🚫 Stop Hard-Coding Sys IDs in ServiceNow Code (Best Practice You Shouldn’t Ignore)

Hard-coding sys_ids in scripts is one of the most common (and costly) anti-patterns in ServiceNow development.

It may work today, but it will break tomorrow — especially when your code moves across instances.

❓ Why Hard-Coded Sys IDs Are a Problem

Sys IDs are instance-specific. A record in Dev will never have the same sys_id in Test or Prod.

Hard-coding them leads to:

• ❌ Broken functionality after instance migration
• ❌ Failed update set deployments
• ❌ Poor maintainability and readability
• ❌ Increased regression defects
• ❌ Violations of ServiceNow coding standards

If your code only works in one instance — it’s not production-ready.