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Salesforce is a powerful platform that enables businesses to manage customer relationships, streamline operations, and drive growth. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and Salesforce has implemented what are known as “governor limits” to ensure that the platform remains stable and efficient for all users. In this blog post, we will explore what governor limits are, why they exist, and how you can work within these constraints to optimize your Salesforce applications.

What Are Governor Limits?

Governor limits are a set of restrictions imposed by Salesforce to control the amount of resources that can be consumed by a single transaction. These limits are designed to prevent any one user or process from monopolizing shared resources, which could lead to performance degradation for other users on the platform. Governor limits apply to various aspects of Salesforce, including:

• Apex Code Execution: Limits on the number of records processed, CPU time, and heap size.
• SOQL Queries: Restrictions on the number of queries that can be executed in a single transaction.
• DML Operations: Limits on the number of records that can be inserted, updated, or deleted in a single transaction.
• Email Sending: Restrictions on the number of emails that can be sent in a 24-hour period.

Why Do Governor Limits Exist?

The primary purpose of governor limits is to maintain the overall performance and reliability of the Salesforce platform. By enforcing these limits, Salesforce ensures that:

1. Fair Resource Allocation: All users have equal access to system resources, preventing any single user from negatively impacting the performance for others.
2. System Stability: By controlling resource consumption, Salesforce can prevent system crashes and slowdowns that could arise from poorly designed code or excessive resource usage.
3. Encouragement of Best Practices: Governor limits encourage developers to write efficient, optimized code that adheres to best practices, ultimately leading to better-performing applications.

Key Governor Limits to Keep in Mind

Here are some of the most important governor limits that Salesforce developers should be aware of:

1. SOQL Queries: A maximum of 100 SOQL queries can be executed in a single transaction.
2. DML Statements: You can perform a maximum of 150 DML operations in a single transaction.
3. CPU Time: The maximum CPU time allowed for a transaction is 10 seconds for synchronous transactions and 60 seconds for asynchronous transactions.
4. Heap Size: The maximum heap size for a transaction is 6 MB for synchronous transactions and 12 MB for asynchronous transactions.
5. Email Sends: A maximum of 5,000 emails can be sent per day from a single organization.

Best Practices for Working Within Governor Limits

To ensure that your Salesforce applications run smoothly and efficiently, consider the following best practices:

1. Bulkify Your Code: Always write your Apex code to handle multiple records at once. This reduces the number of DML operations and SOQL queries needed, helping you stay within limits.
2. Use Collections: Utilize lists, sets, and maps to store data and perform operations in bulk, which can significantly reduce the number of queries and DML statements.
3. Limit SOQL Queries: Avoid using SOQL queries inside loops. Instead, query all necessary data outside of the loop and process it in memory.
4. Asynchronous Processing: For long-running operations, consider using asynchronous Apex (e.g., Batch Apex, Queueable Apex) to handle processing outside of the synchronous limits.
5. Monitor and Optimize: Use Salesforce’s built-in tools, such as the Developer Console and Debug Logs, to monitor your code’s performance and identify areas for optimization.

Conclusion

Governor limits are an essential aspect of the Salesforce platform that helps maintain performance and stability for all users. By understanding these limits and following best practices, developers can create efficient applications that provide a seamless experience for end-users. Embracing these constraints not only leads to better code but also fosters a culture of optimization and resourcefulness within your development team. As you continue to build on the Salesforce platform, keep these governor limits in mind to ensure your applications thrive in a shared environment.