Orgs & Environments

An org (organization) is a single customer instance of Salesforce: its own data, metadata, users, and limits.

2.1 What is an org?

An org (organization) is a single customer instance of Salesforce: its own data, metadata, users, and limits. Every developer works in at least one org.

2.2 Types of orgs

Lifetime / refresh Developer Edition Free personal org for learning and building

Small storage (data ~5 MB, files ~20 MB) Permanent (may be deactivated after long inactivity) Trailhead Playground

Developer-Edition-like org attached to your Trailhead account Live business org Developer sandbox Copy of production metadata, no data Refresh every 1 day Developer Pro sandbox Same, larger storage Partial Copy sandbox

Metadata + sample of data (via sandbox template) Refresh every 5 days Full sandbox

Full copy of metadata and data (performance, UAT, staging) Same as production Refresh every 29 days Scratch org

Disposable, source-driven org created from a definition file Empty (load test data) 1–30 days (default 7)

Org (production or Developer Edition) that is enabled to create scratch orgs and 2GP packages

Storage numbers vary by edition and contract; check *Setup → Company Information* or Salesforce's current sandbox documentation.

2.3 Getting a free Developer Edition org

Sign up at developer.salesforce.com/signup (or create a Trailhead Playground from any Trailhead hands-on challenge).

Verify the email and set a password.

Log in at login.salesforce.com. Your org URL looks like https://yourdomain-dev-ed.develop.my.salesforce.com.

2.4 Scratch org definition

Scratch orgs are created from a JSON file (config/project-scratch-def.json):

Use Org Shapes ("sourceOrg": "00D...") to mirror the features of an existing org, and Scratch Org Snapshots to start from a pre-configured baseline.

{
  "orgName": "Acme Dev",
  "edition": "Developer",
  "features": ["EnableSetPasswordInApi", "Communities"],
  "settings": {
    "lightningExperienceSettings": { "enableS1DesktopEnabled": true },
    "securitySettings": { "passwordPolicies": { "enableSetPasswordInApi": true } }
  }
}

2.5 Typical environment pipeline

Developer (scratch org / dev sandbox) → Integration (Dev Pro) → QA / UAT (Partial or Full) → Staging (Full) → Production