reorder_workflow_activities

Change the sequence of activities in a ServiceNow workflow by specifying their new order. Use this tool to update workflow logic and process flow.

Instructions

Reorder activities in a workflow

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`workflow_id`	Yes	Workflow ID or sys_id
`activity_ids`	Yes	List of activity IDs in the desired order

Implementation Reference

src/servicenow_mcp/tools/workflow_tools.py:893-963 (handler)

The main handler function that implements the reorder_workflow_activities tool logic. It updates the 'order' field of each wf_activity record via ServiceNow REST API PATCH requests.

def reorder_workflow_activities(
    auth_manager: AuthManager,
    server_config: ServerConfig,
    params: Dict[str, Any],
) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """
    Reorder activities in a workflow.
    
    Args:
        auth_manager: Authentication manager
        server_config: Server configuration
        params: Parameters for reordering workflow activities
        
    Returns:
        Dict[str, Any]: Result of the reordering operation
    """
    # Unwrap parameters if needed
    params = _unwrap_params(params, ReorderWorkflowActivitiesParams)
    
    # Get the correct auth_manager and server_config
    try:
        auth_manager, server_config = _get_auth_and_config(auth_manager, server_config)
    except ValueError as e:
        logger.error(f"Error getting auth and config: {e}")
        return {"error": str(e)}
    
    workflow_id = params.get("workflow_id")
    if not workflow_id:
        return {"error": "Workflow ID is required"}
    
    activity_ids = params.get("activity_ids")
    if not activity_ids:
        return {"error": "Activity IDs are required"}
    
    # Make the API requests to update the order of each activity
    try:
        headers = auth_manager.get_headers()
        results = []
        
        for i, activity_id in enumerate(activity_ids):
            # Calculate the new order value (100, 200, 300, etc.)
            new_order = (i + 1) * 100
            
            url = f"{server_config.instance_url}/api/now/table/wf_activity/{activity_id}"
            data = {"order": new_order}
            
            try:
                response = requests.patch(url, headers=headers, json=data)
                response.raise_for_status()
                
                results.append({
                    "activity_id": activity_id,
                    "new_order": new_order,
                    "success": True,
                })
            except requests.RequestException as e:
                logger.error(f"Error updating activity order: {e}")
                results.append({
                    "activity_id": activity_id,
                    "error": str(e),
                    "success": False,
                })
        
        return {
            "message": "Activities reordered",
            "workflow_id": workflow_id,
            "results": results,
        }
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Unexpected error reordering workflow activities: {e}")
        return {"error": str(e)}

src/servicenow_mcp/tools/workflow_tools.py:113-118 (schema)

Pydantic model defining the input parameters for the reorder_workflow_activities tool: workflow_id and list of activity_ids.

class ReorderWorkflowActivitiesParams(BaseModel):
    """Parameters for reordering workflow activities."""
    
    workflow_id: str = Field(..., description="Workflow ID or sys_id")
    activity_ids: List[str] = Field(..., description="List of activity IDs in the desired order")

src/servicenow_mcp/utils/tool_utils.py:613-619 (registration)

Registration of the tool in the get_tool_definitions() function, mapping name to (handler, schema, return_type, description, serialization).

"reorder_workflow_activities": (
    reorder_workflow_activities_tool,
    ReorderWorkflowActivitiesParams,
    str,
    "Reorder activities in a workflow",
    "str",  # Tool returns simple message
),

src/servicenow_mcp/tools/__init__.py:78-91 (registration)

Export/import of the handler function in tools/__init__.py for module-level access.

from servicenow_mcp.tools.workflow_tools import (
    activate_workflow,
    add_workflow_activity,
    create_workflow,
    deactivate_workflow,
    delete_workflow_activity,
    get_workflow_activities,
    get_workflow_details,
    list_workflow_versions,
    list_workflows,
    reorder_workflow_activities,
    update_workflow,
    update_workflow_activity,
)

src/servicenow_mcp/tools/workflow_tools.py:126-136 (helper)

Helper function used by the handler to unwrap and validate input parameters using the Pydantic schema.

def _unwrap_params(params: Any, param_class: Type[T]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """
    Unwrap parameters if they're wrapped in a Pydantic model.
    This helps handle cases where the parameters are passed as a model instead of a dict.
    """
    if isinstance(params, dict):
        return params
    if isinstance(params, param_class):
        return params.dict(exclude_none=True)
    return params

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