ServiceNow Pocket Admin

⚡ Put a Vibe Admin into the Vibe Coding loop

What is it?

Pocket Admin brings real-time ServiceNow context to your Vibe Coding environment by putting a Vibe Admin into the workflow. Vibe Admin is Vibe Coding in SQL.

Pocket Admin is agnostic with regard to the other VS Code extensions and ServiceNow development tools you already use day to day.

At its core, Pocket Admin is an MCP packaged as a VS Code extension. Connect it to Claude Code or OpenAI Codex and the LLM can talk SQL with ServiceNow. Reasoning and Action (ReAct) layers now work together in a more natural way.

The LLM is able to figure out your ServiceNow configuration and data in real time. Vibe Admin also unlocks Vibe Testing implicitly: the LLM verifies its own writes by reading them back in the same session. When your LLM realizes it can read and write ServiceNow, it adopts a full-stack role: admin -> development -> QA... with a man in the loop (you) for supervision.

How?

Pocket Admin is a real-time virtual database over the official ServiceNow APIs, with full SQL plugged into your LLM through MCP.

Everything is a table in ServiceNow, but your AI is blind to your instance. It knows ServiceNow deeply, yet it can't see your tables, your fields, or your data.

Pocket Admin bridges that gap.

The Virtual Database:

• Industry-standards: It supports SQL ANSI-92 and beyond. All JOIN types, CTEs (non-recursive), subqueries, aggregates with GROUP BY/HAVING, UNION/EXCEPT/INTERSECT, CASE WHEN, aggregate window functions, and built-in date, string and math functions.
• Lightweight: The entire VS Code extension is less than 0.5 MB.
• Scalable: Runs in the browser and scales with your user base. Built for daily work across many users, not for massive datasets.
• Zero instance footprint: Nothing is installed on your ServiceNow instance.
• Real-time: No row data is cached or stored, only schema metadata. Tables are populated on the fly to answer each query.
• Performance & cost: SELECT is transpiled to ServiceNow GraphQL, fetching only the minimal data needed while joins run locally. Fewer API calls, lower token consumption.
• DISPLAYVALUE(): Resolves references, dates, currencies, and choice fields into their display values, reducing the number of joins needed in your queries.
• Security context: Every query runs as the calling user. Reads are filtered by ServiceNow read ACLs; writes go through the REST Table API enforcing business rules and ACLs.
• Governance: INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE are transpiled to REST Table API calls, respecting business rules and ACLs enforced by ServiceNow. Pocket Admin also automatically verifies the result of every action to detect whether it was silently rejected by ServiceNow.
• Professional SQL Editor: Built-in editor with syntax highlighting and code autocompletion.
• Export to CSV: Export query results to CSV.

The Agent:

Pocket Admin exposes the Virtual Database to MCP-compatible clients such as Claude Code and OpenAI Codex through an embedded MCP server (no TCP port opened). The AI reads, writes, and inspects the schema through SQL. Pocket Admin automatically verifies every write and reports back what ServiceNow actually did.

• No black box: Every SQL statement the AI generates is visible for auditing and can be re-run directly from the SQL editor.
• Full control: You can ask the AI to confirm before every write.
• Reliable results: SQL is strict and deterministic, which drastically reduces hallucinations.
• No SQL skill required: Let the AI build your complex queries in seconds through the built-in MCP.
• Zero vendor lock-in: No platform licenses, no instance modifications. Just your LLM account and a free VS Code extension.
• Introspection: The AI can discover the data model using standard SQL (SHOW TABLES, SHOW COLUMNS FROM...) and use it to verify results and recover when something goes wrong.
• Write verification: Pocket Admin automatically verifies every INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE. If ServiceNow silently rejects or modifies a write, the discrepancy is reported back to the AI, which can react accordingly.

🏗️ Architecture

📝 SQL Examples

Open a .snsql file and get IntelliSense, execution (Ctrl+Shift+E), multi-table joins, and automatic resolution of choice fields.

-- Display all tables
SHOW TABLES

-- Display columns of a given table
SHOW COLUMNS FROM incident

-- Get assignee for incidents
SELECT i.number as [Incident], u.name as [Assignee]
FROM incident i
JOIN sys_user u ON i.assigned_to = u.sys_id

-- Use DISPLAYVALUE() to transform references, dates, currencies, etc. into the values displayed in the UI
SELECT i.number as [Incident], DISPLAYVALUE(i.priority) as [Priority]
FROM incident i
WHERE i.active = true
LIMIT 10

-- Get priority label for incidents by joining sys_choice
SELECT i.number as [Incident], c.label as [Priority]
FROM incident i
JOIN sys_choice c ON c.value = CAST(i.priority AS STRING)
  AND c.element = 'priority'
  AND c.name = 'task'
  AND c.language = 'en'
WHERE i.active = true
LIMIT 10

🎬 MCP Demos

Ask for confirmation before writes

Generate a report from a single prompt

Diagnose and fix failing workflows

Detect business rules affecting your data

🔒 Security & Privacy

OAuth Scoped Access Pocket Admin can only do what the configured OAuth user is allowed to do. Access to sys_db_object and sys_dictionary is required to reproduce the database model.

Privacy-First Credentials are encrypted and stay local in your VS Code workspace. No telemetry, no analytics, no data sent to third parties. The SQL Editor works standalone without AI. For stricter data privacy, you can also replace cloud AI clients with a local LLM.

🚀 Configuration (3 Minutes)

🚨 Use a strong MCP-capable model (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or local equivalent) for best SQL-admin results. 🚨

Watch the setup video for a step-by-step guide.

Prerequisites: OAuth2 configured using password grant. Read access to sys_db_object and sys_dictionary.

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Configure Connection: Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run ServiceNow Pocket Admin: Configure Connection. Credentials are encrypted and stored locally in /sn_auth.config.
3. Sync Metadata: Run ServiceNow Pocket Admin: Refresh Tables Cache. Tables are stored locally in /sn_tables.cache.
4. Connect your MCP client:
   • Claude Code: ./.mcp.json is auto-created/updated in your workspace after connection setup. You can also run ServiceNow Pocket Admin: Copy MCP Config for Claude.
   • OpenAI Codex: ~/.codex/config.toml is auto-created/updated after connection setup (inside a managed block). You can also run ServiceNow Pocket Admin: Copy MCP Config for Codex.

⚙️ Settings

• sql-servicenow.maxResults: Maximum rows returned per query (default: 10,000).

💬 Feedback

Found a bug? Have an idea? Open an issue on GitHub.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If Pocket Admin saved you time and you find it useful, writing a quick review on the Marketplace helps other ServiceNow developers find it. It takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference.

👥 Who's behind this?

KintoSoft. Saving marriages between developers and ServiceNow since 2026.