How I Use Claude AI to Accelerate Salesforce Development

There's a lot of noise about AI replacing developers. Let me cut through it: that's not happening any time soon for Salesforce development. The platform is too specific, too context-dependent, and too riddled with nuance for AI to replace someone who understands the ecosystem.

But as a tool to make experienced developers faster? Claude has genuinely changed how I work.

Where AI Actually Helps in Salesforce

The key insight is that AI is brilliant at the tasks that are tedious but well-defined, and mediocre at the tasks that require deep understanding of your specific org. Use it for the former, keep your brain for the latter.

### Boilerplate & Scaffolding

Writing a new trigger handler, a batch class, a test class with standard setup methods — this is where Claude saves me the most time. I describe what I need, and it generates a solid starting point that I then refine.

I don't copy-paste blindly. I treat AI output like code from a junior developer: review everything, check the patterns, fix what doesn't match the codebase standards.

### Test Class Generation

This is probably the single biggest time saver. You paste in an Apex class and ask Claude to write comprehensive test methods. It handles the setup, the assertions, the edge cases. You still need to review and adjust — especially around data dependencies and org-specific config — but it cuts test writing time significantly.

### SOQL Query Building

Complex queries with multiple relationships, subqueries, and filters — describing what you need in plain English and getting back a working SOQL query is faster than building it field by field.

### LWC Component Structure

Describing a component's behaviour and getting back the HTML template, JavaScript controller, and CSS in one go. Again, it's a starting point that needs refinement, but it eliminates the blank-page problem.

### Documentation & Comments

This one is underrated. Paste in a complex method and ask Claude to write clear JSDoc comments or explain the business logic. It's great at turning code into human-readable explanations — useful for handover documentation.

Where AI Falls Short in Salesforce

### Governor Limit Awareness

AI models know about governor limits in theory, but they don't always write code that respects them in practice. I've seen Claude generate code with SOQL inside loops, create recursive trigger patterns, or suggest approaches that would hit CPU time limits at scale. You need to know the platform well enough to catch these.

### Org-Specific Context

Claude doesn't know your data model, your automation landscape, or your business rules. It can write technically correct Apex that's completely wrong for your org. This is where experience matters — you need to provide the right context and validate the output against your specific setup.

### Complex Integration Logic

For straightforward REST callouts, AI is fine. For complex integration patterns with retry logic, error handling across multiple systems, and platform event architectures — you need a human who understands the full picture.

### Security & Sharing Model

AI tends to produce code that works from a functional perspective but doesn't always consider sharing rules, field-level security, or the with/without sharing implications. Always review security aspects manually.

My Workflow

Here's how a typical development session looks now:

I start by describing the requirement to Claude, including relevant context about the org. I get back a first draft. I review it critically — checking patterns, governor limits, security, and whether it fits the existing codebase. I refine and iterate, often going back and forth a few times. The final code is mine, informed by AI but validated by experience.

The result: I'm probably 30-40% faster on implementation tasks. Not because the AI is writing production code for me, but because it eliminates the tedious parts and lets me focus on the decisions that actually matter.

The Bottom Line

AI is a power tool, not a replacement for knowing what you're doing. A senior developer with Claude is significantly more productive than the same developer without it. But an AI without a senior developer produces code that looks right and breaks in production.

If you're a Salesforce team looking to adopt AI tools effectively — or you want to understand how AI-assisted development could accelerate your delivery — get in touch. It's a conversation worth having.