AES integration with a Git source control repository

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of AES integration with a Git source control repository

    ServiceNow’s App Engine Studio (AES) enables application developers to integrate applications with a Git source control repository on non-production instances. This integration helps manage multiple application versions efficiently by linking applications to Git repositories, facilitating import, commit, pull, branching, and tagging operations directly from AES.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Version Control: Developers can import applications from Git, commit local changes, pull remote updates, create branches, and tag application versions.
    • Centralized Credentials: All developers on the instance use a shared set of Git repository credentials with read/write access.
    • App Engine Studio Management: Within AES, developers can edit repository credentials, manage commits, apply remote changes, create and switch branches, and import applications.
    • Git Repository Modifications: Limited support exists for modifying application files outside AES, such as moving files in the directory structure or editing files directly in Git.
    • File Validation and Sanitization: The system uses checksum validation and sanitization processes to ensure data integrity during source control operations, aborting or skipping operations if XML schema validations fail.
    • MID Server Support: Use an existing MID Server to connect to Git repositories behind firewalls, enabling secure network access.

    Integration Requirements

    • User must have the admin role.
    • The non-production instance requires network access to the Git repository.
    • Each application must reside in its own Git repository.
    • Repository credentials must allow read and write permissions.

    Limitations

    Source control integration is not supported for production instances. Production applications should be managed using application repositories, update sets, or AES application sharing features.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    This integration empowers your development teams to collaboratively manage application lifecycle versions in non-production environments using Git, ensuring consistency and control over application changes. By leveraging AES’s built-in Git capabilities, you can streamline application development workflows, maintain version history, and support multiple development branches, all while enforcing validation to maintain application integrity.

    Enable application developers to integrate App Engine Studio (AES) with a Git source control repository to save and manage multiple versions of an application from a non-production instance.

    Linking an application to source control enables all application developers on a non-production instance to:
    • Import applications from a Git repository.
    • Pull and apply remote changes from a Git repository.
    • Commit all local changes on the instance to a Git repository.
    • Create tags to permanently link to a given version of an application.
    • Create branches to maintain multiple versions of an application simultaneously.

    Integration requirements

    To link an application to source control:
    • The user must have the admin role.
    • The non-production instance must have network access to the Git repository.
    • Each application must be within its own Git repository.
    • The repository user credentials must grant read and write access.
    Note:
    All application developers on the instance share a single set of credentials per repository.

    Options available from App Engine Studio

    After linking an application to source control, application developers can use App Engine Studio to manage the repository. From App Engine Studio, developers can:
    • Edit the application repository credentials.
    • Commit all local changes on the instance.
    • Apply remote changes from the repository.
    • Create a branch.
    • Switch branches.
    • Import an application from a remote repository.

    Source control integration does not support managing applications on a production instance. Instead, you can manage applications on a production instance using the application repository, an update set, or App Engine Studio. For more information about managing applications on a production instance, see Application sharing.

    Options available from a Git repository

    The ServiceNow platform offers limited support for modifying linked application files outside of an instance. From Git, developers can:
    • Move application files to a different Git directory structure.
    • Edit application files outside of App Engine Studio.

    The system generates a properties text file called sn_source_control.properties at the root level of the repository. To move application files to a different Git directory structure, application developers can set the path parameter to specify the subfolder path containing their application files. For example, if you moved your application to the src/app subfolder, set the path to path=src/app.

    The system generates a checksum.txt file in the Git repository to determine if any application files have been changed outside of App Engine Studio. When the checksum value from the file matches the current checksum value, the integration skips the validation and sanitization process. When the checksum values do not match, the integration validates and sanitizes the application files as part of the source control operation. The sanitization process:
    • Creates upgrade log entries for each sanitization action taken.
    • Removes unsupported folders and files from the repository.
    • Aborts all source control operations when a system application file fails XML schema validation. For example, if a database dictionary record fails XML schema validation, the system aborts all operations.
    • Skips the current source control operation when a non-system application file fails XML schema validation.

    The Git integration sanitizes only content within the application path listed in the sn_source_control.properties file. Repository content outside the application path is ignored.

    MID Server support

    Use an existing MID Server to connect to a source control repository. Connecting an application through a MID Server enables access to repositories behind a firewall.

    Source control role permissions

    For more information on roles and collaborators, see Application collaboration.