building-sf-integrations: Salesforce Integration Patterns Expert
Use this skill when the user needs integration architecture and runtime plumbing: Named Credentials, External Credentials, External Services, REST/SOAP callout patterns, Platform Events, CDC, and event-driven integration design.
When This Skill Owns the Task
Use building-sf-integrations when the work involves:
.namedCredential-meta.xmlor External Credential metadata- outbound REST/SOAP callouts
- External Service registration from OpenAPI specs
- Platform Events, CDC, and event-driven architecture
- choosing sync vs async integration patterns
Delegate elsewhere when the user is:
- configuring the OAuth app itself → configuring-connected-apps
- writing Apex-only business logic → generating-apex
- deploying metadata → deploying-metadata
- importing/exporting data → handling-sf-data
---
Required Context to Gather First
Ask for or infer:
- integration style: outbound callout, inbound event, External Service, CDC, platform event
- auth method
- sync vs async requirement
- system endpoint / spec details
- rate limits, retry expectations, and failure tolerance
- whether this is net-new design or repair of an existing integration
---
Recommended Workflow
1. Choose the integration pattern
| Need | Default pattern |
|---|---|
| authenticated outbound API call | Named Credential / External Credential + Apex or Flow |
| spec-driven API client | External Service |
| trigger-originated callout | async callout pattern |
| decoupled event publishing | Platform Events |
| change-stream consumption | CDC |
2. Choose the auth model
Prefer secure runtime-managed auth:
- Named Credentials / External Credentials
- OAuth or JWT via the right credential model
- no hardcoded secrets in code
3. Generate from the right templates
Use the provided assets under:
assets/named-credentials/assets/external-credentials/assets/external-services/assets/callouts/assets/platform-events/assets/cdc/assets/soap/
4. Validate operational safety
Check:
- timeout and retry handling
- async strategy for trigger-originated work
- logging / observability
- event retention and subscriber implications
5. Hand off deployment or implementation details
Use:
- deploying-metadata for deployment
- generating-apex for deeper service / retry code
- generating-flow for declarative HTTP callout orchestration
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High-Signal Rules
- never hardcode credentials
- do not do synchronous callouts from triggers
- define timeout behavior explicitly
- plan retries for transient failures
- use middleware / event-driven patterns when outbound volume is high
- prefer External Credentials architecture for new development when supported
Common anti-patterns:
- sync trigger callouts
- no retry or dead-letter strategy
- no request/response logging
- mixing auth setup responsibilities with runtime integration design
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Output Format
When finishing, report in this order:
- Integration pattern chosen
- Auth model chosen
- Files created or updated
- Operational safeguards
- Deployment / testing next step
Suggested shape:
Integration: <summary>
Pattern: <named credential / external service / event / cdc / callout>
Files: <paths>
Safety: <timeouts, retries, async, logging>
Next step: <deploy, register, test, or implement>
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Cross-Skill Integration
| Need | Delegate to | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| OAuth app setup | configuring-connected-apps | consumer key / cert / app config |
| advanced callout service code | generating-apex | Apex implementation |
| declarative HTTP callout / Flow wrapper | generating-flow | Flow orchestration |
| deploy integration metadata | deploying-metadata | validation and rollout |
| use integration from Agentforce | developing-agentforce | agent action composition |
---
Reference Map
Start here
- references/named-credentials-guide.md
- references/external-services-guide.md
- references/callout-patterns.md
- references/rest-callout-patterns.md
- references/security-best-practices.md
Event-driven / platform patterns
- references/event-patterns.md
- references/platform-events-guide.md
- references/cdc-guide.md
- references/event-driven-architecture-guide.md
- references/messaging-api-v2.md
CLI / automation / scoring
- references/cli-reference.md
- references/named-credentials-automation.md
- references/scoring-rubric.md
- scripts/README.md — automation scripts overview (configure-named-credential.sh, set-api-credential.sh)
Asset templates
assets/named-credentials/— Named Credential XML templates (OAuth, JWT, Certificate, Custom auth)assets/external-credentials/— External Credential XML templates (OAuth, JWT)assets/external-services/— External Service registration template and operations guideassets/callouts/— REST sync, Queueable, retry handler, and HTTP response handler Apex templatesassets/platform-events/— Platform Event definition, publisher, and subscriber templatesassets/cdc/— CDC handler and subscriber trigger templatesassets/soap/— SOAP callout service template and wsdl2apex guideassets/endpoint-security/— Remote Site Setting and CSP Trusted Site XML templates
Automation hooks
hooks/scripts/suggest_credential_setup.py— auto-suggests credential configuration steps when integration files are detectedhooks/scripts/validate_integration.py— validates integration patterns before agent responses
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Output Expectations
When this skill completes an integration task, it produces:
- Credential metadata — one or more files in
assets/named-credentials/orassets/external-credentials/filled with org-specific values - Callout Apex class — a
.clsfile using the Named Credential pattern, with async/sync pattern chosen based on context - Event/CDC artifacts — Platform Event
.object-meta.xml, subscriber trigger, or CDC config (when event-driven pattern is chosen) - Endpoint security metadata — Remote Site Setting and/or CSP Trusted Site XML files
- Scoring report — 120-point score across 6 categories (Security, Error Handling, Bulkification, Architecture, Best Practices, Documentation)
- Next step — a deployment or testing instruction for the generated artifacts
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Score Guide
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 108+ | strong production-ready integration design |
| 90–107 | good design with some hardening left |
| 72–89 | workable but needs architectural review |
| < 72 | unsafe / incomplete for deployment |

