Introducing the Salesforce DX Open Beta

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Salesforce DX Open Beta! Salesforce DX is now available in all production and business orgs (Enterprise Edition and Unlimited Edition) — including yours!

Core Principals of Salesforce DX

Last year at Dreamforce 2016, we shared our vision for a new, modern approach to developing on the Salesforce platform, particularly Force.com. With a focus on source-driven development, Salesforce DX makes it easier for developers to build together and deliver continuously using the tools that make them most productive. It starts with our core principles:

• Everything is driven from source code
• Environments are easily created and disposable
• Development is organized around team collaboration
• Metadata and code are modular
• Development is based on open standards and extensibility
• Processes and tools facilitate continuous delivery
• Flexible packaging supports agile distribution model

These core principles haven’t changed since we started two years ago, and continue to guide us as we bring improvements to the platform.

We kicked off Salesforce DX with a small, but active, developer preview immediately following last year’s Dreamforce, and then quickly transitioned into a Pilot that included over 2,500 developers and 2,000 customers & partners. To share some interesting stats:

• Over 13,000 scratch orgs were created (and deleted).
• Source was pushed & pulled from scratch orgs over 30,000 times.
• Over 8,000 tests were executed.

Everyone involved in our developer preview and pilot, from customers and partners to our product managers and engineers, learned a lot through active use and experimentation. We sincerely thank you for all your contributions!

What’s New in Beta?

Based on your feedback, we’ve introduced a number of improvements in the Salesforce DX Open Beta:

• Replaced Env Hub with an improved Dev Hub for managing scratch orgs
• Scratch org definition values are now included directly in the Salesforce CLI
• An improved source format that make it easier to manage with your version control system
• Support for the Lightning Test service and Lightning linting to Salesforce CLI
• Secure testing and distribution of managed packages through installation keys
• Workspace upgrade command to help transition projects to beta
• A Salesforce CLI binary that runs side-by-side with the Heroku CLI
• Enhanced org information from force:org:list and force:org:display
• Graceful handling of domain propagation wait time
• Improved Apex Test error reporting and performance
• Automatically add new components to a managed package in Packaging orgs with force:mdapi:deploy

Blaze Your Salesforce DX Trail

We’re excited to announce some amazing resources for you, including three new Salesforce DX badges for you to earn on Trailhead!

• Salesforce DX Development Model
• App Development with Salesforce DX
• Continuous Integration Using Salesforce DX

Using version control with Salesforce DX is of paramount importance, and for those of you who are new to version control systems, you’ll be glad to know that we partnered with Github to bring you an amazing new Trailhead module to help you get up to speed.

• Git and GitHub Basics

You can find all these modules in the Get Started with Salesforce DX trail.

As you explore and use Salesforce DX, we want to hear from you! We have set up a Salesforce DX Beta group in the Success Community. Please join us and tell us what you love, what questions you have, and everything else you think we should build!

Get Started Now!

Okay, so you just want to get started and try this out quickly? We understand!

1. Enable the Dev Hub
   1. In your production or business org.
      1. From Setup, search for “Dev Hub” and click Enable.
   2. Alternatively, you can request a free 30-day trial org with the Dev Hub enabled. When you’re ready, you can comfortably transition to your own production or business org.
2. Download the Salesforce CLI
3. Try the Dreamhouse sample application

A great many thanks to all of our customers and partners who dedicated so much of their time to provide us fantastic feedback during the developer preview and pilot. Without your feedback and involvement, we wouldn’t be where we are.

Happy coding!