sn-scriptsync sync with ServiceNow

Easy integration from ServiceNow to VS Code, enabling you to script in a full-fledged editor without any configuration. Now with full AI agent support!

What's New in 4.0 - AI Agent Support 🤖

Version 4.0 is a major release bringing native AI coding assistant support and powerful automation capabilities to sn-scriptsync.

📝 AI Assistant Setup
When you start sn-scriptsync, an agentinstructions.md file is placed in your workspace root and kept up to date automatically.
Recommended: import/reference it (single source of truth, never goes stale) instead of renaming a copy:

• Cursor: add @agentinstructions.md to a rule in .cursor/rules/ (or rename to AGENTS.md, which Cursor reads)
• Claude Code: add @agentinstructions.md to CLAUDE.md
• GitHub Copilot / Windsurf (no import support): copy it once to .github/copilot-instructions.md / .windsurfrules — sn-scriptsync refreshes the managed block in those files for you

The generated content lives inside SN-SCRIPTSYNC:BEGIN / SN-SCRIPTSYNC:END markers. You can expand the file with your own project-specific instructions, coding standards, or ServiceNow patterns — just add them outside the markers and they are preserved across updates.

📚 Learn more: See agentrules/agentinstructions.md for the template and agentrules/info.md for detailed setup instructions.

💬 Feedback Welcome: This is a new feature! Please share your experience and suggestions via GitHub Issue or Discussion.

⚠️ Disclaimer: AI coding assistants are powerful tools but can make mistakes. Since changes are automatically synced to ServiceNow, it's recommended to work in your PDI or development instances and review changes thoroughly. This tool is provided as-is without warranty - use at your own discretion, especially in production environments.

Requirements: The Agent API features require SN Utils 9.2.0.0 or higher in your browser.

🤖 AI Agent & External Change Support

Files modified by AI agents (Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, etc.), git operations, or external editors are now monitored by default and can be auto-synced when enabled:

• Automatic detection: External file changes are monitored via file system watcher
• Smart batching: Changes are intelligently grouped and deduplicated for efficiency
• Multi-field batching: Multiple field changes on the same record are combined into a single API call
• New external change settings:
  • externalChanges.monitorFileChanges: monitor external changes (default: on)
  • externalChanges.syncDelay: auto-sync delay in seconds (default: 0 monitor-only; set to > 0 to enable auto-sync)
• Pending Saves Queue: New tree view showing files waiting to sync
  • Pause/Resume queue functionality
  • "Sync Now" button for immediate sync
  • Remove individual files from queue
• New artifact creation: AI agents can create new Script Includes and other artifacts by simply creating files in the correct folder structure

⚡ Agent API (HTTP, 4.3.0+)

AI agents talk to scriptsync through a local HTTP server on 127.0.0.1. The extension picks a random port on startup and writes it, together with a per-session auth token, to .vscode/sn-agent-port.json:

{ "port": 53123, "token": "4f9a...hex...", "pid": 68861, "apiVersion": 2, "startedAt": 1734000000000 }

Quick example:

PORT=$(jq -r .port  .vscode/sn-agent-port.json)
TOKEN=$(jq -r .token .vscode/sn-agent-port.json)

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:$PORT/api \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Agent-Token: $TOKEN" \
  -d '{ "command": "check_connection", "instance": "dev12345" }'

Key properties:

• Event-driven: no file polling, no iCloud/OneDrive latency.
• Structured error codes (E_ACL, E_TIMEOUT, E_BROWSER_DISCONNECTED, ...) mapped to HTTP status codes.
• Token auth via X-Agent-Token header; health endpoint at GET /api/health (no auth).
• Legacy {instance}/agent/requests/*.json file queue still works as a fallback - toggle with sn-scriptsync.agentApi.fileFallback.

Migrating from the file-based Agent API? Nothing breaks: HTTP and the file transport both run, and the file fallback stays on by default. On start, the extension refreshes whichever instructions file you use (.cursorrules, CLAUDE.md, .windsurfrules, .github/copilot-instructions.md, agentinstructions.md, ...) in place — preserving your own edits outside the managed block — so your agent picks up the HTTP endpoint automatically. Agents should discover the endpoint every session and verify it via GET /api/health (matching pid) before trusting it, since the port file can be stale when the workspace is synced by iCloud/OneDrive/git. HTTP only changes the agent-to-extension hop; the SN Utils helper tab is still required for anything touching ServiceNow. The file transport is legacy and is planned to default off in a future major release.

Available commands (full details in agentinstructions.md):

• Connection/state: check_connection, get_instance_info, get_sync_status, sync_now, get_last_error, clear_last_error
• Records: update_record, update_record_batch, create_artifact, get_table_metadata, check_name_exists_remote
• Queries: query_records, get_parent_options
• Local files: list_tables, list_artifacts, check_name_exists, get_file_structure, validate_path
• Browser: open_in_browser, refresh_preview, take_screenshot, navigate_and_screenshot, run_slash_command, activate_tab, switch_context, upload_attachment
• Live form/page control: navigate, set_field, get_form_state, run_ui_action, click_element

See CHANGELOG.md for the full list of changes.

🔒 Security Enhancements

Comprehensive security measures protect your workspace and ServiceNow instance:

• Request ID validation: Alphanumeric with underscores/hyphens only (^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$)
• Workspace boundary enforcement: All file operations restricted to VS Code workspace
• Path traversal protection: File paths normalized and validated to prevent directory escapes
• Upload security: File path validation for attachment uploads
• Agent folder isolation: agent/ folders excluded from ServiceNow sync and git tracking

🎨 Context Menu Improvements

Reduce clutter with smart context menu management:

• New showContextMenu setting: Hide/show sn-scriptsync commands in the context menu
• Language-specific overrides: Configure per file type (e.g., hide for markdown)
• Server-aware visibility: Context menu only appears when scriptsync server is running
• Smart filtering: Commands hidden for internal files, JavaScript-only commands properly scoped

Example configuration:

{
    "sn-scriptsync.showContextMenu": true,
    "[markdown]": {
        "sn-scriptsync.showContextMenu": false
    }
}

File Structure

Files are stored in a clean, organized structure:

instancename/scopename/tablename/recordname.field.extension

Example: myinstance/global/sys_script_include/MyUtils.script.js

Tables like sp_widget get their own folder:

instancename/scopename/sp_widget/WidgetName/client_script.js

YouTube Demo

📺 Quick 3.0 demo (August 2023)

SN Utils

Requires the latest version of SN Utils, links via: snutils.com

In case of issues, always check for the latest version of both the browser and VS Code extension, and update if needed!

Setup

After installing both this extension and the browser extension, open a folder in VS Code and enable scriptsync in VS Code.

Setting folder

In the settings page you can enter a default file path. When this folder is opened as workspace, the service is automatically started. Default value for path: ~/Documents/sn-scriptsync

Manual start/stop

The ScriptSync service can be manually started or stopped by clicking the Statusbar text in the bottom of the window.

Enable in SN Utils

From the browser ScriptSync must be enabled once, by opening the popup and in the settings tab enable the checkbox

Usage

While using, be sure to keep the helper tab open. This will show logging and acts as a communication channel between ServiceNow and VS Code. This will be automaticly opened when clicking a scriptsync button in your instance.

Forms

After activating, in forms for appropriate fields, such as script, css and html a small save button will display.

Clicking it will save the current field value direct to the filesystem and open it in VS Code.

In VS Code the structure for the file will be: instance/table/fieldname^scriptname^sys_id.extension

Saving it in VS Code, will save it back to the instance.

Widgets

The workflow for ServicePortal widgets is shown in the animated gif above. From the widget editor click on the save button. This will create all the relevant fields as files on the filesystem, in a folder with the name of the widget. In a subfolder the angular ng-templates will be placed.

Besides that a file test_urls.txt is created. In this page you can add your own urls. When saving a file, ScriptSync will refresh the browser pages that match that URL, enabling live preview.

Widget SCSS can be live edited, each change can immediate be previewed in the browser. See animation below.

Studio integration

In studio you can click Link VS Code via sn-scriptsync. It will show you the tree of artefacts in your app and all the scriptable fields. When clicking an field, it will be pulled from the server. If the file is already open, it will switch to that window. This is an alterbative to clicking each individual button in the platform. SP widgets are not jet supported at this point. Note this feature is in beta.

AI Agent Support

sn-scriptsync is designed to work seamlessly with AI coding assistants. Changes made by AI tools are automatically detected and synced to your ServiceNow instance.

Supported AI Tools

• Cursor (with Claude, GPT-4, etc.)
• GitHub Copilot
• Windsurf
• Cline / Claude Dev
• Aider
• Any tool that modifies files on disk

How It Works

1. Automatic detection: File changes are detected via file system watcher
2. Debounced sync: Changes are batched and synced after a configurable delay
   • Default behavior is monitor-only (syncDelay = 0), so changes stay in queue until manual save or Sync Now
3. Queue management: View pending syncs in the "Pending Saves" panel, pause/resume, or sync immediately
4. Multi-field batching: Multiple changes to the same record are combined into one API call

Settings

• externalChanges.monitorFileChanges: Monitor external changes (AI agents/git/tools) and show them in the Pending Saves queue (default: true)
• externalChanges.syncDelay: Seconds to wait before auto-syncing monitored changes (default: 0 monitor-only, set to > 0 to enable auto-sync)
• createArtifacts.enabled: Allow creating new records in ServiceNow from file/agent flows (default: true). Disable to block all create-record operations.
• Manual saves (Ctrl+S) always sync immediately, bypassing the queue

Forensic Audit Logging

When sn-scriptsync.debugLogging is enabled, the extension writes structured NDJSON audit entries to audit.log in the workspace root.

Use this when reporting sync issues to include objective decision traces:

• watcher event source and ignore reason
• queue decisions (queued, paused, debounce elapsed, monitor-only)
• create/update dispatch attempts and websocket availability
• mapping resolution events (_map.json name/sys_id decisions)

Creating New Artifacts with AI

AI agents can create new ServiceNow artifacts by simply creating files in the correct location:

{instance}/{scope}/{table}/{name}.{field}.{extension}

Example - Create a new Script Include:

myinstance/global/sys_script_include/MyNewUtils.script.js

The extension will automatically:

1. Detect the new file
2. Create the record in ServiceNow
3. Update _map.json with the new sys_id

AI Agent Instructions (for AI tools)

Add these instructions to your AI tool's system prompt or rules file for optimal ServiceNow development:

## ServiceNow Development with sn-scriptsync

When working with ServiceNow files synced via sn-scriptsync:

### File Structure
- Files are stored as: `{instance}/{scope}/{table}/{name}.{field}.{extension}`
- Example: `myinstance/global/sys_script_include/MyUtils.script.js`
- Internal files starting with `_` (like `_map.json`, `_settings.json`) should NOT be edited

### Creating New Artifacts
1. Create the file in the correct folder structure
2. Use the correct field name in the filename:
   - Script Includes: `{name}.script.js`
   - Business Rules: `{name}.script.js`
   - Client Scripts: `{name}.script.js`
   - UI Scripts: `{name}.script.js`
   - Widgets: folder with `client_script.js`, `script.js`, `template.html`, `css.scss`

### Best Practices
- Always check `_map.json` to see existing artifacts and their sys_ids
- Do NOT manually create scope folders - sync at least one artifact first
- The scope must exist in ServiceNow before creating artifacts in it
- Use the existing coding style found in the synced files

### Available Tables
Common tables: `sys_script_include`, `sys_script` (Business Rules), `sys_ui_script`, 
`sys_script_client`, `sp_widget`, `sys_ui_page`, `sys_ui_action`, `sys_ws_operation`

Agent API

Detailed usage (HTTP transport, auth, request/response shapes, error codes, and every command) lives in the generated agentinstructions.md that's placed in your workspace on startup and kept up to date automatically. Import/reference it from your AI tool (e.g. @agentinstructions.md in CLAUDE.md or a Cursor rule), or copy it for tools without import support (.github/copilot-instructions.md, .windsurfrules) as described above.

The legacy file-based transport ({instance}/agent/requests/*.json -> {instance}/agent/responses/res_*.json) is still supported and can be disabled with:

"sn-scriptsync.agentApi.fileFallback": false

Context Menu Visibility

The sn-scriptsync context menu commands only appear when the scriptsync server is running. You can also hide them completely using the showContextMenu setting.

This setting supports language-specific overrides, allowing you to show/hide commands per file type:

{
    "sn-scriptsync.showContextMenu": true,
    "[markdown]": {
        "sn-scriptsync.showContextMenu": false
    },
    "[plaintext]": {
        "sn-scriptsync.showContextMenu": false
    }
}

You can also disable it globally and enable only in specific workspaces by adding workspace-specific settings.

Intellisense

Basic inteliisense is added to autocomplete the ServiceNow API's and functions.

ESLint

I recommend installing ESLint and the ESLint ServiceNow plugin. This will do some basic code checks.

FAQs

I'm using <script> tags in a widget HTML template, and they do not sync to my instance properly. How can I resolve this?

Solution (See #24): In your ServiceNow instance, set the following system property:

• glide.rest.sanitize_request_input = false (This may also apply to UI Macro's and other places where tags get escaped)

I get an error when using in Safari: "User Not Authenticated"

Solution Disable "User Not Authenticated" in Safari Privacy settings

sn-scriptsync does not work in Brave browser

Solution Shield down your instance in Brave browser

Issues

Please report an issue on GitHub if you experience problems, or have a feature request.

License & Warranty

This tool comes as is with no warranty. Not allowed to copy or republish this extension or its code.

📋 Licensing Update Coming Soon
sn-scriptsync will receive an updated license with the upcoming SN Utils Store App release, covering enterprise usage, redistribution, and commercial integration.
Questions? Contact: arnoud@snutils.com