Quick Introduction to Developing sf Plugins

Salesforce CLI is a bundle of two executables: sf and sfdx. We first launched sfdx to develop and test your apps more easily on Salesforce Platform. With sf, we're bringing together a cross-cloud set of commands that streamline how you build and deploy across all Salesforce.

A plugin adds commands or features to Salesforce CLI, which is itself a plugin. For example, the plugin-deploy-retrieve plugin provides commands to deploy and retrieve metadata to and from an org.

So why create your own plugin? The Salesforce CLI core plugins provide commands and functionality to meet common needs that customers and partners have. But your team probably has specific needs. That’s why Salesforce CLI is extensible. Even at Salesforce, different teams have different requirements. Salesforce teams create plug-ins, Salesforce employees create plug-ins as side projects, and Trailblazers in the Salesforce community create and share plug-ins.

See Conceptual Overview of Salesforce CLI for more information.