Salesforce & AI glossary
This Salesforce and AI glossary gives plain-English definitions of the terms that matter most in modern Salesforce projects — from Agentforce, the Atlas Reasoning Engine, and Data Cloud to Apex, LWC, Flow, SOQL, MuleSoft, and Revenue Cloud — so business and technical teams share the same language.
32 Salesforce & AI terms, defined
Alphabetical definitions with links to deeper pages where relevant.
AgentforceAI
Salesforce's agentic AI platform — autonomous AI agents that plan and act on tasks, built on the Atlas Reasoning Engine. Einstein Copilot was renamed Agentforce. See Agentforce.
ApexPlatform
Salesforce's Java-like programming language for custom server-side logic — triggers, services, and batch jobs. See Apex development.
API-led integrationIntegration
An approach that organizes integrations into reusable system, process, and experience APIs instead of brittle point-to-point links.
Atlas Reasoning EngineAI
The reasoning layer behind Agentforce. It breaks a request into sub-tasks, retrieves live data via RAG, and executes actions — what separates an agent from a scripted chatbot.
Commerce CloudCloud
Salesforce's platform for B2C and B2B online storefronts, catalog, and order management.
CopadoDelivery
A leading Salesforce-native DevOps platform for version control, pipelines, and governed deployments.
CPQRevenue
Configure, Price, Quote — automating accurate quotes from product, pricing, and discount rules. Now part of Revenue Cloud.
Data Cloud (Data 360)Data
Salesforce's platform for unifying customer data into single profiles, building segments, and grounding AI. See Data Cloud.
Data migrationData
Moving records from legacy systems into Salesforce — mapping, cleansing, de-duplicating, and validating. See data migration.
EinsteinAI
Salesforce's predictive and embedded generative AI — lead scoring, case classification, and reply drafting that assist people. See Einstein vs Agentforce.
Experience CloudCloud
Salesforce's tool for building customer portals, partner communities, and self-service sites on your data.
Field ServiceCloud
Salesforce's tool for scheduling, dispatch, and mobile field operations, extending Service Cloud to on-site work.
Financial Services CloudCloud
An industry data model and workflows for banking, wealth, and insurance.
Flex CreditsAI
The consumption-based pricing model used for Agentforce, billed by usage (e.g. per conversation), separate from core Salesforce licenses.
FlowPlatform
Salesforce's declarative (no-code) automation tool for record-triggered, screen, and scheduled processes.
Governor limitsPlatform
Per-transaction execution limits Salesforce enforces because it's multi-tenant. Code must be bulk-safe to stay within them.
Lightning Web Components (LWC)Platform
Salesforce's modern, standards-based framework for building custom user interfaces and reusable components.
Marketing CloudCloud
Salesforce's marketing platform — journeys, email, and cross-channel automation (Growth, Engagement, and Account Engagement editions).
MuleSoftIntegration
Salesforce's API-led integration platform (Anypoint) for connecting Salesforce to other enterprise systems. See MuleSoft.
OrgPlatform
A single Salesforce instance (organization) — your environment, data, configuration, and customizations.
Permission setSecurity
A grant of specific permissions assigned to users on top of their profile, used for least-privilege access.
RAGAI
Retrieval-augmented generation — grounding an AI model's answers in your own trusted data (often via Data Cloud) instead of relying only on the model's training.
Revenue Cloud (CPQ)Cloud
Salesforce's quote-to-cash product — configure-price-quote, approvals, and billing. Replaces legacy Salesforce CPQ.
Sales CloudCloud
Salesforce's core CRM for sales — leads, accounts, opportunities, forecasting, and sales automation.
Salesforce DevOpsDelivery
Applying source control, CI/CD, and automated testing to Salesforce releases. See DevOps & Copado.
Salesforce PlatformPlatform
The foundation under every Cloud — data model, security, automation, and app-building tools. See Salesforce Platform.
SandboxDelivery
A non-production copy of an org used to build, test, and stage changes before deploying to production.
Service CloudCloud
Salesforce's platform for customer service — cases, omni-channel routing, knowledge, and SLAs.
Sharing model (OWD)Security
How record access is controlled — organization-wide defaults, roles, sharing rules, and permission sets.
SOQLPlatform
Salesforce Object Query Language — the query language used to read records from the Salesforce database.
Staff augmentationDelivery
Adding vetted external specialists to your own team under your direction. See hire talent.
Tableau / CRM AnalyticsAnalytics
Salesforce's analytics tools for dashboards, exploration, and embedded insights on CRM and external data.
Frequently asked questions
What does "grounding" mean in Salesforce AI?
Grounding connects an AI model to your trusted data — usually via Data Cloud and RAG — so answers are based on your records, not only the model's training. It's what keeps Agentforce accurate. See AI & LLM integration.
Is Salesforce CPQ the same as Revenue Cloud?
Revenue Cloud is Salesforce's current quote-to-cash product; legacy Salesforce CPQ is end-of-sale for new customers. CPQ (configure-price-quote) is now delivered within Revenue Cloud.
Can I reuse these definitions?
Yes — these plain-English definitions are free to reference and link to. If you cite them, a link back to this page is appreciated.
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