Prevent and resolve technical debt with AI

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated August 10, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Prevent and resolve technical debt with AI

    This feature uses the Scan Engine and ServiceNow Otto AI agent to help ServiceNow customers prevent and remediate technical debt efficiently. It integrates AI-generated code fixes at two key points in the development lifecycle: during active coding and when cleaning up after scans. This approach minimizes manual remediation effort, improves code quality, and maintains platform health across ServiceNow instances.

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    Prevention and Remediation Workflows

    There are two main AI-powered workflows to address technical debt:

    • Real-time Prevention: While writing or modifying code, the Scan Engine detects coding standard violations inline. Developers generate AI fixes before committing code, preventing technical debt from reaching production and reducing review time.
    • Batch Remediation: After a scan completes, violations are listed in a dashboard. Developers can generate AI fixes individually or in bulk to quickly remediate existing technical debt, reducing manual effort and errors.

    Unified AI Engine

    Both workflows use the same AI fix generation engine powered by the ServiceNow Otto AI agent. Key features include:

    • Code analysis against active scan definitions.
    • Side-by-side code comparison of original versus AI-suggested fixes.
    • Ability to accept, reject, or revise fixes with full audit trails tracked in update sets.
    • Exception workflows for certain findings integrated seamlessly.

    AI-Suggested Fix Capabilities

    The AI engine efficiently addresses common coding violations such as:

    • Replacing deprecated API calls with current equivalents.
    • Adding missing error handlers to prevent unhandled exceptions.
    • Correcting scoped app API usage per ServiceNow guidelines.
    • Removing unsafe or deprecated functions to enhance security.
    • Formatting code to meet style guidelines and improve maintainability.

    Key Benefits

    • Faster Development: Immediate AI fixes reduce manual code review and correction time.
    • Consistency: Uniform coding standards and patterns across all fixes.
    • Learning Opportunity: Side-by-side comparisons help developers understand best practices.
    • Scalability: Bulk fix generation accelerates remediation of multiple violations.
    • Reduced Risk: Validated AI fix patterns with full audit trails support compliance.

    Next Steps

    Select the workflow based on your current activity:

    • If you are coding and want to catch violations before saving, use real-time prevention monitoring.
    • If a scan has completed and you want to remediate findings, use batch remediation with AI-suggested fixes.

    Use the Scan Engine and ServiceNow Otto AI agent to prevent technical debt as you code or remediate existing findings from completed scans.

    Impact Platform Health delivers AI-generated code fixes at two critical points in your development lifecycle. Whether you're actively writing code or cleaning up existing technical debt, the Scan Engine detects violations against your defined coding standards and ServiceNow Otto generates fixes automatically. This unified approach reduces manual remediation time and improves platform quality across your ServiceNow instances.

    The Scan Engine examines your instances for findings related to active definitions stored in the Scan Findings table. You can view findings, apply manual fixes, generate AI-suggested fixes, or submit exceptions for findings you believe aren't valid.

    Prevention and remediation workflows

    AI-powered code fixes are available through two distinct workflows. Understanding which workflow applies to your situation helps you take action quickly.

    Table 1. AI-powered code fix workflows
    Workflow When You Use It Outcome
    Real-time Prevention
    • You're actively writing or modifying code in your development environment.
    • When you save a record, the Scan Engine detects violations inline and you generate an AI fix before committing or promoting the code.
    • Prevents technical debt from reaching production.
    • Reduces time spent in code review cycles.
    Batch Remediation
    • A scan has completed and findings are displayed in the findings dashboard.
    • You review the list of violations and generate AI fixes in bulk or individually to clean existing technical debt.
    • Accelerates remediation of existing issues.
    • Reduces manual development effort and errors when fixing production code.

    Unified AI engine

    Whether you're preventing technical debt during development or remediating findings from scans, you interact with the same AI fix generation engine.

    • ServiceNow Otto AI agent analyzes your code against scan definitions
    • Side-by-side code comparison interface shows original code versus suggested changes
    • You accept, reject, or revise suggested fixes using the same controls
    • Exception workflows for Recommend level findings follow the same process
    • All changes are tracked in your active update set with full audit trails

    AI-suggested fix capabilities

    The AI fix engine handles common coding violations quickly and accurately. Common fix types include the following:

    • Replacing deprecated API calls with current equivalents, for example, gs.log to gs.error
    • Adding missing error handlers to prevent unhandled exceptions
    • Correcting scoped app API usage to match ServiceNow general guidelines
    • Removing unsafe or deprecated functions to improve security
    • Formatting code to match style guidelines and improve maintainability

    Key benefits

    • Faster development: Developers can apply AI-generated fixes instantly instead of manually reviewing and correcting code
    • Consistency: All fixes follow the same coding standards and patterns, reducing variability across your codebase
    • Learning: Side-by-side code comparisons help developers understand ServiceNow general guidelines and leading practices
    • Scale: Bulk generate fixes to remediate dozens of violations in one workflow instead of fixing them individually
    • Reduced risk: AI fixes are generated from validated patterns and include full audit trails for compliance

    Next steps

    Choose the workflow that matches your current task.