# Agentforce for Developers: use cases and limits

*Platform Developer Study Guide · Developer Fundamentals · Last updated October 15, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/platform-developer/developer-fundamentals/agentforce-for-developers*

What the Agentforce for Developers IDE assistant can and cannot do (Dev Assistant slash commands, inline autocomplete, metadata grounding, trust and review), plus the developer's side of Agentforce: invocable Apex and flow agent actions, Apex in Prompt Builder and the limits of Testing Center.

- Certification: Salesforce Platform Developer
- Exam section: Developer Fundamentals
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/platform-developer

**Official exam objective:**

> Understand use cases and limitations of using Agentforce for Developers.

## What the exam expects

- Pick the tasks Dev Assistant handles in the IDE (generate, explain, test, document code) and those it does not (deploy, merge, build agents).
- Explain where the tool runs, how it grounds suggestions and how it protects your code.
- State its limits: generated code needs human review and the normal deployment rules.
- Expose Apex and flows to agents as custom actions and to Prompt Builder as resources.
- Know Testing Center's purpose and limits.

Key terms: **Dev Assistant** is the chat assistant in Agentforce for Developers; a **slash command** is a preconfigured prompt such as `/test`; **grounding (RAG)** adds your project's metadata to the prompt; an **agent action** is a tool an agent can run.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | VS Code desktop and Code Builder, via the Salesforce Extension Pack (Expanded) | [Introducing Agentforce for Developers](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers) |
| Built-in slash commands | `/explain`, `/test`, `/document`; plain natural language also works | [Introducing Agentforce for Developers](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers) |
| Grounding | RAG over current schema and metadata in the local project | [Introducing Agentforce for Developers](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers) |
| Training and trust | Customer code never trains the models; responses are masked and toxicity-checked | [Introducing Agentforce for Developers](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers) |
| Review | Salesforce recommends code review for all AI-generated code | [Introducing Agentforce for Developers](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers) |
| Custom action sources | Invocable and REST Apex, external services, autolaunched flows, MuleSoft APIs, prompt templates | [Create a Custom Agent Action in the Legacy Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=ai.copilot_actions_custom.htm&type=5) |
| Agent Apex bulkification | Not bulkified by default; each action runs in its own transaction | [Best Practices for Building Agentforce Apex Actions](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2025/05/best-practices-for-building-agentforce-apex-actions) |
| Prompt template Apex | `List<Request>` in (first element only), `List<Response>` with `Prompt` out | [Grounding with Apex Merge Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.prompt_builder_ground_apex.htm&type=5) |
| Testing Center limits | Up to 10 test jobs in 10 hours; up to 1000 test cases per test | [Trust Your Agents](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agentforce-agent-testing/trust-your-agents) |
| Testing Center environment | Sandbox only, because tests can modify CRM data | [Agentforce Testing Center](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.agent_testing_center.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why do Dev Assistant suggestions reference the org's own custom fields?
- Why should an invocable method used as an agent action have a clear label and description?
- When should you use Testing Center instead of testing in Agent Builder?
- Which input does an Apex class used as a prompt template resource receive?

## Sources

- [Introducing Agentforce for Developers: Now Generally Available](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/09/introducing-agentforce-for-developers)
- [Agentforce Vibes Overview](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/einstein-for-devs/guide/einstein-overview.html)
- [Create Custom Actions Using Apex InvocableMethod](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/ai/agentforce/guide/agent-invocablemethod.html)
- [InvocableMethod Annotation](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_classes_annotation_InvocableMethod.htm)
- [Create a Custom Agent Action in the Legacy Builder](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=ai.copilot_actions_custom.htm&type=5)
- [Best Practices for Building Agentforce Apex Actions](https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2025/05/best-practices-for-building-agentforce-apex-actions)
- [Grounding with Apex Merge Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.prompt_builder_ground_apex.htm&type=5)
- [Get Started with Prompt Builder](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/einstein/genai/guide/get-started-prompt-builder.html)
- [Agentforce Testing Center](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.agent_testing_center.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Considerations for Testing Center](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.agent_testing_center_considerations.htm&type=5)
- [Trust Your Agents](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agentforce-agent-testing/trust-your-agents)
- [Get Started with Agentforce APIs and SDKs](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/ai/agentforce/guide/get-started-agents.html)
- [Trust Layer](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/ai/agentforce/guide/trust.html)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 12 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Platform Developer pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams