---
schema_version: "1"
id: d64bf139ba28092d1f2290524c3ca66823cf20b2d077974bb27811334c0816a9
title: Move Metadata from Production to Your Local File System
collection: legacydeveloper
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/legacydeveloper/current/en-us/api_meta/meta_use_cases_prod_to_local.md
canonical_url: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_meta.meta/api_meta/meta_use_cases_prod_to_local.htm
source_site: developer.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: ab28ee06de19e94bdd93c08d4384e6651638e6179e3ebe2f42140048886edb5f
description: To make development changes without affecting your existing configurations, use Metadata API to move metadata to your local file system. Next, push metadata from your local file system to a shareable repository for development.
---
# Move Metadata from Production to Your Local File System

To make development changes without affecting your existing configurations, use Metadata API to move metadata to your local file system. Next, push metadata from your local file system to a shareable repository for development.

When you build customizations on Salesforce, you must preserve the functionality of your existing org during the development cycle. To build customizations without affecting your production org, save your production metadata in a version control system. Git integrates best with SFDX tools.

First, move the required metadata from the production org to your local file system. To move metadata to your local machine, use a retrieve call instead of a source pull. Next, push your files to a repository that is accessible to your team members with Git commands. The repository is now the original source of production metadata for your team’s development cycle.

Now that your production metadata is stored in a repository, move the necessary metadata back to your local file system to begin development work.

#### See Also

- [retrieve()](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_meta.meta/api_meta/meta_retrieve.htm "The retrieve() call retrieves XML file representations of components in an organization.")
- [source Commands](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.264.0.sfdx_cli_reference.meta/sfdx_cli_reference/cli_reference_force_source.htm#cli_reference_force_source)