experience-portal-create

Create Digital Experience Portal

Create a new Digital Experience (formerly Communities) portal/site in Salesforce. Supports employee service portals, partner portals (PRM), and general customer communities.

Every operation runs through the headless-360 MCP server (mcp__headless-360__discover → mcp__headless-360__describe → mcp__headless-360__dispatch / mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly). Do not use the Salesforce CLI (its api request, data query, or org open subcommands), the project-codey MCP server, raw curl, or any other HTTP client — dispatch/dispatch_readonly is the only way this skill talks to the org. See references/mcp-invocation.md for the exact call shapes.

Scope

• In scope: Creating Digital Experience sites via the headless-360 Connect API dispatcher. Portal type selection. Basic configuration (name, URL, templates). Self-service portals with embedded service configs. Making the site reachable end to end — activating the Network (status: Live), adding member profiles, and publishing the Experience Builder pages (see references/post-creation-activate-publish.md).
• Out of scope: Deep post-creation customization (page layout/component authoring in Builder). Content authoring. Branding beyond initial setup. Individual per-user record management (membership is added at the profile/permission-set level, not per user).

Execution model (read first)

Every org call is a dispatch: mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly(url, method: "GET", queryParams) for reads, mcp__headless-360__dispatch(url, method, body) for writes; read status_code + body from the response. To resolve the endpoint for a portal type, use mcp__headless-360__discover(query=...) and mcp__headless-360__describe(id=...) as needed. Connect API create/list operations for Experience Cloud are not always indexed by discover/describe — when a lookup returns nothing, dispatch the well-known versioned Connect API path directly (see references/mcp-invocation.md) rather than concluding the capability is missing.

Critical: paths must include the full /services/data/vXX.0/... prefix (e.g. "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities") — unlike some other dispatchers, headless-360 does not resolve or inject the API version for you. A path without the version prefix returns 400 ROUTE_NOT_FOUND. Copy the path verbatim from a discover/describe result when available; otherwise use the version shown in this skill's examples (v67.0 at time of writing) and adjust if the org runs a different version. Full details, response envelope, job-monitoring, and gotchas live in references/mcp-invocation.md.

Clarifying Questions

Before proceeding, determine:

1. Portal type?

   • Employee Service / ITSM / HR / help desk → prefer the Agentforce Employee Center Aura template via the communities API (richest employee experience; Agentforce-ready). Use the self-service API instead when MIAW must be wired in at creation time and a guest ESD exists.
   • Partner Portal (PRM) → requires PRM feature enabled
   • Customer Community → general community creation (Aura or LWR Experience Builder template)

2. Basic settings (required for all types):

   • Portal name?
   • URL prefix? (must be alphanumeric only, no hyphens or spaces)
   • Description (optional)

3. For Employee Service / Self-Service portals:

   • siteType? → default AURA (Aura Experience Builder + Builder). Use LWR only if the user explicitly wants a Lightning Web Runtime site. Never create a Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce ("VF Template") site — those are legacy and have no Builder.
   • MIAW / Embedded Service Deployment ID(s)? These wire Messaging for In-App and Web into the portal at creation time. A guest ESD config is required by the self-service API; an authenticated-user ESD config is optional. If the user hasn't created an Embedded Service Deployment yet, point them to Setup → Embedded Service Deployments first.

4. For Partner portals only:

   • PRM template name? (check org-specific templates)

Required Inputs

Employee Service / Self-Service Portals (POST /connect/self-service/site):

• siteName (required) - portal name
• guestEmbeddedServiceConfigId (required) - Embedded Service Deployment (MIAW) config ID for guest users
• embeddedServiceConfigId (optional) - Embedded Service Deployment (MIAW) config ID for authenticated users
• siteType (optional) - AURA (default) or LWR. Produces an Experience Builder site. Do not use Visualforce.
• enableForGuest (optional) - whether guest (unauthenticated) users can access the site
• contentDocumentId (optional) - ContentDocument ID of a logo image to wire into the site's branding set
• brandColors (optional) - array of RGBA colors targeting action, link, border, text, pageBackground

This API sets the URL path prefix automatically from the site name. There is no templateName — the framework is chosen with siteType (Aura/LWR), never Visualforce.

Partner Portals (PRM):

• siteName (required)
• siteUrlPrefix (required)
• prmTemplate (required)
• siteDesc (optional)

General Communities (POST /connect/communities):

• name (required)
• urlPathPrefix (required) - alphanumeric only, no hyphens
• templateName (required) - an Experience Builder template. Aura: Agentforce Employee Center (preferred for employee service), Employee Portal, Customer Service, Help Center, Customer Account Portal, Partner Central, Build Your Own. LWR: Build Your Own (LWR), Microsite (LWR). Validate the exact string via GET /connect/communities/templates (see below). Do not use Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce ("VF Template") — it is a legacy Visualforce site with no Builder.
• description (optional)

Workflow

Step 1: Determine API Based on Portal Type

1. Employee Service / Self-Service → POST /connect/self-service/site

   • Creates an Aura (or LWR) Experience Builder site — never Visualforce
   • Wires MIAW (Embedded Service Deployment) into the site at creation time
   • Prerequisites: CustomizeApplication permission; org has self-service site-creation API access; a guest Embedded Service Deployment exists

2. Partner (PRM) → POST /connect/prm/setup/sites

   • Prerequisites: CommonPrmEnabled feature

3. General Community → POST /connect/communities

   • Uses an Experience Builder templateName (Aura or LWR) — never Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce
   • Prerequisites: Manage Communities permission (ManageNetworks)

Step 2: Create Portal (By Type)

Option A: Employee Service / Self-Service Portal

Use the self-service site API. It creates an Aura Experience Builder site (with the Builder option) by deploying CustomSite, Network, and ExperienceBundle metadata, then wires MIAW into the site via the given Embedded Service Deployment (ESD) config IDs. This is the correct path for ITSM / IT help desk / employee self-service portals.

API Call (via mcp__headless-360__dispatch):

method: "POST"
url:    "/services/data/v67.0/connect/self-service/site"
body:
{
  "siteName": "<portal-name>",
  "siteType": "AURA",
  "guestEmbeddedServiceConfigId": "<guest-ESD-config-id>",
  "embeddedServiceConfigId": "<auth-ESD-config-id>",
  "enableForGuest": true
}

Poll with GET /services/data/v67.0/connect/self-service/site/status/{jobId} via mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly.

• siteType defaults to AURA (Aura Experience Builder + Builder). Pass LWR only if the user explicitly asks for a Lightning Web Runtime site. Never create a Visualforce site.
• guestEmbeddedServiceConfigId is required — it is the MIAW Embedded Service Deployment config ID for guest users. embeddedServiceConfigId (authenticated users) is optional. If the user has no Embedded Service Deployment yet, have them create one first (Setup → Embedded Service Deployments), or use the MIAW/embedded-service setup skill.
• Optional branding: contentDocumentId (logo) and brandColors (array of { "type": "action|link|border|text|pageBackground", "color": { "r": 0-255, "g": 0-255, "b": 0-255, "a": 0-1 } }).

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "siteName": "IT Support Portal",
  "urlPathPrefix": "itsupport",
  "siteUrl": "https://domain.my.site.com/itsupport",
  "jobId": "708...",
  "status": "Queued"
}

On success, report Success: — the portal creation started (Aura + Experience Builder); give the name, framework (Aura), jobId, and status, and note it is provisioning in the background (Network, CustomSite, ExperienceBundle metadata + the Embedded Service/MIAW deployment). Next: monitor the job (see 'Background Job Monitoring'), then complete Step 3 (Activate → Add Members → Publish).

On failure, report Failure: with the {error} — see the "Common Errors" section for the causes (missing/invalid guestEmbeddedServiceConfigId, duplicate name/URL prefix, org lacks self-service site-creation API access, missing CustomizeApplication) and their resolutions.

Option B: Partner Portal (PRM)

API Call (via mcp__headless-360__dispatch):

method: "POST"
url:    "/services/data/v67.0/connect/prm/setup/sites"
body:
{
  "siteName": "<name>",
  "siteUrlPrefix": "<url-prefix>",
  "siteDesc": "<description>",
  "prmTemplate": "<template-name>"
}

Synchronous — no job polling.

Response:

{
  "networkId": "0DB..."
}

On success, report Success: — the partner portal was created; give the name, networkId, siteUrlPrefix, and prmTemplate. Next: find it at Setup → Digital Experiences → All Sites (by Network ID), then complete Step 3 (Activate → Add Members → Publish).

On failure, report Failure: — see "Common Errors" (org lacks PRM/CommonPrmEnabled, invalid PRM template name, duplicate name/URL prefix). PRM templates: Setup → Digital Experiences → Settings → Partner Templates.

Option C: General Community

First, discover valid templates (required — accepted templateName strings vary by org edition/version), via mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly:

method: "GET"
url:    "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities/templates"

Response: { "templates": [ { "publisher": "Salesforce", "templateName": "Employee Portal" }, … ], "total": N }. Use a returned templateName verbatim. Prefer an Experience Builder template (Aura or LWR). Never use Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce.

API Call (via mcp__headless-360__dispatch):

method: "POST"
url:    "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities"
body:
{
  "name": "<name>",
  "urlPathPrefix": "<url-prefix>",
  "description": "<description>",
  "templateName": "Agentforce Employee Center"
}

The body accepts only {name, description, templateName, templateParams, urlPathPrefix} — omit templateParams unless you need template-specific config.

For an employee service / ITSM / HR portal, prefer the Agentforce Employee Center template when the org's live template list includes it — it ships IT/HR ticketing, a self-service catalog, a knowledge base, and an Agentforce-ready experience. Fall back to Employee Portal (then Customer Service) for a plainer, non-Agentforce site. Other options by use case: Help Center (Aura knowledge/deflection), Customer Account Portal (Aura authenticated account self-service), Partner Central (Aura PRM), or Build Your Own (LWR) for a modern blank LWR site.

Agentforce Employee Center is two layers. This POST /connect/communities call provisions the site only. The embedded Agentforce conversational assistant is a separate step — create the internal employee agent from its shipped template (EmployeeCopilot__AgentforceEmployeeAgent) via PATCH /services/data/v67.0/headless/invoke/einstein/genai-agentbuilder/create-copilot-from-template (copilotContext.company is required), then activate it and wire it to the site. This skill provisions the site and points the user to that step; full Agentforce setup is out of scope. See references/templates.md.

Response:

{
  "jobId": "08P...",
  "message": "Your site is almost ready. To track the site creation status, query the BackgroundOperation object and enter the jobId as the Id.",
  "name": "Customer Community"
}

On success, report Success: — community creation started; give the name, jobId, and message. Next: monitor the job (see 'Background Job Monitoring'), then complete Step 3 (Activate → Add Members → Publish).

On failure, report Failure: — see "Common Errors" (invalid templateName — run GET /services/data/v67.0/connect/communities/templates and use a returned value verbatim; duplicate name/URL prefix; missing Manage Communities permission).

Step 3: Make the Site Reachable — Activate, Add Members, Publish

Creation only provisions the site — it comes back UnderConstruction, admin-only, with unpublished pages, so its URL is not reachable yet (the #1 "my portal doesn't work" cause). Complete three steps, in order: (1) Activate — deploy the Network metadata with <status>Live</status>; (2) Add members — add the target profile(s) to networkMemberGroups (membership is profile-based, not per user; e.g. Unified Employee — a Profile, not a UserRole) and redeploy (combinable with step 1); (3) Publish — sf community publish --name "<Site Name>", then poll the returned jobId on BackgroundOperation until Complete. Then confirm status: Live and give the user the login URL (.../<prefix>/login), not the bare prefix.

Tooling exception: activate/members use the Metadata API (Network deploy) and publish uses sf community publish — there is no Connect API for these (PATCH /connect/communities returns 405). This is the one place the skill uses tools other than headless-360; Step 3 reads still go through headless-360.

Exact commands, XML, verification queries, and gotchas: references/post-creation-activate-publish.md.

Step 4: Write the Portal Creation Report (always — final step)

Always finish by writing a report.md summarizing what was done — this is the skill's final, non-optional action, whether the create call succeeded, is still provisioning, or failed. Write it to the working/output directory as report.md.

The report must:

• Start with the heading # Portal Creation Report.
• State the portal name, the API used (self-service/site, communities, or prm) and why (e.g. "no guest ESD present → communities API"), the framework (Aura / LWR), and the template or siteType chosen.
• Give the dispatched request (path + key body fields) and the response (jobId / networkId / siteUrl / status, or the error).
• List the remaining Step 3 work (Activate → Add Members → Publish) and, for employee-service sites, note that the embedded Agentforce agent is a separate follow-up step.
• End with the sentinel line, exactly: Task completed: portal creation dispatched — see report.md

Copy the template at assets/report-template.md and fill in the portal-specific values.

Template Recommendations

All recommendations produce Experience Builder sites (Aura or LWR). Never recommend Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce ("VF Template") — it is legacy and has no Builder.

Modern recommendations:

• For employee service / ITSM / HR portals, prefer the Agentforce Employee Center Aura template via the communities API — it ships the fullest employee experience (ticketing, catalog, knowledge, Agentforce-ready). The conversational assistant is a separate agent step (EmployeeCopilot__AgentforceEmployeeAgent). Use the self-service site API (siteType: AURA) instead when the portal needs MIAW wired in at creation time and a guest Embedded Service Deployment exists; use Employee Portal for a plainer, non-Agentforce site.
• For customer communities, use the Customer Service template (Aura, mobile-responsive) via the communities API.

See references/templates.md for complete template documentation.

Background Job Monitoring

Portal creation is asynchronous (except PRM which is synchronous). Poll through mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly.

Self-service site path — use the dedicated typed status route (preferred):

method: "GET"
url:    "/services/data/v67.0/connect/self-service/site/status/{jobId}"

Returns {success, siteName, urlPathPrefix, siteUrl, error, jobId, status}.

Communities path — query BackgroundOperation via the regular REST query endpoint, not /tooling/query:

method:      "GET"
url:         "/services/data/v67.0/query"
queryParams: { "q": "SELECT Id, Status FROM BackgroundOperation WHERE Id = '<jobId>'" }

Tooling vs. regular query (verified gotcha): BackgroundOperation is not a valid Tooling API sObject through this dispatcher — GET /services/data/vXX.0/tooling/query with that SOQL returns 400 INVALID_TYPE "sObject type 'BackgroundOperation' is not supported.". Use the plain /services/data/vXX.0/query endpoint instead; it succeeds with the same SOQL string.

Column discipline: on BackgroundOperation, select only Id and Status. JobType, CompletedDate, and NumErrors are not columns on this object and return INVALID_FIELD. Use the SOQL string above exactly.

Job statuses:

• Queued / Scheduled — waiting to start
• InProgress / Running — executing
• Complete — finished successfully
• Error — failed (check the error field on the status route)

Verification

After creation completes:

1. API (primary): mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly(url: "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities", method: "GET") lists all Experience Cloud sites. Find the new one and confirm siteAsContainerEnabled: true (Experience Builder — Aura/LWR) and a non-null builderUrl, and that templateName is not Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce. siteAsContainerEnabled: false means a legacy Visualforce site — the bug this skill exists to avoid.
2. Setup UI (optional): Setup → Digital Experiences → All Sites. The Framework column should show Aura (or LWR) — not Visualforce — with a Builder workspace link.
3. Test URL: Use siteUrl from the response (portal will be inactive initially).

Note: Portal must be activated and published before external users can access it.

Rules / Constraints

Prerequisites by Type

Employee Service / Self-Service:

• CustomizeApplication permission
• Communities/Digital Experience enabled
• Org has self-service site-creation API access enabled
• A guest Embedded Service Deployment (MIAW) config exists (its ID is required); optionally an authenticated-user ESD config

Partner (PRM):

• Org has CommonPrmEnabled
• Portal creation permissions
• Valid PRM template name

General Community:

• Manage Communities permission (ManageNetworks)
• Communities/Digital Experience enabled
• Valid template name

Common Errors

Invalid URL prefix:

"The URL can only contain alphanumeric characters. Remove hyphens, spaces, or special characters (e.g., 'employeeservice' not 'employee-service') and try a different prefix."

Invalid template name (general community path):

"The specified template does not exist.

Resolution:

• Run GET /services/data/v67.0/connect/communities/templates and use a returned templateName verbatim
• Prefer an Experience Builder template: Agentforce Employee Center (employee service), Employee Portal, Customer Service, Help Center, Customer Account Portal, Partner Central, Build Your Own, Build Your Own (LWR)
• Template names are case-sensitive — match exactly
• Do NOT use Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce ("VF Template") — it is a legacy Visualforce site with no Builder"

Missing guest Embedded Service config (self-service path):

"The self-service site API requires a guest Embedded Service Deployment config ID.

Resolution:

• Create an Embedded Service Deployment (MIAW) at Setup → Embedded Service Deployments, or use the MIAW/embedded-service setup skill
• Pass its config ID as guestEmbeddedServiceConfigId (and optionally embeddedServiceConfigId for authenticated users)"

PRM not enabled:

"This org doesn't have Partner Relationship Management (PRM) enabled.

Options:

1. Contact Salesforce to enable PRM feature
2. Create a general community with the Partner Central template instead (via Communities API)"

Duplicate name/URL:

"A portal with this name or URL prefix already exists (the communities API returns 400 INVALID_INPUT — Enter a different name. That one already exists.).

Check existing portals: mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly(url: "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities", method: "GET") and scan the name / urlPathPrefix fields.

Choose a different name or URL prefix."

Missing permissions:

"You don't have permission to create portals.

Required permissions:

• Self-service portals: CustomizeApplication
• General communities: ManageNetworks (Manage Communities)

Contact your Salesforce admin to request these permissions."

Route not found (missing version prefix):

"400 ROUTE_NOT_FOUND on a path that otherwise matches this skill's documentation. Confirm the url includes the full /services/data/vXX.0/... prefix — dispatch/dispatch_readonly require it verbatim and won't add it for you. If a specific version 404s, try the version shown in a recent discover/describe result for that org."

Related Operations

After creation:

• Activate portal — Setup → Digital Experiences → All Sites → Activate
• Configure branding — Customize colors, logo, theme
• Add pages/components — Use Experience Builder
• Set up user access — Profiles, permission sets, sharing rules
• Publish portal — Make accessible to external users

Manage existing:

• List portals — mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly(url: "/services/data/v67.0/connect/communities", method: "GET")
• Update settings — Network Tooling API or Metadata API
• Deactivate — Via Setup UI

Important Notes

1. Creation is asynchronous (except PRM) and only provisions — APIs return a job ID and the portal comes back UnderConstruction, member-less, and unpublished, so its URL is not reachable until you complete Step 3 (Activate → Add Members → Publish; see references/post-creation-activate-publish.md).
2. URL prefix becomes the site path — https://<domain>.my.site.com/<prefix> (serve/login at .../<prefix>/login, not the bare prefix).
3. Embedded Service / MIAW configs must pre-exist — This skill does not create Embedded Service Deployments. Create them separately at Setup → Embedded Service Deployments (or via the MIAW/embedded-service setup skill), then pass the config IDs to the self-service site API. For general communities, MIAW is added post-creation via an Embedded Service component in Experience Builder.
4. Template names are case-sensitive — Verify available templates in your org before attempting creation.
5. discover/describe may not resolve a specific Connect API operation by id — the headless-360 corpus indexes many operations as multi-step SORs rather than single endpoints, and some standard Connect API writes (e.g. POST /connect/communities) are not individually indexed. Do not conclude the capability is missing; dispatch the well-known, versioned Connect API path directly (documented in this skill).

Reference Documentation

• references/mcp-invocation.md — Read every session. Exact mcp__headless-360__* call shapes, the version-prefix requirement, response envelope, job monitoring, BackgroundOperation column/endpoint discipline, and gotchas.
• references/templates.md — Available templates, template parameters, selection guide.
• references/post-creation-activate-publish.md — Step 3 (activate, add members, publish) to make the site reachable: the Metadata-API + sf community publish paths, the 405-on-PATCH gotcha, NetworkMemberGroup column discipline, and the login-URL note.
• assets/report-template.md — Step 4 report.md template to copy (heading, required fields, sentinel).

API Type Classification

Site creation is dispatched through mcp__headless-360__dispatch / mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly (never project-codey or raw HTTP). All paths include the /services/data/vXX.0 prefix. Post-creation (Step 3) is the one exception: activating the Network and adding members use the Metadata API (sf project deploy start --metadata Network:...), and publishing uses sf community publish — there is no Connect API for these (a PATCH /connect/communities/<id> returns 405). Reads/verification for Step 3 still go through headless-360. Creation paths:

• Self-service portal: Connect API POST /services/data/vXX.0/connect/self-service/site — asynchronous (poll GET /services/data/vXX.0/connect/self-service/site/status/{jobId})
• PRM portal: Connect API POST /services/data/vXX.0/connect/prm/setup/sites — synchronous
• General community: Connect API POST /services/data/vXX.0/connect/communities — asynchronous (poll BackgroundOperation via GET /services/data/vXX.0/query, not /tooling/query)