models + approved	Any MCP client (Claude, GPT, etc.)
Custom tools	Requires SN development	Python — add tools in minutes

Use native if you're on Zurich+ with Now Assist and need AI Control Tower governance. Use this if you're on an older version, don't have the entitlement, need custom table access, or want to use any AI model.

Getting Started

1. Get a ServiceNow Instance

Sign up for a free Personal Developer Instance (PDI) — it comes pre-loaded with demo data. Wake it from the developer portal if it's hibernating.

2. Install

# From PyPI (recommended)
pip install mcp-server-servicenow

# Or run directly with uvx (no install needed)
uvx mcp-server-servicenow --help

3. Configure Your MCP Client

Copy .mcp.json.example to .mcp.json and fill in your credentials, or use the Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add servicenow -- uvx mcp-server-servicenow \
  --instance-url https://your-instance.service-now.com \
  --auth-type basic --username admin --password your-password

4. Verify

Ask Claude: "List the 5 most recent incidents" — if it returns data, you're connected.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/jschuller/mcp-server-servicenow.git
cd mcp-server-servicenow
pip install -e .

# Run with stdio (Claude Desktop / Claude Code)
mcp-server-servicenow \
  --instance-url https://your-instance.service-now.com \
  --auth-type basic \
  --username admin \
  --password your-password

# Or run with HTTP (remote access / Cloud Run)
mcp-server-servicenow \
  --transport streamable-http \
  --port 8080 \
  --instance-url https://your-instance.service-now.com \
  --auth-type basic \
  --username admin \
  --password your-password

Available Tools

Table API (6 tools)

Tool	Description
list_records	List records from any table with filtering, field selection, and pagination
get_record	Get a single record by sys_id
create_record	Create a new record in any table
update_record	Update an existing record
delete_record	Delete a record by sys_id
aggregate_records	COUNT, AVG, MIN, MAX, SUM with GROUP BY + HAVING via Stats API

CMDB (5 tools)

Tool	Description
list_ci	List configuration items with class and query filtering
get_ci	Get a single CI by sys_id
create_ci	Create a new configuration item
update_ci	Update a configuration item
get_ci_relationships	Get parent/child relationships for a CI

System (3 tools)

Tool	Description
get_system_properties	Query system properties
get_current_user	Get authenticated user info
get_table_schema	Get table data dictionary (field definitions)

Update Sets (5 tools)

Tool	Description
list_update_sets	List update sets with state filtering
get_update_set	Get update set details
create_update_set	Create a new update set
set_current_update_set	Set the active update set
list_update_set_changes	List changes within an update set

Resources

MCP Resources provide read-only context that LLM clients can fetch without tool calls — reducing latency and token overhead.

Resource URI	Description
servicenow://schema/{table_name}	Field definitions (name, type, label, mandatory, reference) for any table
servicenow://instance	Instance URL, platform version, logged-in user, timezone
servicenow://update-set/current	Currently active update set name, sys_id, state
servicenow://cmdb/classes	CMDB CI class hierarchy (names, labels, parent classes)
servicenow://help/query-syntax	Encoded query operators reference (prevents hallucinated syntax)

Architecture

graph TD
    CC["MCP Client"]
    subgraph SERVER["FastMCP 3.1"]
        TT["table_tools (6)"]
        CT["cmdb_tools (5)"]
        ST["system_tools (3)"]
        UT["update_set_tools (5)"]
        RS["resources (5)"]
        SNR["make_sn_request"]
    end
    subgraph AUTH["Auth + HTTP"]
        AM["auth_manager"]
        AR["api_request"]
    end
    SN["ServiceNow Instance"]

    CC -->|"stdio / Streamable HTTP"| SERVER
    TT --> SNR
    CT --> SNR
    ST --> SNR
    UT --> SNR
    RS --> SNR
    SNR --> AR
    AM -.->|"credentials"| AR
    AR -->|"REST API"| SN

Configuration

Add to your MCP client config — copy the snippet for your tool:

Claude Code

claude mcp add servicenow -- uvx mcp-server-servicenow \
  --instance-url https://your-instance.service-now.com \
  --auth-type basic --username admin --password your-password

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-servicenow"],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "basic",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "admin",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code

Add to .cursor/mcp.json or .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-servicenow"],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "basic",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "admin",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

See Configuration Guide for OAuth, multi-instance, and the full environment variable reference.

Deployment

See Deployment Guide — Docker, Cloud Run, HTTP transport verification, and the security model.

Troubleshooting

See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for common issues (hibernating instances, 401 errors, OAuth).

Development

# Install with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run unit tests
python -m pytest tests/ -v --ignore=tests/integration

# Run integration tests (requires PDI credentials)
# Option 1: Create .env.test (gitignored, auto-loaded)
cp .env.example .env.test  # then fill in your credentials
python -m pytest tests/integration/ -v

# Option 2: Inline env vars
SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL=https://your-pdi.service-now.com \
SERVICENOW_USERNAME=admin SERVICENOW_PASSWORD=your-password \
python -m pytest tests/integration/ -v

# Lint
ruff check src/ tests/

Skills (Claude Code)

This project ships 4 Claude Code skills in .claude/skills/ — guided workflows that chain MCP tools for common ServiceNow tasks. Skills auto-trigger from natural conversation or can be invoked directly.

Skill	What It Does	Try Saying
servicenow-cmdb	CI classes, dependencies, CMDB health, data quality, CSDM compliance	"show me CMDB health" / "what depends on this server"
exploring-tables	Schema discovery, field types, data profiling, table comparison	"what fields does incident have" / "find tables matching cmdb"
reviewing-update-sets	Update set review, risk flagging, conflict detection, pre-promotion checks	"review my update sets" / "is this safe to promote"
triaging-incidents	Incident triage, priority assessment, CI correlation, bulk analysis	"what's on fire" / "open P1 incidents"

The update set reviewer is a unique differentiator — no other open-source ServiceNow MCP server provides guided update set review workflows with risk categorization and pre-promotion checklists.

Claude Code Plugin

Install as a Claude Code plugin for zero-config setup — the MCP server, skills, slash commands, and admin agent are bundled together.

Prerequisites

Set these environment variables (or add them to your shell profile):

export SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL="https://your-instance.service-now.com"
export SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE="basic"  # or "oauth"
export SERVICENOW_USERNAME="admin"
export SERVICENOW_PASSWORD="your-password"
# For OAuth only:
export SERVICENOW_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export SERVICENOW_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"

Install from Git

claude plugin add --from https://github.com/jschuller/mcp-server-servicenow

Install Locally (development)

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/mcp-server-servicenow

Slash Commands

Command	Description
/servicenow:triage	Triage incidents — list, investigate, assess priority, analyze trends
/servicenow:cmdb	Explore CMDB — CI hierarchy, dependencies, health, CSDM taxonomy
/servicenow:review-update-set	Review update sets — deep review, compare, pre-promotion checks
/servicenow:explore-table	Explore tables — schema, fields, data profiling, table search

Agent

The servicenow-admin agent handles complex multi-step tasks autonomously (CMDB audits, incident trend reports, batch update set reviews). Claude can spawn it as a background worker for long-running analysis.

Note: The plugin auto-configures the MCP server — no manual .mcp.json setup required.

Roadmap

• Phase 1 ✅ Foundation — 18 tools, OAuth retry, structured error handling
• Phase 2 ✅ Remote access — FastMCP 3.0, Streamable HTTP, Cloud Run deployment
• Phase 3 ✅ Security — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE proxy, per-user SN auth, matches native Zurich model
• Phase 4 ✅ Skills & workflows — 4 Claude Code skills (CMDB, table explorer, update set reviewer, incident triage)
• Phase 4.5 ✅ Plugin packaging — Claude Code plugin with slash commands, admin agent, zero-config install
• Phase 5 ✅ Distribution — PyPI package, MCP Registry, automated publish workflows
• Sprint 2 ✅ FastMCP 3.1.1 — MultiAuth, token caching, connection pooling, response limiting, tool tags
• Sprint 3 ✅ Resources + Aggregation — 5 MCP resources, aggregate_records Stats API tool
• Next — Enhancement backlog under active consideration (background scripts, error enrichment, system logs, health checks)

Related Projects

• sn-app-template — ServiceNow scoped app template for Claude Code + now-sdk. Pairs with this MCP server for AI-assisted development.

License

MIT