ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based enterprise platform that helps organizations automate and manage digital workflows across IT, HR, customer service, and operations.
Verdict
Common use cases
- Log incident tickets from Slack-style chat
- Attach screenshots to open change requests
- Query knowledge base articles during troubleshooting
- Delete duplicate records in bulk
- Surface P1 incidents at standup
Integration
- Vendor
- ServiceNow
- Category
- other
- Auth
- OAUTH2
- Tools
- 5
- Composio slug
servicenow
Tools
- Attach file to record
Attaches a file to a specified record in a servicenow table. this endpoint allows you to attach a file with the provided details to the specified record.
- Create a record
Creates a new record in a specified servicenow table. this endpoint allows you to create a new record with the provided data in the specified table.
- Delete a recorddestructive
Deletes a record from a specified servicenow table. this endpoint allows you to delete a record with the provided id from the specified table.
- Find file
Finds a file in a specified servicenow table. this endpoint allows you to find a file with the provided name in the specified table.
- Get records
Retrieves a record from a specified servicenow table. this endpoint allows you to retrieve a record with the provided id from the specified table.
Setup
Setup guide
- 11. In Switchy, open your workspace settings and navigate to the Integrations page. 2. Find ServiceNow in the MCP directory and click Connect. 3. You'll be redirected to your ServiceNow instance to authorize — log in with credentials that have read/write access to the tables you want Switchy to touch. 4. Grant the requested OAuth scopes (typically table.read, table.write, attachment.read, attachment.write). 5. After authorization, you'll return to Switchy and see ServiceNow listed as connected. 6. Open any Space and type '@ServiceNow get records from incident table where priority is 1' to test — if it returns high-priority incidents, the connection works. 7. To invoke tools, always start your message with @ServiceNow followed by the action (create, delete, attach, find, get) and the table name.
What teammates see: by default, memories from ServiceNow are scoped to the Space (PROJECT visibility) - you can mark any memory PRIVATE or share it ORG-wide.
Works well with
Top models
Compatibility data appears once enough Spaces have used this MCP together with a given model.
How Switchy teams use it
Starter prompts
Log New Incident
@ServiceNow create a record in the incident table with short_description 'API timeout on checkout flow' and urgency 2. Set caller_id to my user and assign to the platform team.Open in a Space →
Find Critical Tickets
@ServiceNow get records from the incident table where priority equals 1 and assignment_group is 'Platform Engineering'. Return the number, short description, and assigned_to fields.Open in a Space →
Attach Error Logs
@ServiceNow attach the file 'error_logs_2024-01-15.txt' to incident INC0012345. The file contains stack traces from this morning's outage.Open in a Space →
Search Knowledge Base
@ServiceNow find records in the kb_knowledge table where short_description contains 'database failover'. Return the title and text fields for the top 3 results.Open in a Space →
Close Resolved Tickets
@ServiceNow update incident INC0012345 to set state to 'Resolved' and add close_notes 'Fixed by restarting the cache service. Monitoring for 24 hours.'Open in a Space →
Example outputs
Illustrative - representative of the model's voice and quality, not literal recordings.
@ServiceNow show me all open incidents assigned to my team with priority 1 or 2
Found 7 open incidents matching your criteria. Priority 1: INC0012345 (Database outage affecting prod), INC0012389 (Payment gateway timeout). Priority 2: INC0012401 (Slow dashboard load times), INC0012423 (Email delivery delays), INC0012456 (Mobile app login intermittent), INC0012478 (Report export failing), INC0012491 (API rate limit errors). All are currently assigned to the Platform Engineering team. INC0012345 was opened 3 hours ago and has the oldest timestamp.
This read-heavy query demonstrates filtering across ServiceNow's incident table. Requires OAuth scope for incident read access. Results reflect your instance's current state—field names and assignment groups vary by ServiceNow configuration. Query performance depends on table size and indexing.
@ServiceNow create a new incident for the API gateway returning 503 errors, assign it to DevOps, set priority to 2
Created incident INC0012502 in your ServiceNow instance. Details: Short description set to 'API gateway returning 503 errors', assigned to DevOps assignment group, priority 2 (High), state New. The incident number is now visible in your ServiceNow portal. Automatic notifications have been sent to the DevOps on-call rotation per your instance's notification rules.
This write operation creates a live record in your ServiceNow environment—not a simulation. Requires OAuth scope for incident write access. Side effects include triggering assignment notifications, workflow automations, and SLA timers. Assignment group names must match your instance's exact configuration or the create will fail.
@ServiceNow pull the last 20 resolved incidents from this month and summarize the top 3 recurring issues
Retrieved 20 resolved incidents from December 2024. After analyzing descriptions and resolution notes, three patterns emerge: (1) SSL certificate expiration warnings—5 incidents, all resolved by renewing certs before expiry. (2) Memory leak in background job processor—4 incidents, mitigated by scheduled restarts until patch deployed Dec 18. (3) Third-party API timeouts during peak hours—3 incidents, resolved by increasing timeout thresholds and adding retry logic. The remaining 8 incidents were one-off issues with no clear pattern.
This synthesis example combines ServiceNow data retrieval with AI reasoning to surface trends. The MCP fetches raw incident records; the AI performs the pattern analysis. Accuracy depends on how consistently your team documents root causes in resolution notes. Requires read access to closed incidents.
Use-case deep-dives
When this MCP works for small ops teams triaging tickets
A 6-person engineering team runs on-call rotations and uses ServiceNow for incident tracking. The MCP lets the on-call engineer pull ticket details, attach runbook screenshots, and update status without leaving Switchy's chat interface. This works well when your team closes 10-30 incidents per week and the on-call person needs quick read-write access during triage. The OAuth2 setup takes 20 minutes but then runs hands-free. If your team only reads ServiceNow tickets and never updates them, the MCP is overkill—just paste the ticket URL into Switchy and let the AI scrape it. But if you're writing back to ServiceNow multiple times per shift, the 5-tool set covers the handoff loop without switching tabs.
Why this MCP falls short for support ticket research
A 4-person support team wants to search ServiceNow's knowledge base articles while drafting responses in Switchy. The MCP's 'Get records' tool can pull a specific article by ID, but it doesn't expose full-text search across the knowledge base—you need the article ID upfront. This makes it a poor fit for exploratory support work where the rep is hunting for the right doc. If your workflow is 'customer mentions error code, pull the known article' then the MCP works. But if it's 'customer describes vague symptoms, search 200 articles for a match' you'll hit the tool's ceiling fast. For that scenario, ServiceNow's native search UI or a dedicated knowledge-base MCP with semantic search is the better call.
When this MCP simplifies procurement workflows at scale
A 3-person procurement team onboards 15-20 vendors per quarter and tracks each onboarding step as a ServiceNow record with attached contracts and compliance docs. The MCP's 'Create a record' and 'Attach file to record' tools let the team log new vendors and upload signed PDFs directly from Switchy during intake calls. This beats toggling between Zoom, email, and the ServiceNow web UI. The workflow shines when your team creates records daily and attaches 2-5 files per record. If you're only reading vendor status or your onboarding volume is under 5 per quarter, the OAuth2 setup overhead isn't worth it. But at 15+ vendors per quarter, the MCP pays back the setup time in week two.
Frequently asked
What can the ServiceNow MCP do in Switchy?
It lets AI assistants create, read, update, and delete records across any ServiceNow table your instance exposes—incidents, change requests, catalog items, custom tables. It can also attach files to records and search for existing attachments. Think of it as giving your AI direct CRUD access to your ITSM database, so you can automate ticket triage, update statuses, or pull reporting data without leaving the chat.
Do I need admin rights to connect ServiceNow via OAuth?
You need a ServiceNow account with permissions to create OAuth applications and grant the necessary table-level ACLs. Typically that means admin or a delegated admin role. The OAuth flow will ask for scopes matching the tables you want the MCP to touch—if your account can't read or write those tables in the ServiceNow UI, the integration won't work either.
Can the ServiceNow MCP run workflows or trigger approvals?
No. It only performs direct table operations—create, read, update, delete records, and manage attachments. If you need to kick off a ServiceNow workflow, you'd create or update a record that has a business rule or flow attached to it on the ServiceNow side. The MCP won't call workflow APIs or approval engines directly.
Why use this instead of ServiceNow's REST API directly?
The MCP abstracts away endpoint construction, authentication refresh, and error handling, so your AI can just say "create an incident" instead of your team writing and maintaining API client code. If you already have robust ServiceNow API integrations and prefer full control over request payloads, stick with those. The MCP trades flexibility for speed and simplicity.
Who on the team should connect the ServiceNow MCP?
Whoever owns your ServiceNow instance configuration—usually IT ops or a service desk lead. They'll know which tables to expose, what ACLs to set, and how to audit the OAuth app's activity. Once connected, any Switchy user in your workspace can invoke the MCP's tools, so plan your table permissions accordingly before you link it.