Salesforce DX (Developer Experience) is a set of software development tools designed to improve the traditional developers experience of building on the Salesforce platform. Salesforces "clicks not code" philosophy revolutionized CRM customization and empowered a generation of admins and configurators to become no-code or low-code developers. However, by 2018, it had become clear that pro-code developers were stretching the limits of a platform that hadnt been designed with their workflows in mind. Salesforce DX was their answer to that problem.
Salesforce DX provides an integrated, end-to-end lifecycle designed for high-performance agile development. It supports source-driven development, which means that the source of truth is shifted from the org to a version control system (VCS), enabling the use of modern collaboration technologies such as Git and third-party test-and-build automation tools. Salesforce DX facilitates how developers create and manage Salesforce apps throughout the development lifecycle.
Some of the benefits of Salesforce DX include:
- Open and flexible: Salesforce DX is built to be open and flexible so that developers can build together with tools and practices they know and love.
- Source-driven development: Salesforce DX supports source-driven development, which benefits everyone building on Salesforce.
- Collaboration: Salesforce DX enables collaboration among development team members and follows Agile development principles to deliver high-quality products continuously.
- Version control: Salesforce DX has a built-in version control system that allows developers to manage the auditing and testing process more efficiently.
- CLI: Salesforce CLI (Command Line Interface) is a frequently used tool in Salesforce DX that provides a text-based interface that lets developers execute scripts, create directories, and interact with other tools to build.
Salesforce DX is a more agile version of Salesforce, and it is ideal for high-performance agile development environments. It supports an integrated, end-to-end software development life cycle (SDLC) for individual developers and development teams.
