What it is
The Salesforce platform SDK is the client library a Multi-Framework React app uses to reach its org. Published as @salesforce/platform-sdk, it queries and mutates records over GraphQL, invokes Apex, and reads user context through the UI APIs — with no authentication or token management required, because the app is running inside the org.
Why it matters
This is what removes the usual cost of a decoupled frontend. Building outside the platform means writing an auth layer, storing credentials, and rebuilding a permission model that already existed. The SDK means none of that gets written, and data access stays governed by Salesforce.
Key components
- @salesforce/platform-sdk package
- GraphQL query and mutate for records
- Apex invocation
- UI APIs for user context
- No token management
How it connects
It is the data layer of a UI Bundle. Apex is still the right place for logic that already exists; the SDK calls into it rather than duplicating it in the frontend.
Good to know
It replaced the beta package @salesforce/sdk-data — if you are following an older tutorial, the import will be wrong.
Related terms
Apex
Salesforce's proprietary programming language for custom business logic — the backend code behind your automations, integrations, and agent actions.
Salesforce Multi-Framework
A framework-agnostic Salesforce runtime that lets a standard React app run natively on the platform, with Salesforce authentication, security and governance applied automatically.
UI Bundle
The Salesforce metadata type that packages a Multi-Framework app for deployment, declaring in .uibundle-meta.xml which surface it targets.
GraphQL
A query language for APIs that lets a client ask for exactly the fields it needs in one request — the data access layer for Salesforce Multi-Framework apps.
Salesforce Platform SDK in practice
Articles from the Funnelists Team that put this term to work.
