Metadata & Source Control

`sfdt manifest`

Generates a package.xml from a git diff. Understands Salesforce metadata file naming to map changed files to their types and member names. Optionally runs AI to flag likely missing dependencies.


sfdt manifest                                    # diff main...HEAD → preview-package.xml
sfdt manifest --base develop                     # diff from develop
sfdt manifest --base abc1234                     # diff from a specific commit SHA
sfdt manifest --name 1.2.0                       # named release → rl-1.2.0-package.xml
sfdt manifest --package feature-a                # scope diff to one package directory
sfdt manifest --package all --name 1.2.0         # all packages → rl-1.2.0-package.xml
sfdt manifest --output deploy/pkg.xml            # custom output path
sfdt manifest --destructive dist/del.xml         # also write destructiveChanges.xml
sfdt manifest --print                            # print to stdout instead of writing
sfdt manifest --ai-cleanup                       # run AI dependency check

Option	Description
`--base <ref>`	Base git ref to diff from (default `main`); branch names or SHAs
`--head <ref>`	Head git ref to diff to (default `HEAD`)
`--name <label>`	Release label for the filename: semver, free-form, or `today` (→ `YYYY-MM-DD`)
`--package <name\|all>`	Scope the diff to one package directory (matched by last path segment)
`--output <path>`	Output path, overriding the computed path
`--destructive <path>`	Also write a `destructiveChanges.xml` for deleted components
`--ai-cleanup`	Run AI dependency analysis on the manifest
`--no-ai-cleanup`	Skip AI analysis even when `features.ai` is on
`--print`	Print to stdout instead of writing a file

Output filename convention:

Scenario	Output path
No `--name`	`manifest/release/preview-package.xml`
`--name 1.2.0` (all packages)	`manifest/release/rl-1.2.0-package.xml`
`--name 1.2.0 --package feature-a`	`manifest/release/rl-1.2.0-feature-a-package.xml`
With `manifestLayout: subpath`	`manifest/release/feature-a/rl-1.2.0-package.xml`

Merge-base resolution: when --base is a branch name, sfdt computes the merge-base with HEAD so commits already on the base branch are excluded. Pass an explicit SHA to diff from a branch tip directly. The --name value must start with an alphanumeric character.

See Multi-package projects for the scoped workflow.

`sfdt pull`

Pulls metadata from the configured default org into your local source, using a SQLite-backed cache so only components that changed in the org since the last pull are re-fetched.


sfdt pull             # incremental — only changed components
sfdt pull --full      # force a full retrieve and rebuild the cache
sfdt pull --status    # show cache status (last pull time, component counts)
sfdt pull --dry-run   # preview without writing

What gets pulled is defined in .sfdt/pull-config.json:


{
  "metadataTypes": ["ApexClass", "ApexTrigger", "LightningComponentBundle", "CustomObject", "CustomField", "Layout", "FlexiPage", "PermissionSet", "Flow"],
  "targetDir": "force-app/main/default"
}

Cache behavior is tuned via pullCache in config (enabled, parallelism, batchSize). See Incremental Pull.

`sfdt drift`

Detects metadata drift between your local source files and a target org — i.e. changes made directly in the org without being committed. Result written to logs/drift-latest.json.


sfdt drift
sfdt drift --org staging

Option	Description
`--org <alias>`	Target org (defaults to `config.defaultOrg`)
`--json`	Structured output

Drift does a deep per-component content diff — it tells you which components differ.

`sfdt compare`

Compares the full metadata inventory between two orgs, or between local source and an org. Unlike drift, compare checks for the presence or absence of entire members.


sfdt compare                                  # local source vs default org
sfdt compare --target sandbox-uat             # local source vs a named sandbox
sfdt compare --source prod --target sandbox   # org-to-org comparison
sfdt compare --output deploy/missing.xml      # write source-only items as package.xml

Option	Description
`--source <alias\|local>`	Source side; `local` or an org alias (default `local`)
`--target <alias>`	Target org (defaults to `config.defaultOrg`)
`--output <file>`	Write a `package.xml` of source-only items to this path

Results land in logs/compare-latest.json and the dashboard’s Compare page (filter by source-only / target-only / both, plus a per-component XML diff).

Drift vs Compare

Question	Tool
Has anyone changed metadata in the org directly?	`sfdt drift`
What metadata exists in one org but not the other?	`sfdt compare`
Is my local source the authoritative version of what’s deployed?	`sfdt drift`
What needs deploying to bring a sandbox up to par with prod?	`sfdt compare`
Generate a manifest of what’s missing from the target?	`sfdt compare --output missing.xml`

`sfdt scan`

Fetches a complete metadata inventory from an org and writes it to a file (logs/scan-latest.json when launched from the dashboard).


sfdt scan
sfdt scan --org production --output inventory.json --format json
sfdt scan --format table

Option	Description
`--org <alias>`	Org to scan (defaults to `config.defaultOrg`)
`--output <file>`	Output file
`--format <json\|table>`	Output format