Source-Driven Development with the CLI
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Push local source to a scratch org and pull org changes back to local source
- Explain when to use deploy/retrieve versus a manifest-based deploy
Prerequisites: Scratch Orgs and sfdx-project.json
Deploy and retrieve
sf project deploy start --source-dir <path> pushes local source into an org. sf project retrieve start --source-dir <path> pulls org metadata back down into that same local folder. Both work against any authenticated org — scratch org, sandbox, or production — and both understand exactly which files changed.
A typical local development loop
The everyday rhythm looks like this: edit metadata locally in your IDE, deploy it to your scratch org to test it, and if you made a quick change directly in the org's UI (like adding a field through Setup), retrieve it back down to local source and commit it to Git.
Local source plus Git is the real source of truth — the org itself stays disposable.
Pushing and pulling force-app
sf project deploy start --source-dir force-app --target-org my-scratch
sf project retrieve start --source-dir force-app --target-org my-scratchdeploy start pushes your local force-app source into the target org; retrieve start pulls any changes made in that org back down into the same local folder.
Exercise
Write the CLI command to deploy the force-app directory to an org aliased 'my-scratch'.
Show hint
sf project deploy start --source-dir force-app --target-org my-scratch
Source-Driven Development with the CLI — Quick Check
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Summary
sf project deploy start and sf project retrieve start move metadata between local source and any org, tracking exactly what changed and warning you about conflicts.