Metadata API Developer Guide

Introduction to Metadata API
Understanding Metadata API
Use Cases for Metadata API
Move Metadata from Production to Your Local File System
Move Metadata Changes to and from a Scratch Org
Move Metadata to a Sandbox at Integration Points
Deploy Metadata to Production
Move Metadata for Production-Level Changes
Make Large Metadata Configuration Changes
Release Notes
Metadata API Developer Tools
Supported Salesforce Editions
Metadata API Edit Access
Development Platforms
Standards Compliance
Metadata API Support Policy
API End-of-Life Policy
Related Resources
Quick Start: Metadata API
Build Client Applications for Metadata API
Using Metadata API
Metadata API Context MCP Tool (Beta)
Reference
Appendices
PDF

Note: This release is in preview. Features described here don’t become generally available until the latest general availability date that Salesforce announces for this release. Before then, and where features are noted as beta, pilot, or developer preview, we can’t guarantee general availability within any particular time frame or at all. Make your purchase decisions only on the basis of generally available products and features.

Make Large Metadata Configuration Changes

Metadata API is better suited than other APIs for deploying large changes to your Salesforce org.

Metadata API deploy() and retrieve() calls are file-based and therefore asynchronous. With synchronous commands, large configuration changes require unreasonably long load times. Instead, deploy and retrieve calls begin an asynchronous process that notifies you when it’s complete. Because file-based calls are asynchronous, Metadata API can also handle a queue of deploy requests.