Admin Operations

Contents

snow run

Execute a server-side script directly on the active instance, equivalent to the Scripts - Background page in the ServiceNow UI. Captures gs.print() output and displays it in the terminal.

Requires the admin role.

# Inline script
snow run "gs.print('hello world')"

# Run a local file
snow run ./fix-bad-records.js

# Run in a specific application scope
snow run --scope x_myco_myapp "new MyUtils().validate()"

# Combine file and scope
snow run -f ./migrate.js --scope x_myco_hronboard

# Debug raw HTTP response when parsing fails
snow run "gs.print(new GlideDateTime())" --debug

Options:

Flag Description
-f, --file <path> Path to a .js file to execute (alternative to the inline argument)
-s, --scope <scope> Application scope to run the script in (default: global)
--debug Print the raw HTTP response for troubleshooting

Output notes:

  • Use gs.print() to write to the output captured by this command.
  • gs.info(), gs.log(), and gs.warn() write to the system log and are visible with snow log, but are not captured here.
  • If the script produces no output, (no output) is shown rather than an error.

How it works:

The command posts to ServiceNow’s /sys.scripts.do processor (the same endpoint the background scripts UI page uses). It first performs a GET to obtain the CSRF token, then posts the script body. The response HTML is parsed to extract the output section. Multiple extraction patterns are tried to handle differences across ServiceNow versions.

snow sys

Read and write system properties (sys_properties) from the command line. Useful for quick configuration changes without logging into the UI.

snow sys get 

snow sys get glide.email.smtp.host
snow sys get glide.ui.escape_html_minimal --json

Displays the property name, value, type, and description. Use --json for raw JSON output.

snow sys set 

# With confirmation prompt
snow sys set glide.email.active false

# Skip confirmation
snow sys set glide.smtp.host mail.example.com --yes

# Create a new property if it doesn't exist
snow sys set x_myco_myapp.feature_flag true

Shows the old and new values before applying. Prompts for confirmation unless --yes is passed. Creates the property if it does not already exist.

Flag Description
--yes Skip the confirmation prompt

snow sys list 

# List all glide.* properties (default)
snow sys list

# Filter by name prefix
snow sys list --filter glide.email

# Substring match (use % as wildcard)
snow sys list --filter %smtp%

# Increase the result limit
snow sys list --filter glide.ui -l 200

# JSON output
snow sys list --filter glide.security --json
Flag Description
-f, --filter <pattern> Filter by property name. Plain text matches the prefix; include % for substring matching.
-l, --limit <n> Max results (default: 50)
--json Output as a JSON array

snow approval

List and action ServiceNow approval requests (sysapproval_approver).

snow approval list 

# List your pending approvals (basic auth: scoped to current user automatically)
snow approval list

# All users' approvals
snow approval list --all

# Filter by state
snow approval list --state approved
snow approval list --state rejected -l 50

# JSON output
snow approval list --json
Flag Description
--state <state> Filter by state: requested, approved, rejected, cancelled (default: requested)
--all Show all approvers’ records (default: scoped to the authenticated user for basic auth)
-l, --limit <n> Max results (default: 25)
--json Output as JSON

snow approval approve 

snow approval approve <sys_id>
snow approval approve <sys_id> --comment "Reviewed and approved"
snow approval approve <sys_id> --yes   # skip confirmation

snow approval reject 

snow approval reject <sys_id> --comment "Needs security review first"
snow approval reject <sys_id> --yes

Both approve and reject accept:

Flag Description
-c, --comment <text> Comment to attach to the approval record
--yes Skip the confirmation prompt

snow watch

Poll a record at a regular interval and print a diff whenever any field value changes. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

# Watch all fields on a record
snow watch incident <sys_id>

# Watch specific fields only
snow watch incident <sys_id> --fields state,assigned_to,priority

# Faster polling, specific fields
snow watch sys_update_set <sys_id> --fields state --interval 3000

# Watch an approval record
snow watch sysapproval_approver <sys_id> --fields state,comments
Flag Description
-f, --fields <fields> Comma-separated list of fields to watch (default: all fields)
-i, --interval <ms> Polling interval in milliseconds, minimum 1000 (default: 5000)
--no-display-value Use raw values instead of display values

Output format: When one or more fields change, the timestamp, field name, old value, and new value are printed. Multi-line fields (e.g. scripts) are shown as <N lines> rather than their full content.

snow acl

Inspect Access Control List (ACL) rules for a table. Reads from sys_security_acl and joins role requirements from sys_security_acl_role.

# All active table-level ACLs for incident
snow acl list incident

# Filter by operation
snow acl list incident --operation read
snow acl list incident --operation write

# Filter to ACLs that require a specific role
snow acl list incident --role itil
snow acl list sys_user --role admin

# Include field-level ACLs
snow acl list incident --fields

# Include inactive ACLs
snow acl list incident --inactive

# JSON output
snow acl list incident --json
Flag Description
--operation <op> Filter by operation: read, write, create, delete, execute
--role <role> Filter to ACLs that require a specific role (substring match)
--inactive Include inactive ACLs (default: active only)
--fields Include field-level ACLs in addition to table-level rules
--json Output as JSON (includes role array per ACL)

Output shows each ACL rule with its operation (colour-coded), type, and the roles required. Rules with no role requirement are flagged in yellow. Flags such as [condition], [script], and [admin-overrides] are shown inline.

snow import

Import records into a ServiceNow table from a JSON array or CSV file. Supports upsert (update-or-create) and dry-run preview.

# Import a JSON array
snow import ./users.json --table sys_user

# Import a CSV file, upsert on user_name
snow import ./users.csv --table sys_user --upsert user_name

# Preview without making changes
snow import ./incidents.json --table incident --dry-run

# Skip confirmation and limit records processed
snow import ./data.csv --table x_myco_request --yes --limit 100

# Upsert incidents by number
snow import ./incidents.csv --table incident --upsert number --yes
Flag Description
-t, --table <table> Target table name (required)
-u, --upsert <field> Field to match for upsert — if a record with that field value exists it is updated, otherwise a new record is created
--dry-run Show what would be created or updated without making any changes
-l, --limit <n> Max records to process from the file
--yes Skip the confirmation prompt

File formats:

Extension Parsing
.json Expects a JSON array of objects (or a single object)
.csv RFC 4180 CSV with a header row; quoted fields and escaped quotes supported
Other Tries JSON first, then CSV

Upsert behaviour: For each record, if --upsert <field> is set and the field has a value, the CLI queries for an existing record matching field=value. If found, it patches the record; otherwise it creates a new one. Without --upsert, every row is always created.

snow-cli — MIT License