Table of Contents
Introduction
The Salesforce CLI is not just a tool; it’s the cornerstone of development on the Salesforce Platform. It’s your go-to for building, testing, deploying, and more. As one of the most important development tools in our ecosystem, it’s a daily companion for Salesforce Developers. Its role in DevOps practices, such as continuous integration, is fundamental. Now, after seven years of general availability, we’re stepping into a new era for the Salesforce CLI.
Embrace the future
This is the way forward for Salesforce Developers. You will thank Salesforce for making this command more powerful and faster. The installation and update times are also significantly less. It is more capable and simpler to remember. Furthermore, there will be new plugins and features for the new version of Salesforce CLI sf(v2)
What's changed
First of all, the prefix of the command has been changed from `sfdx` to `sf`. The flags are also more intuitive and easier to remember. For example to create a scratch org earlier, you used to make commands like the below:
ravigrover@Ravis-MacBook-Pro ApexDebuggerProject % sfdx force:org:create -f config/project-scratch-def.json -a MyScratchOrg
Warning: The force:org:create command is deprecated. Try “org create scratch” or “org create sandbox” instead.
Warning: Record types defined in the scratch org definition file will stop being capitalized by default in a future release.
Set the `org-capitalize-record-types` config var to `true` to enforce capitalization.
Successfully created scratch org: 00DHE000000Q32H2AS, username: test-zc1afdvpvqmz@example.com.
ravigrover@Ravis-MacBook-Pro ApexDebuggerProject %
Now, with sf-style commands coming into the picture, see how easy it is to remember the clauses and no need to use a colon after each word in the command like below:
ravigrover@Ravis-MacBook-Pro ApexDebuggerProject % sf org create scratch –target-dev-hub apxdbgrdevhub –definition-file config/project-scratch-def.json –set-default –duration-days 3
Warning: Record types defined in the scratch org definition file will stop being capitalized by default in a future release.
Set the `org-capitalize-record-types` config var to `true` to enforce capitalization.
Creating Scratch Org…
RequestId: 2SRdL0000000TEvWAM (https://capgeminiaustralia27-dev-ed.develop.my.salesforce.com/2SRdL0000000TEvWAM)
OrgId: 00DC10000013PhF
Username: test-ayuqfpdf4b8x@example.com
✓ Prepare Request
✓ Send Request
✓ Wait For Org
✓ Available
✓ Authenticate
✓ Deploy Settings
Done
Your scratch org is ready.
Also, it is noteworthy here that new features and fixes will be going only to sf instead of sfdx, but having said that, you can still use old sfdx-style commands. Look at this example to see how commands have become more intuitive and easier to remember below:
ravigrover@Ravis-MacBook-Pro ApexDebuggerProject % sfdx force:source:push
Warning: We plan to deprecate this command in the future. Try using the “project deploy start” command instead.
Pushing v59.0 metadata to test-ayuqfpdf4b8x@example.com using the v60.0 SOAP API.
DEPLOY PROGRESS | ████████████████████████████████████████ | 14/14 Components
Updating source tracking… done
=== Pushed Source
STATE FULL NAME TYPE PROJECT PATH
─────── ──────────────────── ──────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Created AccountService ApexClass force-app/main/default/classes/AccountService.cls
Created AccountService ApexClass force-app/main/default/classes/AccountService.cls-meta.xml
Created AccountServiceTest ApexClass force-app/main/default/classes/AccountServiceTest.cls
Created AccountServiceTest ApexClass force-app/main/default/classes/AccountServiceTest.cls-meta.xml
With sf executable, same command will look like below:
Get started with Salesforce CLI sf (v2)
To try the new command style, you have to uninstall sfdx. The instructions are here.
To determine the equivalent commands from sfdx style to sf style, please refer to this resource. Besides simply switching the name of the executable from sfdx to sf, there are a number of changes that apply to CLI commands when upgrading your projects. The Salesforce CLI documentation provides a good overview of these changes.
Legacy sfdx style command | Equivalent sf-style command | Comments |
sfdx force:org:delete -p -u recipes | sf org delete scratch -p -o recipes | The scratch subcommand needs to be added. The target org flag changes from -u to -o. |
sfdx force:org:create -s -f config/project-scratch-def.json -d 30 -a recipes | sf org create scratch -d -f config/project-scratch-def.json -y 30 -a recipes | The scratch subcommand needs to be added. The “assign default org” flag changes from -s to -d. The scratch org duration flag changes from -d to -y. |
sfdx force:source:push | sf project deploy start | This is a significant change, but the new command works for all project formats (source or metadata). Previously, you needed distinct commands. |
sfdx force:user:permset:assign -n recipes | sf org assign permset -n recipes | The topic changes from user to org and the order of the sub commands changes. |
sfdx force:data:tree:import -p data/data-plan.json | sf data import tree -p data/data-plan.json | Imports the data from plan.json |
sfdx force:org:open -p lightning/n/Hello | sf org open -p lightning/n/Hello | Opens the component in the org |
sfdx force:apex:test:run -c -r human -w 20 | sf apex test run -c -r human -w 20 | Sets the execution of test classes |
Closing words
To conclude this short overview of the migration from sfdx-style commands to sf-style commands, you will be more likely to remember the wordings of every command since sf-style commands are more like human language and easier to write.
Resources
- Cheat Sheet
- Salesforce CLI Setup Guide
- Salesforce CLI Command Reference
- sf-style command migration guide
Salesforce CLI GitHub repository for checking out the source code or the release notes, leaving feedback and, reporting issues
