Agent-based solutions are increasingly becoming a critical part of how Salesforce customers manage workflows and operations. These solutions allow businesses to automate repetitive tasks, provide more consistent responses, and improve efficiency. However, for pro-code developers, creating agent-based solutions has often involved leaving the familiar environment of their IDE and moving into org-based builders. This shift not only interrupts the development workflow but also slows down productivity, as developers need to constantly switch contexts to build, test, and deploy agents. Maintaining focus in a single environment is important for developers to efficiently manage code, test processes, and troubleshoot issues without unnecessary interruptions.

The Solution: Agentforce DX Pro-Code Tools

With the general availability of Agentforce DX Pro-Code Tools, this barrier has been removed. Developers can now build, test, and preview agents directly from the tools they already use—without leaving the command-line interface (CLI) or integrated development environment (IDE). This integration allows developers to stay in a single, consistent workflow while managing all aspects of agent development, from initial creation to testing and deployment. By enabling agent development directly inside familiar environments, developers can focus on the logic, functionality, and performance of their agents rather than spending time navigating between different platforms.

Released on May 21, 2025, these tools bring agent development capabilities into VS Code, Code Builder, and the Salesforce CLI. This ensures that developers can continue working in environments where they are already comfortable, maintaining consistency across projects and reducing the learning curve. The seamless integration improves the efficiency of the development process, allowing teams to implement and iterate on agent-based solutions more quickly.

What’s Included in the Toolkit

The Agentforce DX Pro-Code Tools release introduces a set of features specifically designed for developers:

• Agentforce CLI Plugin: Enables building, testing, and previewing agents directly from the command line, providing a streamlined approach for developers who prefer working in a terminal environment.
• VS Code and Code Builder Extensions: Allow developers to create, edit, and refine agents entirely inside the IDE, keeping all development work centralized.
• YAML-Based Agent Artifacts: Provide human-readable metadata for creating, editing, and tracking agent configurations with ease. YAML files simplify the process of managing configurations, ensuring consistency and transparency across development teams.

Why It Matters for Developers

Agentforce DX Pro-Code Tools are designed to fit naturally into the existing developer workflow. Key benefits include:

• Remaining inside the IDE without switching between browser-based tools and code, reducing context switching and improving focus.
• Using YAML to generate, edit, and track test configurations, simplifying management and improving accuracy.
• Previewing agent conversations while editing Apex code directly within the IDE, allowing developers to test interactions as they build functionality.
• Integrating agent testing into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that agents can be validated automatically as part of the overall development process.

What’s Coming Next

Agentforce DX is at the early stages of its development journey, and upcoming features will further enhance pro-code developer capabilities. Planned enhancements include:

• Tools to more effectively manage topics and actions, simplifying organization and maintenance.
• Advanced testing capabilities with multi-turn conversations and complete conversation history, allowing developers to validate complex interactions.
• Detailed session-level debug and trace information available directly within the IDE for improved troubleshooting.
• The ability to trigger Apex debugging from an agent preview, further reducing the need to switch contexts and enabling faster resolution of issues.

Agentforce DX Pro-Code Tools empower developers to build, test, and manage agents entirely within the environments where they already write and maintain code. By keeping all processes inside the CLI and IDE, development becomes faster, more consistent, and aligned with the workflow of pro-code developers. These tools reduce context switching, enhance testing capabilities, and improve the efficiency of building agent-based solutions. Ultimately, Agentforce DX allows development teams to focus on higher-value coding and functionality while maintaining a clear, organized, and productive workflow for agent creation, testing, and deployment. This ensures that agents are reliable, well-tested, and integrated effectively into enterprise workflows.