mfa-servicenow-mcp 1.13.20

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for ServiceNow

MFA ServiceNow MCP

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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.

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Table of Contents

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

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Setup

Pick one path. Both end at the same configured MCP server; you don't need both.

Path A — Let an AI do it

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

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

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

The AI installs uv + Chromium, asks for your instance URL / auth type / tool package, writes the right MCP config for your client, and installs the workflow skills.

Path B — One-line command (manual)

If you'd rather run the installer yourself:

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 entry into your existing config, installs Chromium (--skip-chromium to opt out), and pulls the skills when supported. Add --scope global for a global install (default is project-local).

After either path

Restart the MCP client so it loads the new config. The first browser-authenticated tool call opens a window for Okta/Entra ID/SAML/MFA login. Sessions persist — no re-login every time.

Need to write the client config by hand? See MCP Client Configuration. Need to launch the server directly? See CLI Reference.

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Features

• Browser authentication for MFA/SSO environments (Okta, Entra ID, SAML, MFA)
• 4 auth modes: Browser, Basic, OAuth, API Key
• 72 registered tools with 6 active package profiles plus disabled none — from minimal read-only to broad bundled CRUD
• 16 workflow skills with safety gates, sub-agent delegation, and verified pipelines
• Streamable HTTP transport — keep stdio as the default, or expose /mcp for HTTP-capable clients and bridges
• 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_script_client	✅	✅	🛡️
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	✅	⬜	⬜

---

Install

Default: uvx

Use this unless your company security tools block uvx or package downloads.

# macOS/Linux
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uvx --with playwright playwright install chromium
uvx --with playwright --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp setup opencode \
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" \
  --auth-type "browser"

# Windows PowerShell
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
uvx --with playwright playwright install chromium
uvx --with playwright --from mfa-servicenow-mcp servicenow-mcp setup opencode `
  --instance-url "https://your-instance.service-now.com" `
  --auth-type "browser"

uvx does not use a locally installed Playwright Python package, but it does use the standard Playwright browser cache when the matching Chromium revision is already installed. If Chromium is missing, run the Playwright install command above.

Release zip/exe (local install)

Use this path when uvx or PyPI is blocked by corporate security. The release zip ships a PyInstaller-built single-file executable — no Python required, no installer script, no system-cache pollution. The executable auto-detects a ms-playwright/ directory sitting next to itself, so the entire install is "unzip and point your MCP client at it".

1. Download

The executable is on the latest release. The Chromium bundle — only needed when the network also blocks Playwright's own Chromium download — is not re-attached to every release (it's ~150 MB and only changes with Playwright); grab it from the long-lived chromium-bundle release.

Platform	Required (latest release)	Add this too if Chromium download is blocked (chromium-bundle release)
Windows x64	servicenow-mcp-windows-x64-<version>.zip	ms-playwright-chromium-windows-x64.zip
macOS (Intel / Apple Silicon)	servicenow-mcp-macos-<arch>-<version>.zip	ms-playwright-chromium-macos-<arch>.zip
Linux x64	servicenow-mcp-linux-x64-<version>.zip	ms-playwright-chromium-linux-x64.zip

2. Build this folder layout

Pick any directory you control (~/apps/servicenow-mcp/, D:\Tools\servicenow-mcp\, etc. — just keep it stable). Extract both zips up front — don't leave the .zip files lying next to the executable. The Chromium zip's extracted directory just has to start with ms-play and contain a chromium-* subdirectory; whatever name your unzip tool produces is fine:

~/apps/servicenow-mcp/                                  (any directory you choose)
├── servicenow-mcp                                      ← from the platform zip (.exe on Windows)
└── ms-playwright-chromium-linux-x64-1.13.7/            ← default extracted name works
    └── chromium-1185/                                  (one of these is enough)
        └── …

Or, if you'd rather have a clean name, extract into a folder simply called ms-playwright/. Both work — the executable globs for any sibling ms-play* directory at startup and, on finding a chromium-* subdirectory inside, sets PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH to that path for the current process only. It does not write anywhere on disk, does not edit your MCP client config, and does not touch the system-wide Playwright cache (~/.cache/ms-playwright, %LOCALAPPDATA%\ms-playwright, …). If Chromium isn't bundled, Playwright falls back to its own discovery — set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH in your MCP env yourself or run playwright install chromium somewhere reachable.

3. Sanity-check the binary

# macOS / Linux
~/apps/servicenow-mcp/servicenow-mcp --version

# Windows PowerShell
& "$HOME\apps\servicenow-mcp\servicenow-mcp.exe" --version

If the version prints, you're done with the binary half — every remaining step is just config.

4. Wire it up in your MCP client (copy-paste)

Paste the snippet for your client into the file it reads. The env block is identical to the uvx setup; only command changes to the absolute path of your executable.

Claude Code — .mcp.json (project root) / ~/.claude.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "/home/you/apps/servicenow-mcp/servicenow-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "browser",
        "SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS": "false",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE": "standard"
      }
    }
  }
}

On Windows replace "command" with "C:/Users/you/apps/servicenow-mcp/servicenow-mcp.exe".

Codex — .codex/config.toml (project) / ~/.codex/config.toml (global):

[mcp_servers.servicenow]
command = "/home/you/apps/servicenow-mcp/servicenow-mcp"
args = []
startup_timeout_sec = 30
tool_timeout_sec = 120
enabled = true

[mcp_servers.servicenow.env]
SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL = "https://your-instance.service-now.com"
SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE = "browser"
SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS = "false"
SERVICENOW_USERNAME = "your-username"
SERVICENOW_PASSWORD = "your-password"
MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE = "standard"

OpenCode — opencode.json (project root):

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "servicenow": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["/home/you/apps/servicenow-mcp/servicenow-mcp"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "browser",
        "SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS": "false",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE": "standard"
      }
    }
  }
}

SERVICENOW_USERNAME / SERVICENOW_PASSWORD are optional (MFA login pre-fill). If you put Chromium somewhere else than next to the executable, add "PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH": "/abs/path/to/ms-playwright" to the env block — the auto-detect only kicks in for the sibling-directory layout above. Configs for other clients (Cursor, VS Code Copilot, Gemini, Zed, …) live in the Client Setup Guide.

Chromium fallback (optional)

If you skipped the Chromium zip and Playwright's auto-download is blocked, pre-stage the directory on any machine with Python:

pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH="$HOME/apps/servicenow-mcp/ms-playwright" python -m playwright install chromium

The result is the same ms-playwright/chromium-*/… layout the bundled zip produces, so the auto-detect picks it up with no extra config.

Windows users: see the Windows Installation Guide for PATH and antivirus notes.

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MCP Client Configuration

Recommended: use Setup above. 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.

---

Authentication

Choose the auth mode based on your ServiceNow environment.

Browser Auth (MFA/SSO) — Default

The Setup command uses browser auth by default. 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	—	Override the Chromium profile path. Rarely needed — see the sandbox note below before setting it.
--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

Login sharing across hosts and instances — how it actually works

The server caches two things under ~/.mfa_servicenow_mcp/: the Playwright profile (Chromium SSO cookies) and a session JSON (parsed cookies reused on the next start). Both are scoped per instance + username — files are named profile_<host>_<user> and session_<host>_<user>.json.

That scoping does two things for you automatically, with no configuration:

• Multiple hosts share one login. Claude Code and Codex on the same machine both resolve ~/.mfa_servicenow_mcp/, so whichever logs in first writes the session and the other reuses it — no second MFA prompt.
• Different instances / different credentials stay isolated. Each instance+user gets its own profile and session file, so dev and test (or two accounts) never collide. For multiple instances, configure them in SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_CONFIG (JSON) — each alias gets its own scoped cache; you do not manage this with a profile path.

Do not set SERVICENOW_BROWSER_USER_DATA_DIR to "share" logins. It overrides the profile path verbatim — the per-instance scoping is bypassed, so every instance you run is forced into one Chromium profile and their cookies collide. The only legitimate use is a narrow one: a sandboxed host (e.g. Claude Desktop on macOS) that remaps HOME to a container path, so its ~/.mfa_servicenow_mcp/ no longer matches the terminal's. In that single-instance case, point the sandboxed host at the real home path:

# Only when a sandbox remapped HOME, and only for a single-instance host
export SERVICENOW_BROWSER_USER_DATA_DIR="/Users/you/.mfa_servicenow_mcp/profile_acme"

If you run more than one instance, leave this unset and let the per-instance scoping do its job.

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] Any package above standard grants write access and is an advanced option. service_desk, portal_developer, platform_developer, and full all let an AI agent create, update, and delete records — full does so across every domain at once. Most users should stay on the read-only default standard and only opt up to the narrowest write package their task actually requires.

Read-only (safe defaults):

Package	Tools	Description
none	0	Disabled profile for intentionally turning tools off
core	12	Minimal read-only essentials for health, schema, discovery, and key artifact lookups
standard	30	(Default) Read-only across incidents, changes, portal, logs, and source analysis

⚠️ Write-capable (advanced — grants create/update/delete):

Package	Tools	Description
service_desk	32	⚠️ standard + incident and change operational writes
portal_developer	42	⚠️ standard + portal, changeset, script include, and local-sync delivery writes
platform_developer	46	⚠️ standard + workflow, Flow Designer, UI policy, incident/change, and script writes
full	61	⚠️ Most advanced — all write tools across all domains at once

Each server process is intentionally bound to one active ServiceNow instance for ordinary tools. For safety, there is no per-request write routing across instances.

Read-Only Data Comparison Mode

When you need to compare development and test data, you can opt into named instances with SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_CONFIG. SERVICENOW_ACTIVE_INSTANCE is still required.

Two things are global, one is per-instance:

• Tool surface is global — set once with MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE. Only one instance is ever active per server process, so there is no per-instance tool package.
• Write permission is per-instance — each alias carries allow_writes. It is enforced at call time against the active instance: a write tool can be loaded but still refused if the active instance has allow_writes: false. role: "prod" defaults allow_writes to false automatically.
• Credentials are per-instance with global fallback — put username / password / api_key (and auth_type) on an alias to override; omit them and the alias inherits the global SERVICENOW_USERNAME / SERVICENOW_PASSWORD / etc. So if every instance shares one login, set it once globally and leave the alias entries credential-free.

Other rules:

• Write-capable tools always use the active instance and do not accept an instance selector.
• Read tools accept an instance argument to run a single read against a non-active instance — e.g. sn_query(instance="test", table="incident", ...) or sn_health(instance="test") while dev stays active. Every read tool in your package exposes it (enum of configured aliases); write tools don't. This is how you peek at another instance's data without restarting.
• list_instances reports configured aliases plus the active one. compare_instances performs read-only table comparisons across aliases.
• Switching the active (write) instance requires restarting the MCP client — it is read once at server startup, not refreshed live.

Example — shared global login, per-instance write gating:

export MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE=standard
export SERVICENOW_USERNAME=svc_account
export SERVICENOW_PASSWORD='...'
export SERVICENOW_ACTIVE_INSTANCE=dev
export SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_CONFIG='{
  "dev":  { "url": "https://dev.service-now.com",  "role": "development", "allow_writes": true },
  "test": { "url": "https://test.service-now.com", "role": "test",        "allow_writes": false }
}'

To give an instance its own login instead, add the fields to that alias (a ${ENV} reference is resolved, so you can keep secrets out of the JSON):

"prod": { "url": "https://prod.service-now.com", "role": "prod", "username": "prod_user", "password": "${SERVICENOW_PROD_PASSWORD}" }

Use compare_instances for dev/test drift checks. Use separate project/client configs for actual work against a different instance.

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
--transport	SERVICENOW_MCP_TRANSPORT	stdio	MCP transport: stdio or http
--http-host	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Host for --transport http
--http-port	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_PORT	8000	Port for --transport http
--http-path	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_PATH	/mcp	Streamable HTTP endpoint path
--http-allowed-hosts	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_HOSTS	loopback hosts	Comma-separated Host allowlist for DNS rebinding protection
--http-disable-dns-rebinding-protection	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_DISABLE_DNS_REBINDING_PROTECTION	false	Disable DNS rebinding protection behind trusted network controls
--http-json-response	SERVICENOW_MCP_HTTP_JSON_RESPONSE	false	Return JSON responses instead of SSE streams
--timeout	SERVICENOW_TIMEOUT	30	HTTP request timeout (seconds)
--debug	SERVICENOW_DEBUG	false	Enable debug logging

HTTP transport example:

servicenow-mcp --transport http --http-host 127.0.0.1 --http-port 8000

The MCP endpoint is http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp; /health returns a lightweight health response.

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

Recommended for stable setups. uvx happily downloads the latest Playwright when it pulls the MCP server, and a new Playwright release ships a new Chromium build. When that happens the first tool call has to fetch ~150 MB of browser binaries — which on a slow link can blow past the MCP host's handshake timeout and surface as:

MCP startup failed: handshaking with MCP server failed: connection closed: initialize response

Pin both playwright and mfa-servicenow-mcp so the install is deterministic. Then uvx --with playwright playwright install chromium is a one-time op until you bump the pin yourself.

# One-off run
uvx --with "playwright==1.58.0" --from "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.13.19" servicenow-mcp --version

MCP client configs (project-local examples)

Put project-local config in the repository root. This lets each dev/test/prod project point at its own ServiceNow instance and tool profile.

Choose one execution style:

• uvx: default recommended path. Runs from PyPI and uses the uvx cache.
• Local release zip/exe: use when endpoint security blocks uvx or package execution. Extract servicenow-mcp-<platform>-<version>.zip, run the included installer, then point MCP command at the installed executable.

uvx

Claude Code (.mcp.json in repo root):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "servicenow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--with", "playwright==1.58.0",
        "--from", "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.13.19",
        "servicenow-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "browser",
        "SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS": "false",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE": "standard"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex (.codex/config.toml in repo root — project-local; ~/.codex/config.toml is the global form):

[mcp_servers.servicenow]
command = "uvx"
args = [
  "--with", "playwright==1.58.0",
  "--from", "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.13.19",
  "servicenow-mcp",
]
startup_timeout_sec = 30
tool_timeout_sec = 120
enabled = true

[mcp_servers.servicenow.env]
SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL = "https://your-instance.service-now.com"
SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE = "browser"
SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS = "false"
SERVICENOW_USERNAME = "your-username"
SERVICENOW_PASSWORD = "your-password"
MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE = "standard"

OpenCode (opencode.json in repo root):

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "servicenow": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "uvx",
        "--with", "playwright==1.58.0",
        "--from", "mfa-servicenow-mcp==1.13.19",
        "servicenow-mcp"
      ],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_AUTH_TYPE": "browser",
        "SERVICENOW_BROWSER_HEADLESS": "false",
        "SERVICENOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "SERVICENOW_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MCP_TOOL_PACKAGE": "standard"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local release zip/exe

See Step 5 of the local install section above for per-client copy-paste snippets. Two key differences from the uvx config: command points at the local executable, and the env block includes PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH pointing at the Chromium directory next to the executable — that's how the server stays out of the system standard Playwright cache. The installer prints both values when it finishes, so copy those directly.

Upgrading

When you bump mfa-servicenow-mcp, decide whether to bump playwright at the same time:

# 1. Refresh Chromium for the new Playwright (if you bumped playwright)
uvx --with "playwright==<new>" playwright install chromium

# 2. Update both pins in your client config to the new versions
# 3. Restart your MCP client

Why we no longer auto-install Chromium inside the MCP server: that download used to run during the first tool call. On a slow link the subprocess outlived the host's handshake deadline and the client reported "connection closed". v1.13.1 changed this — the MCP server now only warns if Chromium is missing, and the servicenow-mcp setup <client> command handles the install at setup time (out-of-band, no handshake timer).

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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.

16 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 skills only: delete the skill install directory manually (for example rm -rf .claude/commands/servicenow/).

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]"
uvx --with playwright 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