--- schema_version: "1" id: b59fb9a19d121c941ac875647d3b6894e6e87f8a8ca6e63f3bd823348fce5228 title: Promotion Options collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/next_gen_devops_center_promotion_options.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.next_gen_devops_center_promotion_options.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 606b77de43f304c7aeca498a6e1b366a9882994c49592efb8585585ef48a7988 description: Select the promotion type, which changes to apply, and which Apex tests to run when you promote a stage or selected work items. products: - Salesforce Platform release: "264" --- # Promotion Options Select the promotion type, which changes to apply, and which Apex tests to run when you promote a stage or selected work items. ### 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.
The Promotion Options window appears after you click **Promote Stage**, promote selected work items, or complete a promotion after an external merge. ## Promotion Type - Promote now: Promote and deploy the changes to the next pipeline stage. Lifecycle Center merges the current stage’s branch into the next stage’s branch, then deploys to the next stage’s org. - Validate only: Check your changes without saving them to the org or merging branches. To complete the promotion later without rerunning tests, select a non-default test option and make sure your tests pass and meet code coverage requirements. See [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.."). If the deployment fails during **Promote now**, 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. If you select **Validate only**, Lifecycle Center doesn’t save components or finalize the merge until you complete the promotion from that validation, or until you run a later standard promotion. ## Changes to Promote - Only missing changes (recommended): Deploy only the files that aren’t yet in the target stage org. This default option is more efficient becauseit deploys fewer files. - All changes: Deploy all changes from the target stage branch to the target org. Select this option if deployments fail due to missing metadata, or when teammates merge changes outside Lifecycle Center that aren't tracked in the defined change set. ## Test Options When you promote work items, select which Apex tests to run based on the pipeline stage and the environment you’re deploying to. - Default (no tests): No Apex tests are run for the deployment. - Run local tests: All local tests are run, excluding tests included in installed packages. - Run all tests: All tests in your org are run, including tests from installed packages. - Run specified tests: Only the tests that you specify are run. Provide the names of test classes in a comma-separated list with no spaces between entries. Example: `TestDeleteData`,`TestDataFactory.createTestRecords` These Apex test options are separate from Lifecycle Center Testing test suites assigned to a pipeline stage. Assigned test suites run automatically as a pre-promotion quality gate. 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."). ## Lifecycle Center Testing Options If you’re a Lifecycle Center Testing user, and have configured test suites and quality gates for the promotion event, the corresponding test suites, and quality gates are listed. Review the test suites for the selected work item assigned to the promotion. Lifecycle Center Testing evaluates these tests before completing the promotion. - Test Suite: The specific collection of tests assigned to run, such as Regression Tests or Performance Tests. - Test Provider: The testing engine running the tests, such as Apex Unit Testing or Salesforce Code Analyzer. - Quality Gate: The specific automated rule that the code must pass to continue the promotion, such as a minimum tests pass percentage or severity threshold. #### 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. ") - [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..") - [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.")