When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Create Lightning applications
- Organize tabs and features into focused apps
- Configure application navigation and branding
- Set up custom page layouts for objects
- Troubleshoot deployment errors related to custom applications
CustomApplication (Lightning App) Metadata Specification
Overview
Custom applications (Lightning Apps) that group tabs and functionality to provide a focused user experience for specific business processes. Always configured for Lightning Experience.
🎯 Purpose
- Organize related functionality into focused applications
- Group tabs and components for specific user roles
- Provide tailored user experiences
- Control access to specific features and data
- Use Standard navigation for general business applications or Console navigation for specialized service/support workflows requiring multi-tab workspaces
- Create professional, branded application identity with custom colors and branding
- Override standard actions with custom Lightning pages for enhanced user experience
- Enable profile-specific experiences through profile action overrides
⚙️ Required Properties
Core Application Properties
- fullName: API name of the application
- label: Display name of the application
- uiType: Always "Lightning" for modern apps
- navType: CRITICAL - Choose based on user requirements and workflow patterns
- "Standard": DEFAULT for general business applications (e.g., sales, marketing, operations) - "Console": ONLY when workflow requires managing multiple records simultaneously with split-view or multi-tab workspace (e.g., customer service, call centers, support operations)
- formFactors: Array of form factors (["LARGE"] for desktop, ["SMALL"] for mobile, or both)
Optional Properties
- description: Brief description of the application's purpose
- tabs: Array of tab names to include
- utilityBar: API name of the Utility Bar configuration
- brand: ⚠️ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Branding configuration object (headerColor, shouldOverrideOrgTheme, footerColor)
- actionOverrides: ⚠️ REQUIRED when custom record pages exist - Action override configuration (actionName, content, formFactor, type, pageOrSobjectType)
- profileActionOverrides: Profile-specific action overrides (actionName, content, formFactor, pageOrSobjectType, type, profile)
- isNavAutoTempTabsDisabled: Navigation behavior setting (default: false)
- isNavPersonalizationDisabled: Personalization setting (default: false)
- isNavTabPersistenceDisabled: Tab persistence setting (default: false)
🔧 Application Configuration
Navigation Type Selection (CRITICAL)
Decision Criteria for navType:
Choose "Standard" (DEFAULT) for:
- General business applications and most workflows
- Single-record focus or linear navigation patterns
- Standard tab-based navigation is sufficient
Choose "Console" ONLY when workflow requires:
- Managing multiple related records simultaneously in split-view
- Multi-tab workspace for handling complex, interconnected data
- Contextual information from multiple sources visible at once
- Examples: customer service operations, support desks, call centers
When in doubt: Default to "Standard" for most general business use cases
Navigation Settings
- isNavAutoTempTabsDisabled: Controls automatic temporary tab creation
- isNavPersonalizationDisabled: Controls user personalization features
- isNavTabPersistenceDisabled: Controls tab persistence across sessions
Tab Management
- tabs: Array of tab names to include in the application
- formFactors: Device-specific configurations (Large for desktop, Small for mobile)
Utility Bar
- utilityBar: Reference to Lightning utility bar (appears at bottom of Lightning Experience)
Branding (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - DO NOT SKIP)
IMPORTANT: Provide branding configuration to create a professional, visually distinct application identity.
- brand.headerColor: Header bar color in hex format (e.g., "#0070D2") - RECOMMENDED
- brand.shouldOverrideOrgTheme: Override organization theme (true/false) - Default: false
- brand.footerColor: Footer color in hex format
Action Overrides (CRITICAL - DO NOT SKIP)
IMPORTANT: Action overrides MUST be created for every custom object tab that has a record page generated by flexipage expert.
- actionOverrides.actionName: Action to override ("View" or "Tab")
- actionOverrides.content: Page/component name (FlexiPage, Visualforce, Lightning component)
- For "View" action: Reference record pages generated by flexipage expert - For "Tab" action: Reference home/app pages generated by flexipage expert
- actionOverrides.formFactor: Device type ("Large" or "Small")
- actionOverrides.type: Override type ("Default", "Visualforce", "Flexipage", "LightningComponent", "Scontrol")
- Recommended: Use "Flexipage" for Lightning record/home pages generated by flexipage expert
- actionOverrides.pageOrSobjectType: Object API name the override applies to
- actionOverrides.comment: Optional description (max 1000 characters)
- Auto-generated comment: "Action override created by Lightning App Builder during activation."
- actionOverrides.skipRecordTypeSelect: Skip record type selection (default: false)
Profile Action Overrides
- profileActionOverrides.actionName: Action to override ("View" or "Tab")
- profileActionOverrides.content: Page/component name
- For "View" action: Reference profile-specific record pages generated by flexipage expert - For "Tab" action: Reference profile-specific home pages generated by flexipage expert - Can reference same or different FlexiPages than actionOverrides for profile-specific experiences
- profileActionOverrides.formFactor: Device type ("Large" or "Small")
- profileActionOverrides.pageOrSobjectType: Object API name
- profileActionOverrides.type: Override type
- Recommended: Use "Flexipage" for Lightning pages generated by flexipage expert
- profileActionOverrides.profile: Profile API name (e.g., "Admin", "Standard User")
- Enables different page layouts for different user profiles
📱 Device Support
Desktop Configuration
- formFactor: "Large"
- tabs: Full list of application tabs
Phone Configuration
- formFactor: "Small"
- tabs: Mobile-optimized tab selection
Tablet Configuration
- formFactor: "Medium"
- tabs: Tablet-appropriate tab selection
🎨 User Experience Features
Navigation Behavior
- Auto Temporary Tabs: Can be enabled/disabled
- Personalization: User customization options
- Tab Persistence: Remember user's tab selections
Accessibility
- Keyboard Navigation: Full keyboard support
- Screen Reader: Compatible with assistive technologies
- High Contrast: Support for high contrast modes
🔗 Integration Points
- Custom Tabs: Include custom object and web tabs
- Standard Tabs: Include standard Salesforce tabs
- Lightning Pages: Integrate with Lightning page layouts
- Components: Include custom Lightning components
✅ Best Practices
- Always use Lightning UI: Set
uiTypeto "Lightning" for modern apps - Choose appropriate navigation: CRITICAL - Analyze requirements carefully for
navTypeselection
- Use "Standard" (DEFAULT) for general business applications - Use "Console" ONLY when workflow requires multi-tab workspace, split-view, or managing multiple related records simultaneously - Examples for Console: customer service, call centers, support operations - Default to "Standard" for most general business use cases
- Include Standard Tabs: Add common Salesforce tabs (Home, Accounts, Contacts, etc.)
- Use clear, descriptive application names
- Group related functionality logically
- Consider different user roles and needs
- Test across different device types
- Ensure proper permissions and access control
- Provide meaningful descriptions for users
- Follow consistent naming conventions
- Always configure branding: Set headerColor to create professional application identity
- Use accessible brand colors: Ensure hex colors have sufficient contrast (WCAG AA compliant)
- Configure utility bars: Add useful quick-access tools for users
- Leverage action overrides: Customize page layouts for specific objects using FlexiPages from flexipage expert
- Use profile overrides: Provide role-specific experiences by referencing different flexipage expert generated pages per profile
🎯 Enhancement Rules
- uiType: Always set to "Lightning" for modern app experience
- navType: CRITICAL DECISION - Analyze user requirements carefully
- Set to "Standard" (DEFAULT) for general business applications - Set to "Console" ONLY when workflow requires: - Managing multiple related records simultaneously with split-view capability - Multi-tab workspace for handling complex, interconnected data - Contextual information from multiple sources visible at once - Console examples: customer service operations, call centers, support desks - When in doubt between Standard and Console, choose "Standard" for most business use cases
- formFactors: Always set to ["LARGE"] for desktop Lightning Experience
- Standard Tabs: Automatically add Home, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Cases
- Navigation Settings: Set all navigation flags to false for best user experience
- Branding: ALWAYS include brand configuration for professional application identity
- MANDATORY: Set brand.headerColor to appropriate color (e.g., "#0070D2" for Salesforce Blue) - Set brand.shouldOverrideOrgTheme based on requirements
- Action Overrides: ALWAYS create action overrides when custom record pages exist
- MANDATORY: Add actionOverrides for "View" action pointing to flexipage expert generated record pages - Use "Flexipage" type and reference the exact FlexiPage name - Set formFactor to "Large" for desktop - Include pageOrSobjectType with the object API name
- Profile Action Overrides: Reference flexipage expert generated pages for role-based customization
- Form Factors: Use "Large" for desktop, "Small" for mobile in overrides
⚠️ CRITICAL Verification Checklist (MUST VERIFY)
- All tabs are included in the application
- navType IS CORRECTLY SET - Verify Console vs Standard selection
- Default to "Standard" for most general business applications
- Set to "Console" ONLY if workflow requires managing multiple records simultaneously, split-view, or multi-tab workspace
- If requirements are general/ambiguous → navType should be "Standard"
- BRANDING IS CONFIGURED - This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for professional applications
- brand.headerColor is set with valid hex color (e.g., "#0070D2")
- brand.shouldOverrideOrgTheme is set (default: false)
- ACTION OVERRIDES ARE CREATED - This is MANDATORY for every custom object with a record page
- Action overrides are defined for EACH custom object tab pointing to the correct record page
- actionOverrides.content matches the exact FlexiPage name generated by flexipage expert
- actionOverrides.pageOrSobjectType is set to the correct object API name
- actionOverrides.type is set to "Flexipage"
- actionOverrides.actionName is set to "View"
- actionOverrides.formFactor is set to "Large"
- All required fields are populated (fullName, label, uiType, navType, formFactors)