Pipeline Operation: Validate

This page explains how to configure, run, and manage a Validate operation in pipelines. Validation checks metadata changes without applying them to the target org, ensuring deployments won’t fail.

Written for the Old UI

This article was written for the old UI. The instructions are still usable, but the screenshots are outdated. In some cases, items referenced in the instructions have moved or changed. If you cannot find an item, see the Where Did It Go article.

Overview

The Validate operation simulates a deployment to confirm whether changes can be successfully applied. It runs checks and (optionally) executes tests, but no metadata is committed to the target org. Adding a Validate step to a pipeline is most useful when:

• Testing changes before a production deploy.
• Ensuring dependencies are met.
• Confirming Apex tests pass.

Best Practices

• Always validate in lower environments before a production deployment.
• Configure On fail next to a Rollback operation for safer automation.
• Run complete test suites in higher environments to catch Apex issues early.
• Review logs after each validation to confirm that no dependencies are missing.

Validate Operation Configuration

The instructions below apply to configuring this pipeline operation. For general instructions on adding a pipeline step and setting the next step, see the following article.

Adding a Pipeline Step

1

Select Operation and Target

1. Click the Operation dropdown menu.
2. Select Validate.

   
3. Click the Target organization dropdown menu.
4. Select the Salesforce org connection to use for the validation operation.

   

2

Configure Validation

1. Click the Run tests dropdown menu.
2. Select the test level to run during validation. See the table below for an explanation of each test.

   

Test Level	Description
Default	Runs only the tests included in the package.
Do not run tests	Skips all Apex tests (allowed only in non-production orgs).
Run local tests	Executes all tests in the org except those from installed managed packages.
Run all tests	Runs every test in the org, including managed package tests.
Run relevant tests	Runs only the tests relevant to the selected components and their dependencies. This option uses Salesforce’s RunRelevantTests feature to automatically determine which tests to run. For more details, see Salesforce Help.
Run specified tests	Lets you define individual test classes or methods to run.

1. (Optional) Click the deployment settings toggles to enable the settings. See the following table for an explanation of each setting.

   

Setting	Description
Deploy profile settings only for selected components	Only validate Profile Settings for the components you chose to include in this validation job.
Deploy permission set settings only for selected components	Only validate Permission Set Settings for the components you chose to include in this validation job.