Create a Sandbox Definition File

Before you can create a sandbox using Salesforce CLI, define the configuration for it in a sandbox definition file. The sandbox definition file is a blueprint for the sandbox. You can create different definition files for each sandbox type that you use in the development process.

Sandbox Configuration Values

Option	Required?	Description
activationUserGroupId	No	A reference to the ID of a public group of Salesforce users who can access the sandbox. The user who created the sandbox is added to the group by default. You can specify either `activationUserGroupId` or `activationUserGroupName` but not both.
activationUserGroupName	No	The name of the public group of Salesforce users who can access the sandbox. The user who created the sandbox is added to the group by default. You can specify either `activationUserGroupId` or `activationUserGroupName` but not both.
apexClassId	No	A reference to the ID of an Apex class that runs after each copy of the sandbox. Allows you to perform business logic on the sandbox to prepare it for use. You can specify either `apexClassId` or `apexClassName` but not both.
apexClassName	No	The name of the Apex class that runs after each copy of the sandbox. Allows you to perform business logic on the sandbox to prepare it for use. You can specify either `apexClassId` or `apexClassName` but not both.
autoActivate	No	If `true`, you can activate a sandbox refresh immediately.
copyArchivedActivities	No	Full sandboxes only. This field is visible if your organization has purchased an option to copy archived activities for sandbox. To obtain this option, contact Salesforce Customer Support.
copyChatter	No	If `true`, archived Chatter data is copied to the sandbox.
description	No	A description of the sandbox (1000 or fewer characters), which helps you distinguish it from other sandboxes.
features	No	The add-on features to apply when creating or refreshing the sandbox. The `features` option is not needed when cloning a sandbox. Currently, the only valid value is `['SandboxStorage']`, which increases the data storage available for Developer sandboxes from 200 MB to 400 MB and Developer Pro sandboxes from 1 GB to 2 GB. You can’t use this feature with Partial Copy or Full sandboxes.
historyDays	No	Full sandboxes only. Represents the number of days of object history to be copied in the sandbox. Valid values are `-1` (all available days), `0` (default), `10`, `20`, `30`, `60`, `90`, `120`, `150`, or `180`.
licenseType	Yes (for sandbox creation)	Valid values are `Developer`, `Developer_Pro`, `Partial`, and `Full`. You can specify only one of these options: `licenseType`, `sourceSandboxName`, or `sourceId`.
sandboxName	Yes	A unique alphanumeric string (10 or fewer characters) to identify the sandbox. You can’t reuse a name while a sandbox is in the process of being deleted.
sourceId	Yes (for sandbox cloning)	A reference to the ID of the sandbox being cloned. You can specify only one of these options: `licenseType`, `sourceSandboxName`, or `sourceId`.
sourceSandboxName	Yes (for sandbox cloning)	Name of the sandbox being cloned. You can specify only one of these options: `licenseType`, `sourceSandboxName`, or `sourceId`.
templateId	Yes (for Partial sandboxes)	Optional for Full sandboxes. Not available for Developer and Developer Pro sandboxes. A reference to the sandbox template as identified by the 15-character ID beginning with `1ps` in the URL when viewing a sandbox template in a browser. A sandbox template lets you select which objects to copy in a sandbox.

Sample Sandbox Definition File

Although you can place the sandbox definition file anywhere, we recommend keeping it in your Salesforce DX project in the config directory. When naming the file, we suggest providing a descriptive name that ends in sandbox-def.json, for example, developer-sandbox-def.json.

Here’s a sample definition file for creating a sandbox:

1{
2     "sandboxName": "dev1",
3     "licenseType": "Developer"
4}

Here’s a sample definition file for cloning a sandbox:

1{
2     "sandboxName": "dev1clone",
3     "sourceSandboxName": "dev1"
4}

Here’s a sample definition file for creating a sandbox with the features option:

1{
2      "sandboxName": "dev1",
3      "licenseType": "Developer" or "Developer_Pro",
4      "features": "['SandboxStorage']"
5}

See Also