Authorization code (public)

The Authorization Code (public) flow works for applications that authenticate users interactively but can't securely store a client secret (for example, SPAs, mobile apps, CLI tools).

Objective

Configure and use the Authorization Code (public) OAuth flow with the Service‑Now SDK using values provided by your ServiceNow administrator.

Required values

Your administrator must provide:

Value	Description
Service‑Now URL	Base URL of the instance
Client ID	From a ServiceNow OAuth application registry entry
Redirect URL	Must match the redirect URL configured in ServiceNow
Authorization URL	OAuth authorization endpoint
Token URL	OAuth token endpoint

SDK flow

flowchart TD
    A[App Code] --> B[NewAuthorizationCodeAuthenticationProvider]
    B --> C{clientSecret provided?}
    C -->|No| D[newPublicClient<br/>with PKCE S256]
    D --> E[AuthorizationCodeCredential]

    %% Initial Token Acquisition
    E --> F[retrieveInitialToken]
    F --> G[Generate state UUID]
    G --> H[Start local redirect server on port 5001]
    H --> I[client.getAuthorizationURL<br/>includes PKCE challenge]
    I --> J[Open Browser to Authorization URL]
    J --> K[Wait for redirect to local server]
    K --> L[Extract Authorization Code]
    L --> M[client.acquireTokenByCode<br/>includes PKCE verifier]
    M --> N[Access Token + Refresh Token]
    N --> O[Cache Token]

    %% Refresh Flow
    O --> P{Token Expired?}
    P -->|Yes| Q[client.acquireTokenByRefreshToken]
    Q --> O

    %% Request Pipeline
    P -->|No| R[Kiota Request Adapter]
    R --> S[HTTP Request to ServiceNow]

Initialize the SDK

import (
    "log"

    credentials "github.com/michaeldcanady/service-now-sdk/credentials"
    servicenow "github.com/michaeldcanady/service-now-sdk"
)

func main() {
    authority := credentials.NewInstanceAuthority("{instance}")

    cred, err := credentials.NewAuthorizationCodeAuthenticationProvider(
        clientID,
        "", // No client secret for public clients
        authority,
        []string{string(authority)},
    )
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    clientOpts := []credentials.ServiceNowServiceClientOption{
        servicenow.WithAuthenticationProvider(cred),
        servicenow.WithInstance("{instance}"),
    }

    client, err := servicenow.NewServiceNowServiceClient(clientOpts...)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}