Skip to content
Syntax & SyllogismSyntax & SyllogismAPX

Getting started with APX

apx is a Salesforce CLI plugin that generates Apex Enterprise Patterns (fflib/at4dx) code — Domain, Selector, Service, and Unit of Work artifacts — from a described SObject. This guide walks through your first generation run.

Install

Terminal window
sf plugins install @syntax-syllogism/apx@x.y.z

Or build from source (see Contributing):

Terminal window
git clone git@github.com:jprichter/apx
cd apx
yarn && yarn build
node ./bin/dev.js apx generate --help

Concepts

Most org-backed apx generate commands need two things:

  1. A flavor — exactly one of --at4dx or --fflib. These are mutually exclusive; you must pick one. The flavor selects which template set is rendered (interface/implementation shape, binding metadata format, base class references) for every artifact the command produces.
  2. A target — org-backed commands describe a live SObject via --target-org + --sobject to pull real field names and custom/standard-object status. The AT4DX-only action, criteria, selector method, and selector field-injection commands work offline with an SObject API name as a string. service also works offline, using --service-basename instead of an SObject target.

All commands support --dry-run (render and validate without writing files) and --output-path (defaults to generated-files, relative to the Salesforce project root).

Your first generation run

Generate a full selector for Account in AT4DX style:

Terminal window
sf apx generate selector --target-org myOrg --sobject Account --at4dx

This describes Account against myOrg, then writes a selector interface, implementation, unit test, and (for AT4DX) a SelectorConfig binding custom metadata record under generated-files/.

Preview first with --dry-run if you want to see what would be written without touching disk:

Terminal window
sf apx generate selector --target-org myOrg --sobject Account --at4dx --dry-run --json

If you prefer a guided flow, add -i/--interactive. APX prompts for values that were not supplied, shows a summary, and requires confirmation before it writes anything:

Terminal window
sf apx generate selector -i --target-org myOrg --sobject Account

See Interactive generation for prompt coverage, confirmation behavior, and the TTY requirement.

Generating multiple layers at once

The bare apx generate command builds several artifact groups from a single SObject describe, so you only pay for one API round-trip:

Terminal window
sf apx generate --target-org myOrg --sobject Account \
  --selector --domain --unit-of-work --at4dx

At least one of --selector, --domain, --unit-of-work is required — the command errors out if none are set. See Aggregate generation for exactly how binding sequence and prefix apply across the combined plan.

Offline scaffolding

Some artifacts don’t need an org at all:

Terminal window
# Action class + AT4DX domain-process binding, entirely offline
sf apx generate action -s Account -c DefaultAccountSloganBasedOnNameAction


# Field-injection fieldset + binding for an existing selector
sf apx generate selector field-injection -s Account --fields Name,Industry

See Offline domain-process generation for how --trigger-operation, --order, and --process-name combine to build the binding’s developer name.

Next steps

  • Command details — flavor selection, naming/prefix rules, binding sequence, domain-process metadata, dry-run/overwrite semantics.
  • Full CLI reference: see the Commands section of the README, or run any command with --help.