Github integration for global scope and work methodology

[tbenbenisti]

Hi,

Our organization is considering starting work with GitHub.

I'm trying to understand what the meanings are.

We have the ITSM module, and currently, all of our components and implementations are based on the global app.

From my understanding, I can sync only a custom app (even if it's a global custom app).

I saw that I can import files, for example, a global incident client script, but then this client script moves to my new custom app, and it's not on the global app anymore.

What is the impact on the current components?

How does it impact on the day-to-day process and the dev team work?

Maybe someone can share how it works in his/her organization.

Thanks.

[Aaron_Braun]

Sounds like you need better requirements on why you need the Github implementation. If this is intended to be part of your ServiceNow development process then that is entirely different than necessarily tracking repos and other data points.

[tbenbenisti]

Hi @Aaron_Braun,

Thank you for your response.

At the moment, we want to use GitHub for PR's, code review, approvals, and storing our code in the same place as our other platforms, and connecting the packages to the user stories.

Currently, I guess we will continue to push updates with update sets.

[Aaron_Braun]

You may be over-estimating what can be done with github spoke. You can't sync code like script includes or business rules directly via git for that type operation. What you would ultimately see is a code review of the update set file which is not the actual record but more of an XML output to that particular change that is taking place. Still doable but not what most people experience when working in non-SN development spaces and using github.

This has always been a struggle point for ServiceNow development and how it incorporates with source control tools.

[Vishal36]

Hi @tbenbenisti, 

Great question — this comes up a lot when teams with ITSM in ServiceNow start using GitHub for version control.

• What’s happening:
  GitHub integration only works with custom scoped apps, not the global scope. So, if you import a global script (like an Incident client script), it gets copied into your custom app — meaning it's no longer tied to the global version.
• What this means:
  You now have two versions — one in global, one in the custom app. They won’t sync, which can lead to confusion or duplication.

Things to keep in mind before you begin:

• Be clear about what stays in global vs. custom scope
• Keep ITSM admins in the loop
• Use GitHub for code that truly needs versioning

What others do:

• Use GitHub only for custom apps
• Manage global components the usual way (in Studio)
• Slowly refactor global logic into scoped apps if needed

If you’re integrating ServiceNow with other systems (like GitHub, Jira, Azure DevOps), consider using a dedicated integration platform that can manage complex flows without forcing everything into custom apps. For example, you may consider enterprise - class integration solution, OpsHub Integration Manager (OIM), a ServiceNow partner to bidirectionally integrate these systems automatically with complete context and no-code setup — enabling data sync without code duplication, scope limitations, or plugin overhead.