If Salesforce is your most important CRM decision, then your Salesforce DevOps interface is your most important DevOps decision.

This article is part two in our series. In part one, we talked about the anatomy of a mature Salesforce DevOps practice and the major categories of tools you’ll want to consider. Now, we’re diving into how to choose the right tools for each category—starting with the ones that typically shape your approach the most.

Some of these tools might already be in place. Maybe they were chosen before you arrived. Maybe your organization uses them across non-Salesforce teams. That’s fine. But it’s still worth asking: do these tools actually serve Salesforce well? And if not, is there a better fit?

Let’s take it from the top.

Version Control

This is often a decision that’s already made—especially at mid-to-large companies where development across multiple platforms means there’s already a standard in place. You may not have a say in which version control system to use, but you should absolutely consider how well it integrates with your Salesforce workflow.

The most important implication of your version control decision is how it connects to your CI/CD tooling. Most modern version control systems are fine at the basics—branching, merge conflict resolution, and pull request management—but not all are equally friendly to automation and ecosystem integration.

My go-to recommendation here is GitHub. Not because other tools don’t offer the same features—they usually do—but because GitHub’s documentation and open source community make it incredibly easy to find solutions, reuse proven workflows, and learn best practices fast. That open ecosystem becomes even more valuable when you move to CI/CD, but more on that later.

Salesforce DevOps Interface

This is the most important decision you’ll make in your DevOps toolchain. Your DevOps interface is the front door to all your other tools—it sets the tone for how your team interacts with the rest of your system. Some teams build their own interfaces from scratch. Others use a product specifically designed for Salesforce DevOps. (This is a good time to mention: that’s what we do at Salto, and we do it really well.)

What I love most about our approach is the simple UI and clear visuals. But it’s more than that. A good Salesforce DevOps interface should:

• Integrate with your version control system 
• Allow you to bring your own CI/CD tooling
• Let you kick off deployments via API from other tools

This is what gives you flexibility. This is what makes your DevOps process feel like it belongs to your team—not the other way around.

CI/CD Tooling

This is typically the second most important decision, and it’s closely tied to version control.

Some vendors provide CI/CD as part of an all-in-one offering. Others—like us—let you bring your own. In either case, the goal is the same: automate as much of your process as possible in a way that scales with your needs.

The best CI/CD tools let you treat automation like little apps. You might:

• Run Apex tests
• Scan metadata for risks or anti-patterns
• Rebuild an environment from scratch with custom config and data

To do that, you want to build on the shoulders of giants. That means using open source work, reusing proven workflows, and plugging into the broader development community. For that reason, I recommend using a CI/CD tool that integrates deeply with your version control tool—or better yet, is part of it.

My strong preference is GitHub Actions. They’re built into GitHub, tightly connected to code changes, and supported by a massive open source marketplace. If you’re using GitLab, GitLab CI is the natural choice. The key is to keep your automation as close to the source as possible.

Other Tools: Static Code Analysis, Test Automation, Data Generation, Backup & Recovery

By the time you’re choosing these tools, your earlier decisions (DevOps interface, version control, and CI/CD) will often shape what’s possible.

For each of these categories, start by asking:

• Does this tool integrate with my DevOps interface?
• Can it be triggered by my CI/CD pipeline?
• Can I surface its status or results in version control?

If not, are you okay with a standalone or semi-automated tool? Many tools offer APIs, which can help you bridge the gap with custom automation. For example, triggering test automation using your CI/CD system and polling for results via webhook.

Whatever you choose, aim for visibility. To borrow a familiar Salesforce concept: just like you have your Customer 360, you want a DevOps 360—a centralized view of your environments, changes, test results, and deploy status, all in one place.

Your Salesforce DevOps interface should help you see the big picture and act on it.

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