Building high-performing applications with Apex, whether for apps or Agentforce actions, comes with its own set of challenges. Performance bottlenecks, inefficient SOQL queries, and unoptimized DML operations can slow down your org, impact scalability, and even lead to governor limit breaches. Identifying these issues—especially for developers new to the platform—can feel overwhelming.

What if you had a tool that not only detects performance pitfalls but also teaches you how to resolve them effectively? That’s where ApexGuru comes in—your AI-powered guide to writing efficient, scalable Apex code.

ApexGuru is more than just a tool, it’s your AI-powered coach for Salesforce development. It simplifies code optimization, helps new developers understand best practices, and empowers intermediate users to master scalability. In this blog post, we’ll explore how ApexGuru bridges the gap between learning and implementation, and we’ll walk you through its powerful features that can make your Apex coding journey smoother.

Getting started: The ease of onboarding with ApexGuru

For developers working with Apex, ensuring scalability and performance from day one can be challenging. Many struggle with understanding Apex best practices, optimizing SOQL queries and DML operations, and navigating Salesforce’s governor limits while building Apps or Agentforce actions.

Without clear guidance, these challenges can lead to performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies. ApexGuru simplifies this process by providing automated performance analysis, flagging inefficiencies, and offering real-time recommendations to help developers write optimized and scalable Apex code with confidence.

With an intuitive setup and actionable insights, ApexGuru eliminates the guesswork, making onboarding smoother and more efficient. The following is a step-by-step guide to the onboarding experience.

Step 1: Navigate to setup

In your Salesforce org, go to the Setup menu and search for Scale Center. Enable Scale Center if it is not already enabled. Once Scale Center is active, search for ApexGuru Insights under the Scale Center section.

Step 2: Enable ApexGuru

Select ApexGuru Insights and review the terms displayed in the ApexGuru Agreement popup.

Step 3: Grant permissions

Click the I Accept button to enable ApexGuru for your org. This allows the tool to analyze your Apex code for anti-patterns and hotspots using generative AI.

Step 4: Insights generation

Once ApexGuru is enabled, insights will be generated for your org. It may take up to 24 hours for ApexGuru reports to appear after enabling ApexGuru in Scale Center. Insights are generated within a day of enabling and are updated weekly thereafter.

Bridging the gap: ApexGuru as a coach

ApexGuru isn’t just a diagnostic tool — it’s a mentor that helps developers understand the why behind every suggestion. For new and experienced developers alike, it bridges the gap between learning and implementation.

The ApexGuru Insights dashboard displays a detailed report, including code recommendations, SOQL/DML analysis, expensive methods, and unused classes and methods. In the screenshot below, the critical issues tab is selected, highlighting critical, major, and minor issues. Below it, a side-by-side comparison shows a current code block with inefficient use of Schema.getGlobalDescribe(), and a recommended code block that replaces it with Type.forName() to improve performance.

How ApexGuru guides developers

• Detailed explanations: ApexGuru identifies anti-patterns, such as SOQL in loops or inefficient DML operations, and provides clear, concise explanations of why these practices impact performance.
• Actionable recommendations: For every detected issue, ApexGuru provides step-by-step suggestions on how to resolve it. For example, it recommends replacing SOQL in loops with bulkified operations or simplifying debug statements to avoid unnecessary overhead.
• Skill development: By following these recommendations, developers gradually learn best practices and build habits for writing scalable, efficient Apex code.

Unlocking features: Beyond the basics

ApexGuru is more than just a debugging tool — it’s your comprehensive partner for ensuring that your Apex code is optimized and scalable.

The following are four key features to be aware of as you’re using ApexGuru.

Code recommendations

Writing efficient and scalable Apex code is essential for maintaining a high-performing Salesforce org. However, identifying anti-patterns and inefficiencies can be time-consuming and error-prone. ApexGuru’s Code Recommendations feature (shown in the screenshot below) simplifies this by leveraging runtime analysis to detect critical, major, and minor issues in your code, providing actionable recommendations to address them.

How developers can use this feature

• Real-time problem identification (powered by runtime analysis): ApexGuru uses runtime profiling to categorize issues into severity levels: Critical, Major, and Minor. This unique approach ensures that developers are alerted to inefficiencies based on actual code execution behavior, not just static analysis. By analyzing how your code performs during runtime, ApexGuru provides precise insights that prioritize high-impact changes.
• Understanding the problem: The Current Code section displays the problematic part of the code, highlighting inefficiencies or anti-patterns. For example, in the screenshot above, the use of Schema.getGlobalDescribe() is flagged as inefficient.
• Learning the solution: The Recommended Code section shows a direct, optimized alternative. In this case, replacing Schema.getGlobalDescribe() with Type.forName() reduces CPU and memory consumption. ApexGuru also includes tips to prevent runtime errors, such as handling null values to avoid NullPointerException.
• Entry point context: ApexGuru links the code recommendation to specific entry points (e.g., CreateLoanApplication and ProcessLoan), helping developers understand where the issue originates in their application flow.
• Iterative improvement: By following ApexGuru’s recommendations, developers gradually learn best practices and refine their coding habits, leading to more maintainable and scalable applications.

SOQL/DML analysis

SOQL and DML operations are the backbone of any Salesforce application. However, inefficient queries and poorly executed DML statements can lead to significant performance issues, such as governor limit breaches and query failures. ApexGuru’s SOQL/DML Analysis feature helps you identify and resolve such inefficiencies, ensuring a scalable and high-performing Salesforce org.

The screenshot below shows an example ApexGuru SOQL/DML Analysis report. It highlights the number of critical, major, and minor issues, along with a comparison of current code using sObjects in an IN-bind filter and recommended code to replace it with a keySet from a map for better efficiency.

How developers can use this feature

• Identifying inefficient queries: ApexGuru flags problematic queries, such as those using inefficient IN-bind filters with large collections. In the example above, the query uses sObjects in the IN filter, which can cause query failures and inefficient memory usage.
• Understanding and address issues: For every flagged issue, ApexGuru provides clear diagnostic messages. In this case, it points out that using sObjects in an IN-bind filter is inefficient and recommends converting the list into a map key set for better performance.
• Recommended solutions: The Recommended Code section offers optimized alternatives, such as converting the prodConnList to a prodConnListMap.keySet() to reduce CPU and memory consumption and avoid query failures.
• Entry point context: The feature links inefficiencies to specific classes, methods, and entry points (e.g., interaction.InteractionServiceImpl and triggers), allowing developers to pinpoint the exact context of the issue within their application.
• Optimizing SOQL/DML operations: Developers can use ApexGuru’s recommendations to bulkify operations, minimize query complexity, and adhere to best practices, ensuring compliance with Salesforce governor limits.

Expensive methods

Expensive methods can severely impact the performance of your Salesforce applications, leading to inefficient use of CPU resources and potential governor limit breaches. ApexGuru’s Expensive Methods feature flags resource-intensive methods, categorizing them based on their severity, so you can focus on optimizing the most critical ones first.

The Expensive Methods tab in the ApexGuru Insights dashboard, as shown in the screenshot below, highlights critical and expensive methods. The interface categorizes resource-intensive methods by severity.

How developers can use this feature

• Categorization of expensive methods: ApexGuru flags all expensive methods and organizes them into two categories:
  • Critically Expensive Methods: These consume at least 5% of CPU time. They are the highest priority for optimization, as they pose the greatest risk to performance.
  • Expensive Methods: These consume 2-5% of CPU time. They are important, but less critical, and optimizing them can improve overall system efficiency.
• Detailed context for each method: For every flagged method, ApexGuru provides the associated class and method name. This makes it easy for developers to locate the exact areas of code requiring attention.
• Structured performance optimization: By categorizing methods into critical and non-critical issues, developers can adopt a systematic approach to performance improvement. Addressing Critically Expensive Methods first ensures the most significant performance gains.
• Insightful tracking: ApexGuru’s Expensive Methods feature helps developers track performance bottlenecks across their codebase, enabling a proactive approach to maintaining a high-performing Salesforce org.

Unused classes and methods

Unused classes and methods increase code clutter, technical debt, and maintenance costs, making it harder to manage and optimize your Salesforce applications. ApexGuru’s Unused Classes and Methods feature provides developers with a precise list of dormant components in the most recent production code, enabling effective cleanup and better code hygiene.

The screenshot below shows the ApexGuru dashboard showing the Unused Classes and Methods tab of the ApexGuru Insights dashboard with unused methods listed by class, including details like names, line numbers, and character counts.

How developers can use this feature

• Tracking dormant code from production deployments: ApexGuru begins tracking usage from the latest production deployment. This means that once the current production code is deployed, ApexGuru monitors method and class activity in the live environment. Any methods listed as “unused” have not been called or referenced since the deployment, providing developers with an accurate snapshot of dormant code.
• Understanding the context of unused methods: Each flagged method comes with detailed information, including the class it belongs to, method signature, and character count. For example, methods like setLoanDataHandler and beforeUpdate in the LoanProcessor class are identified as unused, making it easy to locate and review them.
• No unused classes found? Great news! ApexGuru distinguishes between unused methods and unused classes. In the example above, no unused classes are flagged, indicating that all deployed classes are actively used in production.
• Systematic code cleanup: With this clear, actionable insight, developers can confidently remove unused methods knowing that these are not impacting the current application. This reduces technical debt, improves maintainability, and enhances system performance.
• Focusing on optimization: Removing unused methods streamlines the codebase, making it more efficient for future development and deployments. ApexGuru enables teams to focus their efforts where it matters most.

Conclusion

ApexGuru transforms the Salesforce development experience, empowering developers to tackle challenges with confidence and precision. Whether you’re a beginner looking for guidance or an experienced coder aiming to fine-tune your skills, ApexGuru is your AI-powered partner on the path to excellence.

From simplifying onboarding to offering actionable insights and fostering skill development, ApexGuru bridges the gap between identifying issues and mastering solutions. It doesn’t just optimize your code—it optimizes you as a developer.

Ready to get started? Enable ApexGuru today and take the first step toward efficient, scalable Apex code.

Resources

• Trailhead module: ApexGuru
• Trailhead module: Explore Scalability
• Blog post: Get AI-Powered Insights for Your Apex Code with ApexGuru
• Documentation: ApexGuru Insights
• Documentation: ApexGuru Code Antipatterns
• Community group: Join the Scaleblazer Community

About the author

Mayuresh Verma is a Product Manager at Salesforce working on the Scalability Products portfolio. Reach out to him on LinkedIn.