--- schema_version: "1" id: f6aa3437253e6139d2680b4ffcde0367318f92662efea827b82c0f3fe90a9db2 title: Promote Changes Through Your Pipeline collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/devops_center_promotion_overview.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 115c29aee8550285a75e921a505f57a1df31ee5c77d878c9a50b2f36c0615840 description: Promotion moves your changes to the next stage in a Lifecycle Center pipeline. When you promote, Lifecycle Center first merges the changes from the current stage’s source control branch to the next stage’s branch, and then deploys them to the org associated with the next stage. products: - Salesforce Platform release: "264" --- # Promote Changes Through Your Pipeline Promotion moves your changes to the next stage in a Lifecycle Center pipeline. When you promote, Lifecycle Center first merges the changes from the current stage’s source control branch to the next stage’s branch, and then deploys them to the org associated with the next stage. ### Required Editions
Available in: Lightning Experience in Professional (API access required), Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
Not available in: Government Cloud Plus. Contact your Salesforce account executive for more details.
Not available in: EU Operating Zone. EU Operating zone is a special paid offering that provides an enhanced level of data residency commitment. Lifecycle Center is supported in orgs in the EU that aren’t part of EU OZ, per standard product terms and conditions.
## How Promotion Works A pipeline defines the sequence of stages that your changes move through as they progress from development to production. Each stage corresponds to an environment (a Salesforce org) and a branch in your source control repository. Promotion is a two-step process: - Merge: Lifecycle Center merges the changes from the current stage’s branch into the next stage’s branch. - Deploy: Lifecycle Center deploys the merged changes to the org associated with the next stage. If the deployment fails, Lifecycle Center doesn’t finalize the merge to the next stage’s branch. All branches remain in the state that they were in before you attempted the promotion. ## Types of Promotion Lifecycle Center supports these ways to promote changes through your pipeline. - Stage promotion (recommended): Promote all the changes in a pipeline stage as a single, consistent unit to the next stage. Stage promotion makes releases more stable and predictable. See [Promote Work Items](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promote_work_items.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Move your work items through a predefined sequence of pipeline stages, guiding them from development to production. "). - Custom promotion: Select and promote individual approved work items that are ready for the next stage, while other work items remain in their current stage until they’re ready. See [Custom Promotion](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_custom_promotion.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Select and promote individual work items that are ready for the next pipeline stage by using custom promotion."). - External merge: Merge changes directly in your source control repository, and then complete the promotion by deploying the merged changes in Lifecycle Center or with Salesforce CLI. See [External Merges](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_handle_external_merges.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Lifecycle Center detects external changes that you merge directly into a stage’s source control branch. "). - Validate-only deployment: Check a promotion before you run it. Lifecycle Center runs tests and validates the changes without saving them to the org, so you can confirm a successful deployment ahead of time. See [Run a Validate-Only Deployment](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_deployment_validate_only.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "To ensure a successful deployment ahead of time, create a validate-only deployment. You can create a validation for only the bundling stage and versioned stages. You can run a validate-only deployment within DevOps Center or using Salesforce CLI."). ## Before You Promote Before your changes can move to the next stage, make sure they’re ready to promote. - A work item must be approved and in Ready to Promote status. See [Review Changes with Team Members](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_review_changes.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "After you open a pull request in your source control repository, your team members and collaborators can add comments about the changes."). - Changes must be mergeable. Lifecycle Center blocks promotion if there’s a merge conflict, a failed test, or an unmet mergeability rule or merge setting. See [Mergeability Rules and Merge Settings](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_mergeability.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Lifecycle Center blocks promotions if there’s a conflict, if a test failed, or if a mergeability rule or merge setting isn’t met."). - Lifecycle Center Testing runs the test suites assigned to the destination stage as a pre-promotion quality gate. A failed quality gate blocks the promotion. See [Testing Before Promotion to the Next Stage](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_testing_before_promotion.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Lifecycle Center Testing automatically runs assigned test suites before a work item advances to the next pipeline stage, ensuring only validated changes reach Integration, Staging, and Production."). - If Lifecycle Center detects a conflict, resolve it before you promote. See [Conflict Detection and Resolution](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_conflict_detection.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Conflicts can occur when you’re working with multiple development environments and moving changes between multiple pipeline stages. Conflicts can take different forms, and Lifecycle Center (formerly next-generation DevOps Center) provides functionality to help you identify potential conflicts early and resolve them."). For the deploy and test choices available in the promotion dialog, see [Promotion Options](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_options.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The available promotion options depend on if you’re promoting individual work items, work item bundles, or performing a validate-only deployment."). ## After You Promote After a promotion runs, confirm the result in the pipeline and in Activity History. See [Check Promotion Status and Deployment Details](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_check_promotion_status.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "After a promotion completes, confirm the result from the pipeline, the work item record page, or Activity History. If the failure details don't provide enough information, review the deployment details in Setup."). - **[Mergeability Rules and Merge Settings](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_mergeability.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Lifecycle Center blocks promotions if there’s a conflict, if a test failed, or if a mergeability rule or merge setting isn’t met. - **[Promotion Options](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_promotion_options.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Select the promotion type, which changes to apply, and which Apex tests to run when you promote a stage or selected work items. - **[Promote Work Items](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promote_work_items.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Move your work items through a predefined sequence of pipeline stages, guiding them from development to production. - **[Custom Promotion](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_custom_promotion.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Select and promote individual work items that are ready for the next pipeline stage by using custom promotion. - **[External Merges](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_handle_external_merges.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Lifecycle Center detects external changes that you merge directly into a stage’s source control branch. - **[Validate-Only Deployment](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_validate_only.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** Run a validate-only deployment to find deployment errors, Apex test failures, and code coverage issues without changing the target org or merging branches. If the validation succeeds and remains eligible, complete the promotion within 10 days without rerunning Apex tests.. - **[Check Promotion Status and Deployment Details](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_check_promotion_status.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** After a promotion completes, confirm the result from the pipeline, the work item record page, or Activity History. If the failure details don't provide enough information, review the deployment details in Setup. - **[Troubleshoot a Stalled Promotion](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promotion_stalled.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)** A promotion can stall while Lifecycle Center deploys changes to the target environment or merges changes into the target stage branch. Check the deployment and change request to determine where the promotion stalled, and then follow the appropriate recovery procedure. #### See Also - [Promote Work Items](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_promote_work_items.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Move your work items through a predefined sequence of pipeline stages, guiding them from development to production. ") - [External Merges](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.devops_center_handle_external_merges.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Lifecycle Center detects external changes that you merge directly into a stage’s source control branch. ") - [Validate-Only Deployment](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_validate_only.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Run a validate-only deployment to find deployment errors, Apex test failures, and code coverage issues without changing the target org or merging branches. If the validation succeeds and remains eligible, complete the promotion within 10 days without rerunning Apex tests..") - [Check Promotion Status and Deployment Details](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_check_promotion_status.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "After a promotion completes, confirm the result from the pipeline, the work item record page, or Activity History. If the failure details don't provide enough information, review the deployment details in Setup.")