Building applications

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Building applications

    This guide outlines the process of developing applications using the ServiceNow AI Platform's low-code tools, enabling you to modernize legacy processes efficiently. It introduces ServiceNow Studio, a unified development environment designed to accelerate app building with streamlined navigation, integrated tools, and improved productivity.

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    Application Development Phases

    • Learning about creating applications: Decide whether to build a new app or extend an existing one by exploring the ServiceNow Store and Community. Gain foundational knowledge about the platform's tables, records, licensing, and developer support.
    • Phase 1: Planning your application: Define your app’s goals, users, access controls, data sources, user interactions, supported processes, UI design, existing solutions, and required subscriptions to ensure a clear development direction.
    • Phase 2: Developing your application: Build your app by configuring data tables, designing user experiences (e.g., portals), implementing logic and automation (e.g., notifications), and setting security through roles and access controls. Choose appropriate builders such as App Engine Studio for low-code development or Workflow Studio for automation.
    • Phase 3: Testing and debugging your application: Validate that the app meets business requirements by thoroughly testing record operations (CRUD), UI elements, and runtime behaviors like business rules and event scripts.
    • Phase 4: Deploying your application: After testing, deploy your app to production using builder tools, leveraging resources like the App Engine Management Center, Application Repository, or classic update sets for deployment management.
    • Phase 5: Maintaining your application: Continuously update and modify your app using development tools, and retest to ensure functionality remains intact over time.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By following this structured approach, customers can efficiently develop, deploy, and maintain custom applications tailored to their business needs. Utilizing ServiceNow Studio and available builders simplifies development, reduces time-to-market, and ensures robust testing and governance throughout the app lifecycle.

    Learn how to become an application developer using ServiceNow AI Platform low-code tools. Start with what you know and use a library of reusable components and published applications to modernize your legacy processes.

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    What's new

    Build apps smarter and deliver them faster with the new ServiceNow Studio. ServiceNow Studio empowers platform developers with a modern, unified environment for building on the ServiceNow AI Platform. ServiceNow Studio features streamlined navigation to applications and metadata, integrated low-code tools, efficient tracking and packaging of development work that accelerates development processes and enhances productivity.

    App development phases

    Learning about creating applications

    Decide whether you want to build a new application or extend an existing application. Check the ServiceNow Store and the ServiceNow Community for existing solutions.

    Before building your first application, you may want to learn some basic information about application development. This phase is optional, and you can complete it at any time while you work on other phases.

    Phase 1: Planning your application
    The application development process starts with planning. Consider how the application will work, who will use it, and how it will improve your users' experience. Your application plan should answer the following questions:
    • What are the goals, objectives, and outputs of your application?
    • Who uses your application?
    • Who has access to parts of the application?
    • What tasks do people complete with your application?
    • Where does the data come from?
    • How do people interact with your application?
    • What processes must the application support?
    • What UI experience does the application use?
    • Is there an existing application available on the ServiceNow Store or the ServiceNow Community that you can use or extend?
    • What subscriptions does your application require?
    Phase 2: Developing your application
    During the development phase, you add the components and content of your application. Most applications consist of the following:
    Data
    Information is stored in your application via tables that you configure. For example, employee phone numbers or office locations.
    Experience
    Experiences are graphical interfaces that your users interact with. For example, you can create a portal where users find information, submit requests, or complete business tasks.
    Logic and automation
    Automate all the work in your application by adding logic and automation. For example, you can build a flow that sends a notification to the admin when someone makes a request.
    Security
    Configure roles and access controls to limit who can use your application. For example, you can restrict access to application data to users who have a specific role.

    Choose a builder that matches the type of user experience that your application provides.

    Phase 3: Testing and debugging your application
    Verify that the application meets your business requirements. Your testing should cover the following elements:
    • Record operations, such as create, read, update, and delete.
    • User interface elements, such as views and UI policies.
    • Runtime operations, such as business rules and event script actions.
    Phase 4: Deploying your application

    After successfully testing an application, deploy it to your production environment with your builder tool.

    Phase 5: Maintaining your application

    Use your Phase 2 builder tool to update and modify your application. Use your Phase 3 testing tool to verify that your application still functions properly.

    Applications and features