NowDev Assistant Release Notes
Detailed history of the Evolution phase and the progress of NowDev Assistant.
Access Analyzer (Venus)
Version 2.4.0 introduces the Access Analyzer — a new top-level module that answers "who has access to what" by driving ServiceNow's own ACL engine, with zero instance writes.
🛡️ Evaluate Any Subject
- User · Group · Role: Analyze access for any user's exact roles, the roles a group grants (evaluated as an ephemeral identity), or an isolated role grant.
- Table → Record → Field: Scope from whole-table checks down to a single field's access.
- Full Operation Sweep: One run evaluates every native operation — read, write, create, delete, report_view/on, list_edit, add_to_list, save_as_template, personalize_choices, query_match/range — with an All · Granted · Denied · Other filter on results.
- Native Semantics: Field-level runs skip Delete automatically, exactly like ServiceNow does.
🔍 Full ACL Transparency
- Verdicts in SN Terminology: Access granted · Access denied · Did not evaluate · No rule found.
- Blocking Highlight: The exact rule denying access is flagged and sorted to the top — Role / Condition / Script / Sec Attr results for every candidate ACL.
-
Deep Links: Every ACL path opens its
sys_security_aclrecord in one click.
Under the Hood
- • 🧠 Native Engine: Drives ServiceNow's own Access Analyzer evaluation endpoint — verdicts come from the engine that governs your instance at runtime.
- • 🔒 Read-only: Evaluations are stateless — nothing is written back to your instance.
- • ⚡ Smart Caching: Metadata cached aggressively; results kept short-lived with one-click Re-analyze.
- • 🧭 Typed Errors: Clear distinction between "ServiceNow denied it" and "NowDev couldn't analyze" — permission, unsupported-instance and not-found states included.
Event-Driven Architecture (Venus)
Version 2.3.2 is a major architectural rewrite that eliminates all risky prototype patching and replaces fragile message-based context chains with a reliable event-driven bridge — zero monkey-patching, zero polling in the React world.
🧩 Clean Bridge
- No Monkey-Patching: Uses ServiceNow's own event system for AJAX tracking instead of intercepting internal methods — more stable across ServiceNow updates.
- Dual Communication: Context synchronizes via both direct data attributes and custom events — works reliably whether the page uses an iframe or not.
- Instant Role Detection: User roles detected from the session directly — no API calls needed, works on page load.
🚦 Navigation Intelligence
- Loading Bar: Animated progress bar in the sidebar during page transitions.
- Instant Navigation Detection: Monitors the main content frame and catches navigation starts the moment they happen.
- Clean Event System: A shared navigation hub replaces scattered message listeners across 6 components with a simple subscribe/unsubscribe pattern.
Performance & Code Quality
- • 📦 Shared Utilities: Commonly used functions consolidated into a shared utilities folder — less duplication, fewer bugs.
- • ⏹️ Search Cancellation: Starting a new search automatically cancels the previous one — no more wasted requests.
- • 🗃️ Smarter Caching: Frequently accessed data like table hierarchies and related records are now cached intelligently, reducing redundant API calls.
- • 🧹 Cleaner Services: Removed manual token management from 10 services — the authentication token is always read directly from the page context.
- • 🎨 Admin Gating UI: Admin-only tabs now show a clear "Admin Access Required" message with disabled styling and an alert notification on click.
Navigation & Core Stability (Venus)
Version 2.3.1 is a stability and robustness update focused on ensuring a foolproof navigation history and fixing critical integration issues with ServiceNow's native scripts.
🧠 Robust History
- Direct URL Tracking: Uses iframe URLs to capture states even when the browser address bar hasn't updated.
- Inclusive Capture: Now tracks Requests, UI Pages, and non-standard forms automatically.
💾 List Pagination
- Data Paging: 20 records per page with navigation controls for Saved Filter previews.
- Smart Sorting: Always sorts by sys_updated_on descending to keep latest data at the top.
Stability & Compatibility
- • 🔄 GlideAjax Fix: Resolved a critical bug where multi-argument callbacks were losing data during interception.
- • 🎨 UI Polishing: Added helpful banners and improved loading states in the Form Center Logic tab.
- • 🚀 Optimized Metadata: History tracking now uses lightweight page titles instead of expensive API calls.
Cross Instance Intelligence (Venus)
Version 2.3.0, the "Venus" release, pushes the boundaries of ServiceNow development with cross-instance configuration auditing, deep version history peeking, and persistent navigation memory.
🔄 Cross Instance Comparison
- Side-by-Side Audit: Compare metadata and scripts across instances with high-contrast drift detection.
- Git-Style Diffs: Pro-grade diffing engine for XML and scripts, identifying precisely what changed between environments.
📜 Version Explorer
- Historical Peeking: Fetch and compare previous record versions without leaving the current form.
- Payload Inspection: Analyze historical update set XMLs to track configuration changes over time.
Workflow & Intelligence
- • 🧠 Navigation Memory: Persistent history that survives browser restarts, allowing you to resume complex investigations instantly.
- • ℹ️ Record Intelligence: New anchor-aligned panel in Form Center for instant access to Table, Sys ID, Scope, and Update Set status.
- • 🚀 On-Demand Loading: Explorer and Logic tabs now load on-demand, significantly improving performance for heavy forms.
- • 💾 Saved List Filters: One-click data peeking with named filter persistence in List Helper.
- • ⏳ Lazy Loading Explorer: The details on Form center are now loaded on demand.
Stability & Role Fixes (Venus)
Version 2.2.2 is a minor update focused on fixing role detection issues and improving the reliability of page context identification across complex ServiceNow UI patterns.
Minor Fixes & Improvements
- • Role Detection Fix: Prevented "blinking" and loss of admin status when background iframes reported empty role context.
- • Enhanced Bridge: Added context retries to ensure ServiceNow globals are properly captured even on slower instance loads.
- • List Identification: Improved detection of list pages within deep-nested frames and Polaris UI patterns.
- • Zero-Reload Updates: Features like List Helper and Form Center now react instantly to context changes without manual reloads.
Deep Insights & Context Preservation (Venus)
Version 2.2.1 focuses on keeping you in the flow by providing deeper record insights and the ability to lock your investigation context.
🌳 Related Records Hierarchy
- Contextual Tree: Automatically maps parents, children, and siblings for common platform tables.
- Recursive Insights: Traverse relationships (REQ → RITM → Task) without leaving the search hub.
- Intelligent Grouping: Clutter-free view with virtual folders for multiple approvers or tasks.
📚 Integrated KB Preview
- Shadow DOM Isolation: High-fidelity article previews with zero style leakage.
- Live Experience: Renders KB content with native ServiceNow-accurate styling.
Security & Reliability
- • 🔐 Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Real-time detection of ServiceNow roles to intelligently hide admin-only tools (App Navigator, Code Search, Executor) for ITIL users.
- • 📌 Pin Record: Lock the Form Center context to a specific record to preserve investigative state during navigation.
- • Transition Stability: Implemented smart delays for List Helper and Form Center to ensure accurate context detection after page transitions.
- • Smart Context Validation: Dynamic visual feedback when pinned context differs from live page record.
The Search & Preview Update (Venus)
Version 2.2.0 introduces two of the most important developer features: a powerful Global Search hub and a Contextual Record Preview system.
🔍 Unified Search Center
- Incremental Code Search: Find logic across all script tables with real-time snippets.
- Deep sys_id Search: Incremental scan across 30+ tables with progress tracking.
- Dynamic Prefix Resolution: Supports custom record prefixes via sys_number lookup.
🖼️ Contextual Preview
- Native UI Experience: Previews respect "Default view" structure and section headers.
- Recursive Navigation: Drill into references with a full "Back" history stack.
- Security First: Automatically identifies and skips encrypted field types.
Refinements
- • Re-implemented fresh token fetching for every API transaction to prevent auth timeouts.
- • Added Sidebar Positioning (Left/Right) customization in Settings.
- • Implemented Sticky Headers for search grouping to maintain context during scroll.
Venus Refinements
Building on the v2.0 foundation, this version focused on workflow efficiency and user feedback with high-impact productivity tools.
- Quick Switcher: Floating environment shortcut for transitions without opening the sidebar.
- List-to-Glide Generator: Convert list filters into GlideRecord scripts with one click.
- Detailed Metadata: Enhanced field cards showing technical types and table hierarchy.
- Toast Message System: Real-time UI notifications for all actions.
Major Overhaul (The React App)
"The assistant has been completely rebuilt from the ground up to provide a faster, more stable, and highly isolated development experience."
Architecture Highlights
- ✓ React Architecture: Superior performance and high-speed state management.
- ✓ Shadow DOM Isolation: Full UI encapsulation from the host ServiceNow page.
- ✓ Lazy-Mounted Tab System: Minimal initial footprint and zero interference.
Mercury Era (v1.x.x)
The foundation of the Assistant, featuring the original Data Spy, Code Generation and List Extractor.