Hey everyone! If you missed the Community Week livestream with Andrew Barnes, Director of Product Management for ServiceNow’s low-code development experiences, you definitely missed a treat. Kristy and Laszlo hosted an amazing session where Andrew not only showed us what’s available in Studio today but also gave us an exclusive sneak peek at what’s coming next year. And I mean exclusive – Andrew mentioned this was the first time he’s shown some of this stuff in a public forum!
Note: This summary was written with the help of AI, specifically Claude Sonnet. The live stream can be viewed at the bottom of this article.
What Is ServiceNow Studio Again?
For those who’ve been living under a rock (Andrew’s words, not mine!), ServiceNow Studio is the new developer experience built from the ground up for ServiceNow developers. The vision is simple but ambitious: Studio should be the one place you need to go to complete any development story. No more jumping between different tools and interfaces – everything you need should be right there.
As Andrew put it: “If you pick up a story and are ready to go do development, you can open up ServiceNow Studio and not have to leave before you complete that story.”
What’s Available Now (Zurich Release)
Here’s what you can do with Studio today:
Universal Access to Everything
One of the coolest things Andrew showed off was that you can now open and edit any app in your instance through Studio. No more annoying “you can’t edit this thing in this experience” messages. Whether it’s custom apps, scoped apps, or even global applications – Studio lets you work on them all.
The Interface Layout
The interface is designed to feel familiar to modern developers:
- Left sidebar: File navigator showing your applications and metadata organized by category
- Center panel: Your main workspace with multiple tabs (because who works on just one thing at a time?)
- Right sidebar: Context-sensitive help and information
Table Builder Integration
Studio includes the new Table Builder, which makes creating and managing tables way more intuitive. You can see your table structure visually, manage fields, and understand relationships without digging through lists.
AI Features (Now)
Studio already has some AI-powered features to help with development:
- AI-assisted code generation for common patterns (via Now Assist for Creator)
- Smart suggestions as you work
- Help documentation surfaced contextually
What’s Coming Next (March Release Preview)
Andrew showed some Figma mockups for the March release, and things are getting even better:
Enhanced Search
A more powerful search experience that lets you find what you need across your entire instance quickly. Think of it as a command palette for ServiceNow.
Improved Navigation
Streamlined navigation patterns to make jumping between different parts of your application even faster.
Better Performance
Behind-the-scenes improvements to make Studio faster and more responsive, especially when working with larger applications.
The Big Reveal: Next Year’s Vision
This was the part where Andrew said, “y’all are gonna get the very special” preview. Here are the highlights of what’s planned for the rest of next year:
Enhanced Source Control
Tighter integration with Git and other version control systems. For Fluid applications specifically, you’ll get pure code representation of metadata, making it much easier to work with standard source control tools and workflows. As Andrew explained, even if you’re working in Studio and never see the code directly, you’ll still benefit from these integrations.
Instance Scan Integration
Run instance scans directly from Studio on an ad-hoc basis, not just during deployments. This ties into the “shift left” philosophy – getting feedback faster during development rather than waiting for deployment time.
Build Agent Integration
Leveraging build agent capabilities to run tests and scans at the most appropriate times in your development workflow.
Community Q&A Highlights
The session included some great questions from the community. Here are a few notable ones:
Q: Can we run ATF tests in Studio for continuous integration?
A: Yes! Andrew confirmed they’re working on making ATF and instance scans available to run from within Studio, even outside of deployments. They’re also working with build agent to make this part of automated workflows.
Q: What about GitHub integration?
A: For Fluid applications, the IDE integration with GitHub is actually different (and better!) than the standard Studio integration because it uses pure code representation. As Fluid coverage expands to more metadata types, everyone will benefit from these improved source control capabilities, even if you’re working in Studio’s UI.
Q: Will there be better performance for large instances?
A: Performance improvements are a constant focus, with work happening to make Studio faster and more responsive, especially when dealing with large applications and complex metadata structures.
Why This Matters
What really struck me about this session was Andrew’s genuine commitment to feedback. He explicitly said, “This is not just questions, but you can also give feedback. How can we make the developer experience better for you?”
The ServiceNow Studio team is clearly listening to the community and building something that addresses real developer pain points. The goal of having one unified environment where you can do everything – from low-code configuration to pro-code development, from building to testing to deploying – is ambitious but feels within reach.
The Bottom Line
If you’re still using the old Studio or bouncing between different ServiceNow interfaces, it’s time to give the new Studio a serious look in your Zurich instance. And if you’re already using it, get ready – next year is going to bring some major improvements that’ll make your development life even easier.
Want to give feedback or suggestions to Andrew? He’s active in the ServiceNow Community and on LinkedIn, and as Kirsty joked, “He’d probably give you his personal email address if you ask nicely.” The team genuinely wants to hear from you.
Pro tip: Keep an eye on the Developer Portal and Community channels for more updates as these features roll out. And if you haven’t watched the full livestream yet, it’s definitely worth your time – seeing Studio in action is way better than just reading about it!
This recap is based on the ServiceNow Community Week livestream featuring Andrew Barnes, with hosts Kristy Merriam and Laszlo Balla. Special thanks to all the community members who joined and asked great questions!
