ServiceNow Pocket Admin

⚡ Manage your instance with strict SQL or natural language

What is it?

A real-time virtual database that replicates your ServiceNow instance, with full support for standard SQL, natural language (text-to-SQL), and MCP for Claude and Codex.

How?

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 by creating a Virtual Database over the official ServiceNow APIs.

The Virtual Database:

• Industry-standards: It supports SQL ANSI-92 and beyond. All JOIN types, CTEs, subqueries, aggregates with GROUP BY/HAVING, UNION/EXCEPT/INTERSECT, CASE WHEN, window functions, and built-in date, string and math functions.
• No SQL skill required: Let AI build your complex queries in seconds through the built-in MCP.
• Lightweight: The entire VS Code extension is less than 0.5 MB.
• Zero instance footprint: Nothing is installed on your ServiceNow instance.
• Real-time: No data caches, no stored data. 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.
• Governance: INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE are transpiled to REST Table API calls, respecting business rules and ACLs enforced by ServiceNow. It 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, code autocompletion, formatting, refactoring...
• Export to CSV: Export query results to CSV.

The Agent:

Pocket Admin exposes the Virtual Database to MCP-compatible clients such as Claude and 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: Ask the AI for confirmation before every write operation.
• Predictable results: SQL is strict and deterministic, which drastically reduces hallucinations. When something goes wrong, the AI can verify results and recover.
• 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...
• 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 .sql or .snsql file and get IntelliSense, execution (Ctrl+Shift+E), native joins, and automatic choice resolution.

-- 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, 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: ./.mcp.json is auto-created/updated in your workspace after connection setup. You can also run ServiceNow Pocket Admin: Copy MCP Config for Claude.
   • 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.