Awesome new tool, the Salesforce Code Builder...

Today I want to share with you a powerful new tool on the Salesforce platform.

Some of you may have seen posts about it already.

The Salesforce Code Builder.

In essence, the powerful functionality of VS Code - one of the most popular IDEs - is now available from directly inside Salesforce.

Let me walk you through the set up so the functionality is simple to understand.

To get started you'll navigate to the setup menu and search "Code Builder"

(As of this writing it appear this is only available in production environments).



Then you'll toggle "Enable Code Builder" to be on, and install the Salesforce-provided managed package.

Click open the Code Builder Dashboard page, and then click the Launch button.

After clicking Launch you'll see a loading screen:

Which, once finished, will show you the Salesforce Code Builder!

So, what can you do Code Builder?

Think of as a 10x improvement on the developer console.

"Code Builder comes with everything you need to build applications on the Salesforce Platform, including Salesforce Extensions, the Salesforce CLI, Git integration, and it’s authenticated to your current Salesforce org."

"Code Builder brings to your browser the same interface, capabilities, and features as VS Code on desktop, and in a way that is completely tailored to Salesforce development.

For existing users of VS Code, you can switch between either product without missing a beat. Code Builder comes setup for Salesforce development, with great productivity tools like ESLint and Prettier, along with rich code-editing features for all Salesforce languages and programming models."

Source

You can write Apex, create LWCs, access Metadata, run SOQL queries, build scratch orgs, deploy changes between environments, and more.

For example, by clicking the search box at the top you'll see there are different options, one of which is "Show and Run Commands".

Clicking this brings up a list of commands Code Builder can do for you:

Personally, I know how to write Apex but am not at all proficient with VS Code. I struggled to get things working consistently in VS Code, and so only did a few projects to understand development well enough to pass the development exams. I'm thrilled to see a cloud-based IDE like Code Builder, because now I can go deeper down the development rabbit hole. This developer tool, and the developer skillset more broadly, is one way I'm planning to stay competitive as a professional in the Salesforce ecosystem in the coming years. I'd encourage you to check out the tool when you have some available time, and get started (or continue) on your own developer journey. You don't ever need to be a full-fledged developer to benefit from learning the basics! I hope you found this helpful.