Developing and IDE in ServiceNow

[Dmolnar1]

For applications I use the Studio IDE and use the standard update sets procedures to move code from instance to instance. I have been approached by some to use GitHub and other automations to build, promote, deploy code in ServiceNow. I considered this to be more of a pain than it's worth but wanted to get feedback from others. Have you used GitHub (other software) to build - deploy code in ServiceNow and is it really worth it?

[Minh Huy Lam Qu]

It's better approach that you use the "Update Set" for developing in the ServiceNow platform in the customer Instance (it can be moved easily with the Remote Instance module; DEV - TEST - PROD).

If you implement or try something on PDI, we can use Github to back up your work (done in Update Set, then export it and commit to Github).

Regards

[Dmolnar1]

Minh,

We do use update sets, wanted to make sure if anyone uses Github, or etc. in practice for SN for SN code.

[KevinBellardine · Accepted solution]

The short answer here is that yes, it's worth it. That comes with a couple caveats. It's important to understand that you're not really going to be able to branch within an environment.

1 application, 1 environment, 1 branch. Changing branches requires you to stash any uncommitted code you've developed, and that stashing/unstashing is something to be avoided. It's time consuming and error prone.

That said source control absolutely has a role to play in your development and deployment strategy. It just isn't a silver bullet, you'll need to think it through.