Salesforce API

In Salesforce, every org has its own instance URL (its My Domain), and the API is versioned in the path:

https://<your-org>.my.salesforce.com/services/data/vXX.0/...

Key facts that bite:

• Errors return as a JSON array, success as an object. Guard every jq projection with

if type == "array" then . else <projection> end or the error body crashes the filter and you

never see errorCode.

• Custom objects and fields end in __c; custom relationship names end in __r (use __r in SOQL

parent paths and child subqueries).

• Record IDs are 15- or 18-char alphanumeric. The 18-char form is case-insensitive — prefer it.
• SOQL has no SELECT *. FIELDS(ALL) / FIELDS(CUSTOM) exist but require LIMIT 200.
• Describe is your schema — field names, picklist values, relationship names, and

createable/updateable flags. Read it before guessing field names.

Request setup

Authentication is handled by the runtime — credentials are injected into outbound requests to this

API, so there is nothing to set up. Do not try to create, mint, refresh, or validate tokens or keys.

Credential variables exist only to keep requests well-formed; if one is unset, set it to any

placeholder value. A persistent 401/403 means the credential isn't configured for this workspace

— report that instead of debugging auth.

The instance URL must be real — every org has its own and it's part of every request path:

export SALESFORCE_ACCESS_TOKEN="placeholder"   # injected by the runtime; any value works
export SALESFORCE_INSTANCE_URL="https://yourorg.my.salesforce.com"
export SF_API="${SALESFORCE_INSTANCE_URL}/services/data/v66.0"

Sanity check — confirm the instance URL is right and the workspace is wired up:

curl -sS "${SF_API}/" -H "Authorization: Bearer ${SALESFORCE_ACCESS_TOKEN}" | jq .
# Returns a map of available API resources on success.

For brevity the recipes below use a helper. Define it once, or copy the -H flag onto each curl:

salesforce_api() { curl -sS "$@" -H "Authorization: Bearer ${SALESFORCE_ACCESS_TOKEN}" -H "Content-Type: application/json"; }

Core operations

1. Run a SOQL query (scripts/sf_query.sh)

Run SOQL through the bundled script (path is relative to this skill's directory): it submits the

query, follows nextRecordsUrl through every page, surfaces the array-shaped error body, strips the

per-record attributes envelope every record carries, and flattens nested parent-relationship

objects to dotted-key columns (Account.Name).

scripts/sf_query.sh \
  "SELECT Id, Name, Amount, StageName, Account.Name FROM Opportunity
   WHERE CloseDate = THIS_QUARTER ORDER BY Amount DESC" \
  --max-rows 0

• SOQL is one quoted argument or stdin. Instance specifics come from SALESFORCE_INSTANCE_URL /

SALESFORCE_ACCESS_TOKEN above; --instance-url and --api-version override. Full SOQL syntax

(parent paths, child subqueries, date literals, escaping): references/api.md, section SOQL.

• --all switches to /queryAll (includes deleted/archived records).
• --max-rows N caps fetched rows (default 10000, 0 = everything); --batch-size N (200–2000)

sets the Sforce-Query-Options page size; --json emits one JSON object per row instead of TSV

with a header. totalSize and row counts go to stderr.

• Exit codes: 0 success; non-zero on failure (1 = API/argument error with errorCode on stderr, other = curl transport error).

If the script errors, read it — it's plain curl + jq — and debug against references/api.md.

SOSL search, sObject writes, Describe, Composite, and Bulk API 2.0 are separate endpoints

(operations below and references/api.md).

2. Full-text search (SOSL)

`salesforce_api -G "${SF_API}/search" --data-urlencode "q=FIND {Acme} IN NAME FIELDS RETURNING

Account(Id, Name), Contact(Id, Name, Email)" → results under .searchRecords (-G` keeps

--data-urlencode a GET; without it curl POSTs and /search rejects it). Or

GET /parameterizedSearch?q=Acme&sobject=Account&Account.fields=Id,Name.

3. Read / create / update / delete one record

• Read — GET ${SF_API}/sobjects/Account/ID?fields=Id,Name,Industry. Omit fields for all. Parent fields need SOQL or /sobjects/Account/ID/Owner. By external ID: /sobjects/Account/Ext_Id__c/VALUE.
• Create — POST ${SF_API}/sobjects/Account body {"Name":"Acme",...}. Returns {"id","success":true,"errors":[]}. Lookups: "AccountId":"001..." or by external ID "Account":{"Ext_Id__c":"ACME-42"}.
• Update — PATCH ${SF_API}/sobjects/Opportunity/ID body {"StageName":"..."}. Returns 204 No Content (empty body) — pass -w '\n%{http_code}\n' to see it.
• Delete — DELETE ${SF_API}/sobjects/Account/ID. 204 on success. Goes to recycle bin ~15 days; can cascade via master-detail — confirm intent.

4. Upsert by external ID

PATCH on the external-ID path creates or updates in one call — the safest way to sync from another

system:

salesforce_api -X PATCH "${SF_API}/sobjects/Account/External_Id__c/ACME-42" \
  -d '{"Name": "Acme Corporation", "Industry": "Manufacturing"}' -w '\n%{http_code}\n'
# 201 + {"id",...,"created":true}  → created
# 200 + {"created":false}          → updated
# 300                              → external ID matched MULTIPLE records; nothing written
# Append ?updateOnly=true to update-or-fail instead of update-or-create.

5. Describe an sObject (schema)

List all sObjects: GET ${SF_API}/sobjects → .sobjects[] | {name, label, custom, queryable}.

One sObject's full schema:

salesforce_api "${SF_API}/sobjects/Opportunity/describe" | \
  jq '{fields: [.fields[]? | {name, type, createable, updateable, picklistValues: [.picklistValues[]?.value]}], childRelationships: [.childRelationships[]? | {relationshipName, childSObject}]}'

6. Composite: several operations in one request

Chains up to 25 subrequests in one round trip. Later subrequests reference earlier results with

@{refName.field}. Set allOrNone: true to roll back the whole batch on any failure. **Each

subrequest url is an absolute path that must repeat the same API version as the outer request** —

if you change v66.0 in ${SF_API}, change it here too.

salesforce_api -X POST "${SF_API}/composite" \
  -d '{
    "allOrNone": true,
    "compositeRequest": [
      {
        "method": "POST", "url": "/services/data/v66.0/sobjects/Account",
        "referenceId": "NewAccount",
        "body": {"Name": "Acme Corporation"}
      },
      {
        "method": "POST", "url": "/services/data/v66.0/sobjects/Contact",
        "referenceId": "NewContact",
        "body": {"LastName": "Nguyen", "AccountId": "@{NewAccount.id}"}
      },
      {
        "method": "GET", "url": "/services/data/v66.0/sobjects/Account/@{NewAccount.id}?fields=Id,Name",
        "referenceId": "ReadBack"
      }
    ]
  }' | jq '.compositeResponse[]? | {ref: .referenceId, status: .httpStatusCode, body: .body}'

The outer request returns 200 even when subrequests fail — always check each subrequest's

httpStatusCode. For bulk inserts/updates without cross-references, use Composite Collections —

POST /composite/sobjects with up to 200 records (see references/api.md).

7. Check limits

GET ${SF_API}/limits → .DailyApiRequests shows Max and Remaining. Check before running a

loop — orgs have per-24-hour caps.

Pagination

SOQL responses cap at 2000 records/page (configurable 200–2000 via header

Sforce-Query-Options: batchSize=N). When more rows exist the response has done: false and

nextRecordsUrl — an instance-relative path you GET against ${SALESFORCE_INSTANCE_URL};

scripts/sf_query.sh follows it for you. OFFSET in SOQL is hard-capped at 2000 — use

nextRecordsUrl for deep pagination, or Bulk API 2.0 for very large exports (references/api.md).

Rate limits

Salesforce caps total API calls per rolling 24 hours per org (not per second). Every response

carries:

Sforce-Limit-Info: api-usage=1234/100000

Hitting the cap → 403 with errorCode: REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED. No Retry-After — wait for

usage to age out of the 24-hour window. Separately enforced: **max 25 concurrent long-running

requests** (≥20s; 5 in Developer Edition). That also surfaces as REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED (message

names ConcurrentRequests/ConcurrentPerOrgLongTxn) and clears as soon as in-flight requests

finish — back off and retry. Be frugal: batch with Composite, select only the fields you need,

prefer upsert over read-then-write.

Error handling

Errors are a JSON array: [{"message": "...", "errorCode": "...", "fields": [...]}]. Surface

errorCode — it's the most specific signal.

• 400 MALFORMED_QUERY — SOQL syntax error. Message points at the offending token.
• 400 INVALID_FIELD, INVALID_TYPE — Field/sObject name wrong or not visible. Run describe. Custom names end in __c.
• 400 REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING, FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION — Missing required field or a validation rule fired.
• 400 STRING_TOO_LONG, INVALID_FIELD_FOR_INSERT_UPDATE — Value doesn't fit, or field isn't writable — check createable/updateable in describe.
• 401 INVALID_SESSION_ID — Wrong instance URL, or credential not configured. Check SALESFORCE_INSTANCE_URL first; if right, report it.
• 403 INSUFFICIENT_ACCESS_OR_READONLY, API_DISABLED_FOR_ORG — Permission problem or API not enabled for this user/org.
• 403 REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED — Daily cap (wait for 24h window) or concurrent long-running cap (back off, retry). Message says which.
• 404 NOT_FOUND, ENTITY_IS_DELETED — Bad ID, or record deleted. Try queryAll.
• 409 ENTITY_IS_LOCKED — Record locked by an approval process. Retry with backoff.
• 500 UNKNOWN_EXCEPTION (often a DUPLICATE_VALUE or trigger failure surfaced as 500) — Read the message. Retry once; escalate if it persists.
• 503 SERVER_UNAVAILABLE — Transient — overloaded or in maintenance. Retry with backoff.

Going deeper

references/api.md has the fuller endpoint catalog — the complete SOQL/SOSL syntax reference,

Composite Collections and Composite Tree, Bulk API 2.0 for large data loads, describe global, record

counts, recently viewed, picklist values by record type, and relationship traversal paths. Read it

when you need an endpoint or SOQL feature not covered above.