Client credentials

The Client Credentials flow works for server‑to‑server integrations where no user participates. The SDK authenticates using a client ID and client secret, and ServiceNow issues an access token representing the application itself.

Objective

Configure and use the Client Credentials 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
Client Secret	From the same registry entry

SDK flow

flowchart TD
    A[App Code] --> B[NewClientCredentialsAuthenticationProvider]
    B --> C[newConfidentialClient]
    C --> D[NewClientCredentialsCredential]

    %% Initial Token Acquisition
    D --> E[retrieveInitialToken]
    E --> F[client.acquireTokenByClientCredentials<br/>scopes]
    F --> G[Access Token + Optional Refresh Token]
    G --> H[Cache Token]

    %% Refresh Flow
    H --> I{Token Expired?}
    I -->|Yes| J[client.acquireTokenByRefreshToken]
    J --> H
    I -->|No| K[Kiota Request Adapter]

    %% Request Pipeline
    K --> L[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.NewClientCredentialsAuthenticationProvider(
        clientID,
        clientSecret,
        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)
    }

    // Client is now authenticated and ready to use
}