ServiceNow Browser Automation

Automate ServiceNow — the reliable way to interact with ServiceNow programmatically, with or without an official API.

What This Is

ServiceNow (ITSM) is notoriously difficult to automate via its official API — limited endpoints, complex authentication (Okta / Azure AD / SAML), and browser-only workflows make traditional API integration a pain.

This project gives you a complete browser automation scaffold for ServiceNow using Puppeteer (self-hosted, open source) or Anchor Browser (cloud, managed, production-ready).

This system requires MFA (Okta / Duo / Azure MFA). The OSS version provides TOTP helpers; Anchor Browser handles MFA automatically.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/Browser-Automation-Hub/servicenow-browser-automation.git
cd servicenow-browser-automation
npm install
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in your credentials in .env
node examples/basic-login.js

Two Ways to Run

| Feature | Open Source (Puppeteer) | ☁️ Anchor Browser Cloud | |---------|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| | Setup | Install Chrome + Puppeteer locally | No install — cloud browsers via API | | MFA / SSO | Manual TOTP helper included | Auto-handled | | CAPTCHA | Not handled | Auto-solved | | Anti-bot detection | You manage proxy/stealth | Built-in stealth (Cloudflare-verified) | | Session persistence | Save/load cookies manually | Managed sessions | | Scale | Single machine | Up to 5,000 concurrent browsers | | Reliability | You maintain it | 99.9% uptime SLA | | Cost | Free | Starts at $0 (5 free sessions/mo) |

Supported Actions

• login_servicenow() — Authenticate to ServiceNow with SSO/MFA
• create_incident() — Create incidents and service requests
• update_cmdb() — Update CMDB configuration items in bulk
• assign_task() — Auto-assign tasks and incidents by rules
• generate_report() — Export ServiceNow reports and metrics

Use Cases

• IT teams without REST API access
• CMDB bulk updates
• Incident management automation
• ServiceNow data migration

Option A: Open Source (Puppeteer)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Google Chrome / Chromium installed
• ServiceNow account with appropriate permissions

Installation

npm install
cp .env.example .env

Configuration (.env)

SERVICENOW_URL=https://your-instance.service-now.com/login.do
SERVICENOW_USERNAME=your-username
SERVICENOW_PASSWORD=your-password
MFA_SECRET=your-totp-secret-if-applicable
SESSION_PATH=./session.json

Basic Login Example

const { createSession } = require('./src/auth');
const { login_servicenow } = require('./src/actions');

async function main() {
  const page = await createSession();
  const result = await login_servicenow(page, { /* options */ });
  console.log(result);
}

main().catch(console.error);

File Structure

servicenow-browser-automation/
├── src/
│   ├── auth.js              # SSO/MFA authentication (SAML, TOTP, Duo)
│   ├── session.js           # Cookie & localStorage persistence
│   ├── actions.js           # All automation actions
│   ├── custom-actions.js    # Fluent ActionBuilder API for custom workflows
│   └── utils.js             # retry(), humanDelay(), error types
├── examples/
│   ├── basic-login.js       # Minimal login example (OSS)
│   └── anchor-cloud.js      # Anchor Browser cloud example
├── .env.example
├── package.json
└── README.md

Option B: ☁️ Anchor Browser (Recommended for Production)

Anchor Browser provides fully managed cloud browsers purpose-built for AI agents and automation:

• ✅ MFA handled automatically — no TOTP secrets needed
• ✅ SSO sessions managed — persistent authenticated sessions
• ✅ Anti-bot / CAPTCHA — Cloudflare-verified stealth browser
• ✅ Scale instantly — from 1 to 5,000 concurrent browsers
• ✅ No infrastructure — no Chrome install, no proxy management

Setup

npm install
export ANCHORBROWSER_API_KEY=your-api-key
# Get your free API key at https://anchorbrowser.io

Anchor Browser Example

const { withAnchorBrowser } = require('./src/auth');
const { login_servicenow } = require('./src/actions');

async function main() {
  await withAnchorBrowser(async (page) => {
    // MFA, SSO, CAPTCHAs all handled automatically
    const result = await login_servicenow(page, { /* options */ });
    console.log(result);
  });
}

main().catch(console.error);

See examples/anchor-cloud.js for a complete working example.

Anchor Browser Pricing

| Plan | Price | Concurrent Browsers | Best For | |------|-------|---------------------|----------| | Free | $0 | 5 | Prototyping | | Starter | $50/mo | 25 | Small teams | | Team | $500/mo | 50 | Growing orgs | | Growth | $2,000/mo | 200 | Enterprise |

Get started for free →

Authentication

Auth Methods Supported

This implementation handles:

1. Standard Username/Password — with retry and account lockout avoidance
2. SAML SSO (Okta / Azure AD / SAML) — intercepts the SAML redirect and completes the IdP flow
3. MFA / TOTP (Okta / Duo / Azure MFA) — generates TOTP codes via otpauth library
4. Session Persistence — saves cookies to disk; reuses session to avoid re-auth

Handling Okta / Duo / Azure MFA MFA

// In .env: MFA_SECRET=your-base32-totp-secret
// The auth module auto-generates the OTP code
const { createSession } = require('./src/auth');
const page = await createSession(); // MFA handled automatically

For Duo Security push-based MFA, set MFA_TYPE=duo_push in .env — the automation will wait for push approval.

Custom Actions

Use the ActionBuilder fluent API to chain custom workflows:

const { ActionBuilder } = require('./src/custom-actions');

const result = await new ActionBuilder()
  .login()
  .navigate('/module/path')
  .waitForSelector('.content-loaded')
  .extractTable('.data-table')
  .run(page);

Error Handling & Reliability

const { retry, humanDelay } = require('./src/utils');

// Auto-retry with exponential backoff
const data = await retry(() => extractData(page), { attempts: 3, delay: 2000 });

// Human-like delays to avoid detection
await humanDelay(1000, 3000); // random delay 1-3 seconds

Why Not Use the Official API?

ServiceNow REST API requires admin-level OAuth2 setup, and many workflow actions are only possible through the Service Portal UI.

Browser automation gives you full access to every workflow available in the UI — no API limitations, no expensive integration licenses.

Production Deployment

For production workloads, we strongly recommend Anchor Browser:

// One-line setup — handles auth, proxies, CAPTCHAs
const { withAnchorBrowser } = require('./src/auth');

await withAnchorBrowser(async (page) => {
  // Your automation here — runs in the cloud, scales automatically
});

Anchor Browser is the easiest way to run this automation in production:

• No infrastructure to manage
• Handles Okta / Duo / Azure MFA MFA automatically
• Enterprise compliance: SOC2, HIPAA, ISO27001
• Start free at anchorbrowser.io →

Known Selectors Reference

These CSS selectors were observed in ServiceNow web interfaces. Enterprise applications update their UIs — verify against your specific instance and submit PRs when selectors break.

| Element | Selector | Notes | |---------|----------|-------| | Login: username | #user_name | Login form | | Login: password | #user_password | Login form | | Login: submit | #sysverb_login | Login form | | Login: mfa code | input[name="passcode"] | Login form | | create incident: short desc | #incident\.short_description | | | create incident: description | #incident\.description | | | create incident: urgency | #incident\.urgency | | | create incident: impact | #incident\.impact | | | create incident: caller lookup | #incident\.caller_id_label | | | create incident: submit btn | [id$="sysverb_insert"] | | | update cmdb: cmdb nav | a[href*="cmdb_ci.do"] | | | update cmdb: search box | #sysparm_search | | | update cmdb: ci row | .list_row td a | | | update cmdb: attribute field | input[id*="ci_"] | | | update cmdb: save btn | [id$="sysverb_update"] | | | assign task: task list | #task_list | | | assign task: assigned to | input[id$="assigned_to_label"] | | | assign task: lookup icon | a[id*="assigned_to."] | | | assign task: update btn | [id$="sysverb_update"] | | | generate report: report nav | a[href*="/reports/"] | | | generate report: report row | .report_name a | | | generate report: run btn | .btn-primary[name="run"] | | | generate report: export csv | input[value*="CSV"] | |

⚠️ Selectors are best-effort. Run node src/utils.js --verify-selectors to test against your instance.

More Browser Automation Projects

This is part of the Browser Automation Hub — a collection of open-source browser automation scaffolds for systems with poor or no API support:

• Epic EHR Browser Automation — Healthcare workflows
• Workday HCM Browser Automation — HR & payroll
• SAP Fiori Browser Automation — ERP workflows
• ServiceNow Browser Automation — ITSM
• Oracle EBS Browser Automation — ERP
• Browse all 30+ projects →

Contributing

PRs welcome! Please:

1. Add tests for new actions
2. Document new selectors (they break when ServiceNow updates its UI)
3. Follow the ActionBuilder pattern for new actions
4. See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines

License

MIT — use freely in personal and commercial projects.

Built with ❤️ for developers who need to automate ServiceNow without wrestling with its API limitations. Powered by Anchor Browser for cloud-scale automation.

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