Additional information for onboarding DevOps tools and apps using the Service catalog

Release version: Xanadu

Updated July 31, 2025

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Summary of Additional information for onboarding DevOps tools and apps using the Service catalog

This content explains how ServiceNow customers can onboard DevOps tools and applications using the self-service Service Catalog in the Classic Environment. It covers activating catalog items for tool and app onboarding, submitting onboarding requests, the approval workflow, and options for onboarding at scale via APIs. It also touches on importing historical DevOps data during onboarding.

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Activating Onboarding Catalog Items

DevOps App Onboarding and DevOps Tool Onboarding catalog items are initially inactive and must be activated in All > Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items.
To make these catalog items visible in the Service Portal, assign them to a DevOps category within the Service Catalog. If this category does not exist, create it directly in the catalog item record.
For the Employee Service Center, add a new topic under the IT > IT for IT section in the Assigned Topics related list of the catalog item form to enable onboarding requests.

Request Submission and Approval

Users fill out and submit onboarding forms for DevOps tools or apps via the Service Catalog.
Requests trigger an automated approval workflow (Request for onboarding approval flow) that can be activated and customized in Flow Designer.
By default, requests are approved automatically, but manual approvals can be configured for specific roles or users by updating the approval rules.
If a request is rejected, an inbound event logs errors, which must be resolved before resubmitting.
Importing DevOps data during app onboarding is supported for faster setup.

Onboarding at Scale Using APIs

Bulk onboarding is supported by using the onboarding APIs, allowing multiple tools or apps to be onboarded in a single request by specifying them in JSON format.
The POST /devops/onboarding/app API asynchronously processes app onboarding events.
The POST /devops/onboarding/tool API asynchronously processes tool onboarding events.

Importing Historical DevOps Data

During app onboarding through the Service Catalog, customers can enable polling to import historical DevOps data. This data is mapped to associated plans, repositories, and pipelines and imported on a scheduled basis to ensure accurate and comprehensive data integration.

Use the onboarding catalog items as a self-service approach to onboard your DevOps tools and apps.

Onboarding tools and apps

Note:

This content pertains to the Classic Environment, which refers to working in lists of records and on record forms directly, not in the Configurable Workspace interface. You can work in the Classic Environment with Next Experience active, or with it inactive, which is referred to as Core UI, (formerly known as UI16).

Use the ServiceNow Service Catalog to request the onboarding of tools and apps. Fill out the onboarding form details for a tool or an app and submit the request. You can also import the DevOps data for the app that you are creating for swifter and easier onboarding.

Prior to the request creation, an automated workflow approves or rejects the request.

When the workflow is approved, a success message displays.
When rejected, an inbound event is created capturing error logs. By ensuring the log is error free, you can create a request again.

You can onboard DevOps tools and apps using self-service catalog items.

Navigate to All > Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items > DevOps App Onboarding, and set the Active state to True to activate the DevOps App Onboarding maintain item. By default the catalog items (App Onboarding) is turned off.
Navigate to All > Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items > DevOps Tool Onboarding, and set the Active state to True to activate the DevOps Tool Onboarding maintain item. By default the catalog items (Tool Onboarding) is turned off.
To add the DevOps catalog items in the Service Catalog categories in Service Portal, set the category of these items to DevOps and add the Service Catalog catalog. If the DevOps category is not available, you must create a new category called DevOps from the catalog item record itself and assign the DevOps Onboarding catalog to it.
To add the DevOps catalog items in Employee Service Center, add a new topic in the Assigned Topics related list with taxonomy as Employee in the IT > IT for IT section. The Assigned Topics related list is not available in the Default view of the Catalog Item form. To add it, select Additional icons > Configure > Related Lists and move the Connected Content → Catalog item field to the selected section.
Navigate to All > Flow Designer > Flows, and activate the Request for onboarding approval flow, so that the tool or app onboarding requests are approved by default. If you want to request manual approval for onboarding catalog items (i.e. from a user other than the DevOps system user), you can update the rule set in the Ask For Approval action of the flow. You can configure manual request approval for such items by configuring the fulfillment process for the catalog item. For more information, see Service Catalog request fulfillment.
Customize roles for approvals of the request for onboarding approval flow from Flow Designer.

Onboarding at scale

You can also use the onboarding APIs to onboard DevOps tools & apps in bulk instead of onboarding one tool or app per request. In the request parameters for tools or apps, you can specify multiple values to onboard them in one go. For example:

{
    "tools":[
    {
        "name": "jira_revamp",
        "type": "Jira",
        "url": "http://jira1.sndevops.xyz",
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "DevOps1!",
        "useMidServer": false
    },
    {
        "name" : "azure_revamp",
        "type" : "Azure DevOps",
        "url"  : "https://dev.azure.com/ADOLightweight/Testing%20ADO%20On%20empmolugu",
        "username" : "devops.integration.user",
        "password" : "a5xvoea2osy3ld43p2biojcu6eog5y5q3xicqbbgxwuphjbbcu6a",
        "useMidServer" : false
    },
    {
        "name" : "jenkins_revamp",
        "type" : "Jenkins",
        "url"  : "http://jenkins5.sndevops.xyz/",
        "username" : "admin",
        "password" : "DevOps1!",
        "useMidServer" : false
    },
    {
        "name" : "github_revamp",
        "type" : "GitHub",
        "url"  : "https://api.github.com",
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "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",
        "useMidServer" : false
    },
    {
        "name" : "bitbucket_revamp",
        "type" : "Bitbucket",
        "url"  : "",
        "username" : "admin",
        "password" : "DevOps1!",
        "useMidServer" : false
    },
    {
        "name": "gitlab_revamp",
        "type": "GitLab",
        "url": "http://gitlab2.sndevops.xyz",
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "mYdAJQCLi6Qft4Nk3XvS",
        "useMidServer": false
    }],
    "credentials" : {
        "name" : "devops.integration.user",
        "password" : "devops"
    }
}

Onboard DevOps apps at scale by using the DevOps app onboarding API. The POST/devops/onboarding/app request creates an onboarding app event that is asynchronously processed by the DevOps service. For more information, see POST/devops/onboarding/app.
Onboard DevOps tools at scale by using the DevOps tool onboarding API. The POST/devops/onboarding/tool request creates an onboarding tool event that is asynchronously processed by the DevOps service. For more information, see POST/devops/onboarding/tool.