Maya Bengtson and Johnathan Flatt · 12th May 2025
Experts react to the Salesforce Summer ’25 release: what teams really care about
Salesforce’s Summer ’25 release is here, and while Agentforce, AI, and automation remain key trends across the ecosystem, this particular rollout shifts gears slightly. The Summer ’25 release is packed with quieter — yet critical — updates that Salesforce professionals building, deploying, and maintaining orgs truly care about. To cut through the noise and surface what really matters, we sat down with two experienced Salesforce DevOps professionals: Maya Bengtson, DevOps Engineer at Farm Credit Services of America, and Johnathan Flatt, Principal Platform Engineer at Aflac. From debug logs to TypeScript tooling, here’s what they’re most excited about — and why these changes are worth your attention.
TL;DR: key highlights of Summer ’25
Before we dive into expert takes, here’s a quick snapshot of the release features that stand out:
- Increased observability with debug logs during deployment for deeper insights and troubleshooting
- Developer productivity boosts like official TypeScript declarations for Lightning Web Components
- Enhanced UI consistency with the introduction of SLDS 2 and a new linter tool
- Performance and scalability tools like ApexGuru 2.0 and delta deploys
- Faster testing and deployment cycles with scratch org snapshots
Let’s explore what these updates really mean on the ground.
Maya Bengtson on observability and dev experience
Maya’s journey to Salesforce DevOps wasn’t a straight line — she began in the arts, later transitioned to tech, and brings a creative, user-centered lens to how tools affect real developer and admin workflows.
“I’m an end-to-end visibility girly,” Maya says with a laugh. “So I love any improvement in observability.”
Debug logs during deployment
Maya’s top pick from the Summer ’25 release is the ability to access debug logs during deployment — a long-requested feature that boosts transparency in CI/CD processes. This change means teams can now get real-time feedback when something breaks, rather than reverse-engineering issues from vague error messages.
“I’m especially stoked for this because it’s a win for anyone who’s ever been stuck asking, ’What went wrong, and why can’t I see it?’” Maya says. “While I do worry about performance impact on large deployments, overall, it’s a huge observability gain.”
A release focused on devs, light on admin
While Maya appreciated the dev-centric updates, she notes the release is a bit sparse on admin-facing features: “There’s some solid dev tools here — but it’s a bit light on the admin side. And I’d love to see more transparency around improvements to AI features, especially agent performance. Where are the metrics?”
Johnathan Flatt’s top features for platform engineers
With over a decade in the Salesforce ecosystem, Johnathan brings a structured engineering mindset to DevOps. He’s particularly enthusiastic about features that improve developer productivity and enforce high standards at scale. Here’s what he’s geeking out over...
Official TypeScript declarations for Lightning Web Components
“This is a game-changer for anyone building in LWC,” Johnathan says. Salesforce now ships official @salesforce/lightning-types, delivering full TypeScript support for base components. That means:
- Real-time IDE feedback (no more guessing prop names)
- Auto-imports in VS Code
- Static analysis and type safety in templates
Pro tip: Pin the CLI version to avoid mismatched symbols, and expect frequent patches as the community explores edge cases.
SLDS 2 and the new SLDS linter (Beta)
SLDS 2 (codenamed “Cosmos”) leans on design tokens and CSS custom properties. The new linter tool helps enforce style rules, clean up legacy markup, and even auto-fix issues. “Hook it into a pre-commit hook and just watch hundreds of design sins vanish,” Johnathan recommends.
ApexGuru 2.0 with customer-impact scoring
Performance tools are getting smarter. ApexGuru now scores code not just by CPU time but by its impact on actual users. “This gives you leverage. When a PM shrugs off performance debt, now you’ve got numbers to show how it affects real customers.”
It even ties into GitHub Actions, allowing teams to block PRs if poor-performing code slips in.
Scratch org snapshots and delta deploys
Snapshotting scratch orgs (with metadata and data) speeds up CI jobs and local development. “Seed once, snapshot, reuse — it’s a time-saver,” Johnathan says.
Paired with delta deploys, this helps eliminate unnecessary deployments of unchanged files, making the pipeline leaner and faster.
What real Salesforce teams should take from this release
This release may not make headlines with AI breakthroughs, but it quietly delivers on the things real Salesforce professionals ask for — like observability, better CI/CD tooling, and stronger developer ergonomics.
If you’re a developer:
- Adopt the new TypeScript tools and linting support — your IDE (and future self) will thank you.
- Leverage debug logs during deployment to streamline testing and reduce friction.
If you’re in DevOps or platform engineering:
- Scratch org snapshots and delta deploys are huge for pipeline optimization — test them early.
- Integrate ApexGuru and SLDS linters into your CI tools to raise code and UX quality.
If you’re an admin:
- While light on admin updates this round, the improved deployment feedback loop means fewer mysteries and better teamwork between devs and admins.
Final thoughts: a quietly powerful release
Salesforce Summer ’25 may not bring dramatic product overhauls, but the refinements it introduces will significantly improve how teams build, deploy, and maintain on the platform. From Maya’s emphasis on visibility to Johnathan’s excitement over robust tooling, the message is clear: this release is for the builders.
Want to get hands-on with Salesforce DevOps best practices? Check out the free, Salesforce-specific DevOps training on DevOps Launchpad — created to help you build confidence in version control, CI/CD, testing, observability, and more. Whether you’re a developer, admin, or platform engineer, there’s a course to level up your DevOps skills.