Beginner 15 min read

Developer Console

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:

Open the Developer Console from any Salesforce org
Locate the Execute Anonymous window and the log panel
Create and save a new Apex class from the Developer Console

Prerequisites: "What Is Apex?"

Opening it

From inside any Salesforce org, click the gear icon (Setup) in the top right, and choose Developer Console from the dropdown. It opens in a new window — a self-contained IDE that runs entirely in your browser, talking directly to your org.

What's actually in there

Three panels matter most while you're learning:

File menu → New → Apex Class — creates a real Apex class saved directly to your org.
Debug → Open Execute Anonymous Window — runs a throwaway snippet of Apex immediately, without saving a class. This is what you used in the previous lesson's exercise.
The Logs tab (bottom panel) — every time you run something, a log appears here. Double-click it to read what actually happened, line by line.

Common mistakes

Forgetting to check "Open Log" before running Execute Anonymous — if unchecked, you run code but never see what it did.
Not scrolling far enough in a log — the line you care about (like your System.debug output) is often buried under a lot of framework noise. The next lesson on reading debug logs covers how to filter this.

Exercise

Open the Developer Console in any org you have access to. Create a new Apex class called Greeter with a static method sayHi() that debugs a message. Save it, then call it from Execute Anonymous.

Show hint

File > New > Apex Class in the Developer Console's top menu.

APEX

Developer Console Quiz

1. Where do you open the Developer Console from?

The Setup gear icon dropdown menu A separate website outside Salesforce Only from VS Code The mobile app only

2. Execute Anonymous saves a permanent Apex class to your org.

True False — it runs a one-off snippet without saving anything

My Notes

Questions about this lesson

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Summary

The Developer Console is Salesforce's built-in, browser-based tool for writing Apex, running quick snippets, and reading debug logs — the fastest way to experiment while you're learning, even though professional teams do most real development in VS Code (next lesson).

← Why Apex Exists VS Code and Salesforce Extensions →