mfa-servicenow-mcp 1.11.19

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for ServiceNow

MFA ServiceNow MCP

🌐 English | 🇰🇷 한국어 | 🚀 GitHub Pages

MFA-first ServiceNow MCP server. Authenticates via real browser (Playwright) so Okta, Entra ID, SAML, and any MFA/SSO login just works. Also supports API Key for headless/Docker environments.

# Paste this into any AI coding assistant for fully guided setup
Install and configure mfa-servicenow-mcp by following the instructions here:
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jshsakura/mfa-servicenow-mcp/main/docs/llm-setup.md

---

Table of Contents

• Features
• AI-Powered Setup
• Prerequisites
• Quick Start
• MCP Client Configuration
• Authentication
• Tool Packages
• CLI Reference
• Keeping Up to Date
• Safety Policy
• Local Source Audit
• Skills
• Docker
• Developer Setup
• Documentation
• Related Projects
• License

---

AI-Powered Setup

One line. Any AI coding assistant. Everything configured automatically.

Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, or Gemini CLI:

Install and configure mfa-servicenow-mcp by following the instructions here:
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jshsakura/mfa-servicenow-mcp/main/docs/llm-setup.md

Your AI will:

1. Install uv and Playwright (if needed)
2. Ask for your ServiceNow instance URL, auth type, and tool package
3. Generate the correct MCP config file for your client
4. Install 24 workflow skills (if supported)

No manual config editing. No format differences to worry about. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

After setup, restart your AI client (or reload MCP servers) to load the new configuration. A browser window will open on the first tool call for MFA login.

For manual setup, see Prerequisites and Quick Start below.

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Features

• Browser authentication for MFA/SSO environments (Okta, Entra ID, SAML, MFA)
• 4 auth modes: Browser, Basic, OAuth, API Key
• 77 registered tools with 6 active package profiles plus disabled none — from minimal read-only to broad bundled CRUD
• 24 workflow skills with safety gates, sub-agent delegation, and verified pipelines
• Local source audit with HTML report, cross-reference graph, dead code detection, and auto-generated domain knowledge
• Cross-scope dep auto-resolve in download_app_sources — pulls global-scope Script Includes, Widgets, Angular Providers, and UI Macros that the app references, so the local bundle is self-contained for analysis
• Dry-run preview on every write tool (dry_run=True) — returns field-level diff, dependency counts, and precision notes before any side effect. Uses read-only APIs, works under all auth modes.
• Safe write confirmation with confirm='approve'
• Payload safety limits, per-field truncation, and total response budget (200K chars)
• Transient network error retry with backoff
• Tool packages for core, standard, service desk, portal developers, and platform developers — full available for advanced users (see warning)
• Developer productivity tools: activity tracking, uncommitted changes, dependency mapping, daily summary
• Full coverage of core ServiceNow artifact tables (see Supported Tables)
• CI/CD with auto-tagging, PyPI publishing, and Docker multi-platform builds

Supported ServiceNow Tables

Artifact Type	Table Name	Source Search	Developer Tracking	Safety (Heavy Table)
Script Include	sys_script_include	✅	✅	🛡️
Business Rule	sys_script	✅	✅	🛡️
Client Script	sys_client_script	✅	✅	🛡️
Catalog Client Script	catalog_script_client	✅	⬜	⬜
UI Action	sys_ui_action	✅	✅	🛡️
UI Script	sys_ui_script	✅	✅	🛡️
UI Page	sys_ui_page	✅	✅	🛡️
UI Macro	sys_ui_macro	✅	⬜	🛡️
Scripted REST API	sys_ws_operation	✅	✅	🛡️
Fix Script	sys_script_fix	✅	✅	🛡️
Scheduled Job	sysauto_script	✅	⬜	⬜
Script Action	sysevent_script_action	✅	⬜	⬜
Email Notification	sysevent_email_action	✅	⬜	⬜
ACL	sys_security_acl	✅	⬜	⬜
Transform Script	sys_transform_script	✅	⬜	⬜
Processor	sys_processor	✅	⬜	⬜
Service Portal Widget	sp_widget	✅	✅	🛡️
Angular Provider	sp_angular_provider	✅	✅	⬜
Portal Header/Footer	sp_header_footer	✅	⬜	⬜
Portal CSS	sp_css	✅	⬜	⬜
Angular Template	sp_ng_template	✅	⬜	⬜
Metadata / XML Definitions	sys_metadata	✅	⬜	🛡️
Update XML	sys_update_xml	✅	⬜	⬜

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Prerequisites

Install uv — it handles Python, packages, and execution in one tool.

• macOS / Linux:

  curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
  

• Windows:

  powershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
  

Restart your terminal after installation. That's it — no Python install, no pip, no venv needed.

Chromium for MFA/SSO browser login is installed automatically on first use. Windows users: see Windows Installation Guide for details.

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Quick Start

Recommended manual path: let the installer write the right MCP config for your client.

No clone needed. One command — works on macOS, Linux, and Windows:

uvx --with playwright --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp setup opencode \
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" \
  --auth-type "browser"

Replace opencode with your client (claude-code, codex, cursor, gemini, etc.). The installer merges the ServiceNow entry into your existing client config and installs skills when supported.

Add --scope global only if you want a global install instead of the default project-local setup.

To remove the setup later, run the matching client uninstall command:

uvx --with playwright --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp remove opencode

Add --scope global when removing a global install. Add --keep-skills if you only want to remove the MCP config entry and keep installed skills.

A browser window opens on the first browser-authenticated tool call for Okta/Entra ID/SAML/MFA login. Chromium is auto-installed if missing. Session persists after login — no need to re-authenticate every time.

Want AI-guided setup instead? Use AI-Powered Setup. Want raw server execution without writing client config? See CLI Reference.

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MCP Client Configuration

Recommended: use the AI-guided flow above or run servicenow-mcp setup <client> .... Use the copy-paste configs below when you need to inspect, repair, or hand-manage a client config file.

Each project can connect to a different ServiceNow instance. Set the config in your project directory so each project has its own instance URL and credentials.

Client	Project Config	Global Config	Format
Claude Code	.mcp.json	~/.claude.json	JSON
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json	Project only	JSON
VS Code (Copilot)	.vscode/mcp.json	Project only	JSON
Zed	Global only	~/.config/zed/settings.json	JSON
OpenAI Codex	.codex/config.toml	~/.codex/config.toml	TOML
Gemini CLI	.gemini/settings.json	~/.gemini/settings.json	JSON
OpenCode	opencode.json	Project only	JSON
Windsurf	Global only	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json	JSON
Claude Desktop	Global only	claude_desktop_config.json	JSON
AntiGravity	Global only	~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json	JSON
Docker	Env vars only	Env vars only	Env vars

Copy-paste configs for each client: Client Setup Guide

SERVICENOW_USERNAME / SERVICENOW_PASSWORD are optional — they prefill the MFA login form. On Windows, set these as system environment variables.

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Authentication

Choose the auth mode based on your ServiceNow environment.

Browser Auth (MFA/SSO) — Default

The Quick Start command uses browser auth. Optional flags:

Flag	Env Variable	Default	Description
--browser-username	SERVICENOW_USERNAME	—	Prefill login form username
--browser-password	SERVICENOW_PASSWORD	—	Prefill login form password
--browser-headless	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS	false	Run browser without GUI
--browser-timeout	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_TIMEOUT	120	Login timeout in seconds
--browser-session-ttl	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_SESSION_TTL	30	Session TTL in minutes
--browser-user-data-dir	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_USER_DATA_DIR	—	Persistent browser profile path. Session JSON is stored next to it, so multiple MCP hosts can share login state.
--browser-probe-path	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_PROBE_PATH	user-specific sys_user lookup when a username is known, otherwise /api/now/table/sys_user_preference?sysparm_limit=1&sysparm_fields=sys_id	Session validation endpoint (avoids 401 on non-admin sessions)
--browser-login-url	SERVICENOW_BROWSER_LOGIN_URL	—	Custom login page URL

Sharing login across multiple MCP hosts (Codex + Claude, etc.)

When a single user runs the MCP server from more than one host (e.g. Claude Code and Codex side by side), each host normally resolves ~/.servicenow_mcp to a different path — sandboxed apps may remap HOME, so they end up writing different session caches and each one prompts a fresh MFA login.

Why a shared path is needed: the server stores two artifacts — the Playwright profile (Chromium SSO cookies) and a session JSON (parsed cookies the MCP reuses on the next start). Without a shared root, host A's login is invisible to host B.

Fix: set SERVICENOW_BROWSER_USER_DATA_DIR to the same absolute path in every host's MCP config. The session JSON is now derived from the parent of that directory, so they share both the Chromium profile and the JSON cache.

# Pick any stable absolute path — example uses an instance-scoped folder
export SERVICENOW_BROWSER_USER_DATA_DIR="$HOME/.servicenow_mcp/shared/profile_acme"

Configure the same value in Codex's ~/.codex/config.toml, Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json, and any other client. Whichever host logs in first writes the session; the others pick it up on their next tool call without opening a browser.

Basic Auth

Use this for PDIs or instances without MFA.

uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp \
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" \
  --auth-type "basic" \
  --username "your_id" \
  --password "your_password"

OAuth

Current CLI support expects OAuth password grant inputs.

uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp \
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" \
  --auth-type "oauth" \
  --client-id "your_client_id" \
  --client-secret "your_client_secret" \
  --username "your_id" \
  --password "your_password"

If --token-url is omitted, the server defaults to https://<instance>/oauth_token.do.

API Key

uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp \
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" \
  --auth-type "api_key" \
  --api-key "your_api_key"

Default header: X-ServiceNow-API-Key (customizable with --api-key-header).

---

Tool Packages

MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE controls which tools the server exposes. Default: standard — no config needed for most users.

[!WARNING] full is an advanced package for experienced users only. It exposes all write tools across every domain simultaneously. An AI agent with full access can create, update, and delete records without domain constraints. Use the narrowest package that covers your actual work.

Package	Tools	Description
none	0	Disabled profile for intentionally turning tools off
core	15	Minimal read-only essentials for health, schema, discovery, and key artifact lookups
standard	45	(Default) Read-only across incidents, changes, portal, logs, and source analysis
service_desk	46	standard + incident and change operational writes
portal_developer	55	standard + portal, changeset, script include, and local-sync delivery workflows
platform_developer	55	standard + workflow, Flow Designer, UI policy, incident/change, and script writes
full	66	⚠️ Advanced only — all write tools across all domains. See warning above.

If a tool is not available in your current package, the server tells you which package includes it.

For the full reference (all packages, inheritance details, config syntax): Tool Packages Advanced Guide.

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CLI Reference

Server Options

Flag	Env Variable	Default	Description
--instance-url	SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL	required	ServiceNow instance URL
--auth-type	SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE	basic	Auth mode: basic, oauth, api_key, browser
--tool-package	MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE	standard	Tool package to load
--timeout	SERVICENOW_TIMEOUT	30	HTTP request timeout (seconds)
--debug	SERVICENOW_DEBUG	false	Enable debug logging

Basic Auth

Flag	Env Variable
--username	SERVICENOW_USERNAME
--password	SERVICENOW_PASSWORD

OAuth

Flag	Env Variable
--client-id	SERVICENOW_CLIENT_ID
--client-secret	SERVICENOW_CLIENT_SECRET
--token-url	SERVICENOW_TOKEN_URL
--username	SERVICENOW_USERNAME
--password	SERVICENOW_PASSWORD

API Key

Flag	Env Variable	Default
--api-key	SERVICENOW_API_KEY	—
--api-key-header	SERVICENOW_API_KEY_HEADER	X-ServiceNow-API-Key

Script Execution

Flag	Env Variable
--script-execution-api-resource-path	SCRIPT_EXECUTION_API_RESOURCE_PATH

---

Keeping Up to Date

uvx caches the last version it downloaded and keeps reusing it. To get a new release you must explicitly refresh — it will NOT update on its own.

# Refresh the uvx cache to the latest PyPI release
uvx --refresh --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp --version

After refreshing, restart your MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to load the new version.

Pinning a specific version

# Example: pin to 1.8.17
uvx --from "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.8.17" servicenow-mcp --version

To pin in an MCP client config, use the --from constraint in the command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.8.17",
        "servicenow-mcp",
        "--instance-url", "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "--auth-type", "browser"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Version release process

1. Version is defined in pyproject.toml (version = "x.y.z")
2. On push to main, CI auto-creates a git tag v{version} if it doesn't exist
3. Tagged pushes trigger PyPI publishing and GitHub Release creation
4. Docker images (standard + playwright variants) are built for amd64 and arm64

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Safety Policy

All mutating tools are protected by explicit confirmation.

Rules:

1. Mutating tools with prefixes such as create_, update_, delete_, remove_, add_, move_, activate_, deactivate_, commit_, publish_, submit_, approve_, reject_, resolve_, reorder_, and execute_ require confirmation.
2. You must pass confirm='approve'.
3. Without that parameter, the server rejects the request before execution.

This policy applies regardless of the selected tool package.

Portal Investigation Safety

Portal investigation tools are conservative by default:

• search_portal_regex_matches starts with widget-only scanning, linked expansion off, and small default limits.
• trace_portal_route_targets is the preferred follow-up for compact Widget -> Provider -> route target evidence.
• download_portal_sources does not pull linked Script Includes or Angular Providers unless explicitly requested.
• Large portal scans are capped server-side and return warnings when the request exceeds safe defaults.

Pattern matching modes:

Mode	Behavior
auto (default)	Plain strings treated literally, regex-looking patterns remain regex
literal	Always escape the pattern first; safest for route/token strings
regex	Use only when you intentionally need regex operators

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Performance Optimizations

The server includes several layers of performance optimization to minimize latency and token usage.

Serialization

• orjson backend: All JSON serialization uses json_fast (orjson when available, stdlib fallback). 2-4x faster than stdlib json for both loads and dumps.
• Compact output: Tool responses are serialized without indentation or extra whitespace, saving 20-30% tokens per response.
• Double-parse avoidance: serialize_tool_output detects already-compact JSON strings and skips re-serialization.

Caching

• OrderedDict LRU cache: Query results are cached with O(1) eviction using OrderedDict.popitem(). 256 max entries, 30-second TTL, thread-safe.
• Tool schema cache: Pydantic model_json_schema() output is cached per model type, avoiding repeated schema generation.
• Lazy tool discovery: Only tool modules required by the active MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE are imported at startup. Unused modules are skipped entirely.

Network

• HTTP session pooling: Persistent requests.Session with 20-connection pool, TCP keep-alive, TLS session resumption, and gzip/deflate compression.
• Parallel pagination: sn_query_all fetches the first page sequentially for total count, then retrieves remaining pages concurrently via ThreadPoolExecutor (up to 4 workers).
• Dynamic page sizing: When remaining records fit in a single page (<=100), the page size is enlarged to avoid extra round-trips.
• Batch API: sn_batch combines multiple REST sub-requests into a single /api/now/batch POST, with automatic chunking at the 150-request limit.
• Parallel chunked M2M queries: Widget-to-provider M2M lookups split into 100-ID chunks are executed concurrently rather than sequentially.

Schema & Startup

• Shallow-copy schema injection: Confirmation schema (confirm='approve') is injected via lightweight dict copy instead of copy.deepcopy, reducing list_tools overhead.
• No-count optimization: Subsequent pagination pages use sysparm_no_count=true to skip server-side total count computation.
• Payload safety: Heavy tables (sp_widget, sys_script, etc.) have automatic field clamping and limit restrictions to prevent context window overflow.

Local Source Audit

Download and analyze your entire ServiceNow application locally — no repeated API calls, no context waste.

Step 1: download_app_sources(scope="x_company_app")    → All server-side code + cross-scope deps to disk
Step 2: audit_local_sources(source_root="temp/...")     → Analysis + HTML report

Step 1 runs auto_resolve_deps=True by default: after the in-scope download it scans every .js/.html/.xml file and fetches any referenced sys_script_include, sp_widget, sp_angular_provider, or sys_ui_macro records not already in the bundle — no matter what scope they live in. Pulled deps are saved into the same tree with "is_dependency": true in their _metadata.json, so the audit in Step 2 sees the complete call graph. Set auto_resolve_deps=False if you only want in-scope records.

What Gets Generated

File	Purpose
_audit_report.html	Self-contained dark-theme HTML report — open in browser
_cross_references.json	Who calls who — Script Include chains, GlideRecord table refs
_orphans.json	Dead code candidates — unreferenced SIs, unused widgets
_execution_order.json	Per-table BR/CS/ACL execution sequence with order numbers
_domain_knowledge.md	Auto-generated app profile — table maps, hub scripts, warnings
_schema/*.json	Field definitions for every referenced table

Individual Download Tools

Each source type has a dedicated download tool — use the orchestrator for everything, or pick what you need:

Tool	Sources
download_portal_sources	Widgets, Angular Providers, linked Script Includes
download_script_includes	Script Includes (scope-wide)
download_server_scripts	Business Rules, Client Scripts, Catalog Client Scripts
download_ui_components	UI Actions, UI Scripts, UI Pages, UI Macros
download_api_sources	Scripted REST APIs, Processors
download_security_sources	ACLs (script-only by default)
download_admin_scripts	Fix Scripts, Scheduled Jobs, Script Actions, Email Notifications
download_table_schema	sys_dictionary field definitions

All downloads write full source to disk with zero truncation. Only a summary is returned to the LLM context.

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Skills

Tools are raw API calls. Skills are what make your LLM actually useful — verified pipelines with safety gates, rollback, and context-aware sub-agent delegation. MCP server + skills is the complete setup for LLM-driven ServiceNow automation.

24 skills today, more coming with every release.

	Tools Only	Tools + Skills
Safety	LLM decides	Gates enforced (snapshot → preview → apply)
Tokens	Source dumps in context	Delegate to sub-agent, summary only
Accuracy	LLM guesses tool order	Verified pipeline
Rollback	Might forget	Snapshot mandatory

Install Skills

# Claude Code
uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp-skills claude

# OpenAI Codex
uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp-skills codex

# OpenCode
uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp-skills opencode

# Gemini CLI
uvx --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp-skills gemini

The installer downloads 24 skill files from this repository's skills/ directory and places them in a project-local LLM directory. No authentication or configuration needed.

Client	Install Path	Auto-Discovery
Claude Code	.claude/commands/servicenow/	/servicenow slash commands appear on next startup
OpenAI Codex	.codex/skills/servicenow/	Skills loaded on next agent session
OpenCode	.opencode/skills/servicenow/	Skills loaded on next session
Gemini CLI	.gemini/skills/servicenow/	Skills activated on next session

How it works: Each skill is a standalone Markdown file with YAML frontmatter (metadata) and pipeline instructions. The LLM client reads these files from the install path and exposes them as callable commands or skill triggers.

Update: Re-run the same install command — it replaces all existing skill files (clean install, no merge).

Remove full setup: uvx --with playwright --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp remove claude-code

Remove skills only: delete the skill install directory manually (for example rm -rf .claude/commands/servicenow/) if you intentionally want to keep the MCP config entry.

Skill Categories

Category	Skills	Purpose
analyze/	6	Widget analysis, portal diagnosis, provider audit, dependency mapping, ESC audit, local source audit
fix/	3	Widget patching (staged gates), debugging, code review
manage/	8	Page layout, script includes, source export, app source download, changeset workflow, local sync, workflow management, skill management
deploy/	2	Change request lifecycle, incident triage
explore/	5	Health check, schema discovery, route tracing, flow trigger tracing, ESC catalog flow

Skill Metadata

Each skill includes metadata that helps LLMs optimize execution:

context_cost: low|medium|high    # → high = delegate to sub-agent
safety_level: none|confirm|staged # → staged = mandatory snapshot/preview/apply
delegatable: true|false           # → can run in sub-agent to save context
triggers: ["위젯 분석", "analyze widget"]  # → LLM trigger matching

For the full skill reference, see skills/SKILL.md.

MCP Resources (Built-in Skill Guides)

Skills are also exposed as MCP resources directly from the server — no client-side installation required. Any MCP-compliant client can discover and read them on demand.

# List available skill guides
list_resources → skill://fix/widget-patching, skill://deploy/change-lifecycle, ...

# Read a specific guide
read_resource("skill://fix/widget-patching") → full pipeline with safety gates

Tools that have a matching skill guide show a → skill://... hint in their description. The guide content is pull-based — zero token cost until the client actually reads it.

Feature	Client-side Skills	MCP Resources
Availability	Requires install command	Built-in, any client
Token cost	Loaded by client	Pull on demand (0 until read)
Discovery	Slash commands / triggers	list_resources
Best for	Power users, slash commands	Universal guidance

Docker

API Key auth only (MFA browser auth requires GUI, not available in containers).

docker run -it --rm \
  -e SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL=https://your-instance.service-now.com \
  -e SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE=api_key \
  -e SERVICENOW_API_KEY=your-api-key \
  ghcr.io/jshsakura/mfa-servicenow-mcp:latest

See Client Setup Guide for local build options.

Developer Setup

If you want to modify the source locally:

git clone https://github.com/jshsakura/mfa-servicenow-mcp.git
cd mfa-servicenow-mcp

uv venv
uv pip install -e ".[browser,dev]"
uv run playwright install chromium

Running Tests

uv run pytest

Linting & Formatting

uv run black src/ tests/
uv run isort src/ tests/
uv run ruff check src/ tests/
uv run mypy src/

Building

uv build

Windows: see Windows Installation Guide

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Documentation

• LLM Setup Guide — AI-guided one-line installation flow
• Client Setup Guide — Installer-first setup plus fallback client configs
• Tool Inventory — Complete tool list by category and package
• Windows Installation Guide
• Catalog Guide — Service catalog CRUD and optimization
• Change Management — Change request lifecycle and approval
• Workflow Management — Workflow (wf_workflow engine) and Flow Designer tools
• Korean README

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Related Projects and Acknowledgements

• This repository includes tools consolidated and refactored from earlier internal / legacy ServiceNow MCP implementations. The current surface is organized around bundled manage_* tools (see tool_utils.py).
• Some developer productivity workflows, especially server-side source lookup, were designed with ideas inspired by SN Utils. This project does not bundle or redistribute SN Utils code.
• This project is focused on MCP server use cases rather than browser-extension UX. If you want in-browser productivity features inside ServiceNow, SN Utils remains a strong companion tool.

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License

Apache License 2.0