MCP Server Console release notes

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated November 4, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of MCP Server Console release notes

    The ServiceNow® MCP Server Console application, introduced in the Zurich release, enables secure and governed access to ServiceNow instance functionality for AI applications using Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. MCP servers extend the ServiceNow AI Platform® capabilities to external MCP clients and employee experiences by facilitating interaction over the Model Context Protocol.

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    This application unifies MCP Server creation by embedding OAuth Client registration within the MCP Server Console wizard, simplifying setup and eliminating the need to switch between multiple consoles. It supports integration with third-party identity providers (IDPs) for user authentication and enables administrators to configure annotations across all supported tool types, ensuring proper permission policies for MCP clients.

    MCP Server Console is available through the ServiceNow Store and requires activation via the Now Assist application.

    Key Features

    • Unified Server Creation: OAuth Client registration is embedded in the wizard, streamlining MCP Server setup.
    • Annotations Configuration: Admins can configure annotations on all supported tool types, which are included in tool responses to support correct permission enforcement by MCP clients like Claude.
    • Preconfigured Quickstart Server: Provides out-of-the-box tools for incident and case record lookup and summarization, enabling rapid pilot deployments.
    • Tool Creation: Supports creating MCP tools from various categories including Now Assist skills, Knowledge graphs, Subflows, Actions, REST APIs, and scripted APIs.
    • Third-Party IDP Integration: Enables authentication of users through external identity providers.
    • OAuth 2.0 Authentication: Facilitates secure connections between MCP Server Console clients and servers.
    • Licensing Tiers: Foundation, Advanced, and Prime tiers offer different levels of AI agents and skills to meet diverse organizational needs.

    Practical Use and Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    With MCP Server Console, customers can extend AI functionality beyond ServiceNow natively by creating secure MCP Servers and tools tailored for specific business workflows like HR or IT. The embedded OAuth registration and third-party IDP support streamline secure access management. The preconfigured Quickstart Server accelerates proof of concept deployments, helping customers quickly evaluate AI capabilities on incident and case data.

    Annotations ensure that tools respect permissions, maintaining governance and security compliance. Customers can build interactive MCP apps and integrate various tool types, enhancing the AI experience for end users across different MCP clients.

    Activation and Related Components

    • MCP Server Console requires activation via the Now Assist application.
    • The Model Context Protocol Server plugin (snmcpserver) must be installed to enable MCP Server Console functionality.
    • Related applications include AI Control Tower for AI investment governance and AI Gateway for server observability and metrics.
    • Machine Identity Console supports managing OAuth inbound integrations for secure client-server connections.

    The ServiceNow® MCP Server Console application enables secure and governed access to functionality on a ServiceNow instance for AI applications with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. MCP servers extend ServiceNow AI Platform® functionality into any external MCP client and employee experience over the Model Context Protocol. MCP Server Console is a new application in the Zurich release.

    MCP Server Console highlights for the Zurich release

    • Unify the MCP Server creation process by embedding OAuth Client registration directly within the MCP Server Console wizard. This eliminates the need for users to switch contexts between multiple consoles.
    • Enable administrators to configure annotations across all supported tool types. Annotations will be included in the tools/list response per MCP specification, allowing MCP clients like Claude to apply correct permission policies.
    • Get started with the preconfigured Quickstart Server for looking up and summarizing incident and case records.
    • Create MCP apps to implement and manage interactive interfaces for your tools that can be displayed by MCP clients.
    • Integrate third-party identity provider (IDP) with MCP server to support users authentication through a third-party (IDP).
    • Create MCP Server Console servers and tools based on various categories including Now Assist skills for different use cases.
    • Connect to any MCP Server Console client using OAuth 2.0 authentication.

    See MCP Server Console for more information.

    Important:
    MCP Server Console is available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the "Activation information" section of these release notes.

    MCP Server Console features

    The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you an AI native experience with three licensing tiers available:
    • Foundation: AI agents and skills to deliver insights
    • Advanced: AI agents and skills to boost productivity across relevant use cases
    • Prime: Act autonomously with all AI agents and skills, and create your own
    Version 1.3
    Create tools from additional capabilities for use with ServiceNow MCP clients
    With this release, you can now create tools from additional categories like, Knowledge graphs, Subflow, Action, and REST APIs and Now Assist skills.
    Version 1.2
    Create tools from additional capabilities for use with ServiceNow MCP clients
    With this release, Moveworks is shipping a Moveworks Quickstart Server. This server allows users to pilot access to upcoming capabilities like Knowledge graph, Subflow, Action, and scripted REST APIs for use with Moveworks MCP client, and ServiceNow Model Context Protocol Client application. These tools can only be added to Moveworks Quickstart Server.
    Version 1.0
    Get started with the preconfigured Quickstart Server
    Learn about MCP Server Console and connecting MCP Server Console clients to a ServiceNow instance with the preconfigured Quickstart Server. The Quickstart Server includes tools for looking up and summarizing incident and case records.
    Create MCP servers
    Create MCP Server Console servers that expose different tools for different use cases, such as for HR or IT workflows, or for different MCP Server Console clients.
    Create tools from Now Assist skills
    Create tools for MCP Server Console servers from Now Assist skills and configure which fields are exposed as tool inputs.
    Connect to MCP clients using an OAuth inbound integration
    Create an OAuth inbound integration to use when configuring MCP Server Console clients to connect to an MCP Server Console server.

    Activation information

    MCP Server Console is available with activation of a Now Assist application. For more information, see Installing Generative AI Controller and Install plugins for ServiceNow Otto.

    Plugin information

    New plugins

    The following plugins are new in Zurich:

    Model Context Protocol Server (sn_mcp_server): MCP Server Console enables secure and governed access to functionality on a ServiceNow instance for AI applications with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

    Related ServiceNow applications and features

    AI Control Tower (legacy)
    AI Control Tower enables enterprises to manage, optimize, govern, secure, and measure the value of their AI investments. AI Gateway in AI Control Tower is a registry for MCP Server Console servers and provides observability and metrics for servers and their tools.
    Model Context Protocol Client
    The ServiceNow® Model Context Protocol Client enables you to access the Model Context Protocol tools that are hosted externally and published using an MCP server in AI Agent Studio.
    Machine Identity Console
    Create and manage OAuth inbound integrations to connect MCP Server Console clients to servers in Machine Identity Console.