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SKILL.md
npx skills add forcedotcom/sf-skills --skill experience-ui-bundle-custom-app-generate
MUST activate when the project contains a uiBundles/*/src/ directory and the task involves creating or configuring a Custom Application for hosting a UI bundle in Lightning Experience. Use this skill when creating a CustomApplication metadata record to surface the UI bundle in the App Launcher. Activate when files matching applications/*.app-meta.xml exist and need modification, or when the user wants to expose their app via the Lightning App Launcher without a Digital Experience Site. Do NOT use platform-custom-application-generate for this — UI bundle apps do not use tabs, action overrides, or flexipages.
npx skills add forcedotcom/sf-skills --skill experience-ui-bundle-custom-app-generate
Create and configure a Salesforce Custom Application that hosts a React UI bundle in Lightning Experience. This skill generates the CustomApplication metadata so the app appears in the Lightning App Launcher and can be accessed by internal users.
Custom Applications differ from Experience Sites: they don't need Networks, CustomSite, DigitalExperienceConfig, or DigitalExperienceBundle metadata. The Custom Application acts as a thin launcher entry that delegates rendering to the React UI bundle referenced by uiBundle.
Resolve all properties before generating any metadata. Each has a fallback chain — work through each option in order until a value is found.
| Property | Format | How to Resolve |
|---|---|---|
| appName | lowercamelcase (e.g., myInternalApp) | The UI bundle name from uiBundles/<name>/ directory |
| appNamespace | String | namespace in sfdx-project.json → sf data query -q "SELECT NamespacePrefix FROM Organization" --target-org ${usernameOrAlias} → default c |
| appLabel | Human-readable string | User-provided, or derive from appName by converting camelCase to Title Case |
The appNamespace and appName connect the Custom Application to the correct React UI bundle. In newer API versions this uses <uiBundle>{appNamespace}__{appName}</uiBundle>; in older versions it uses <webApplication>{appName}</webApplication>. Getting this wrong means the app launcher entry exists but shows a blank page. Step 2 of the workflow determines which field to use.
Determine values for all properties before constructing anything. Use the resolution strategies in the table above.
Call salesforce-api-context MCP tools to discover which fields exist for the target org's API version. This ensures the generated metadata is compatible with the user's Salesforce version.
Required calls — use the metadataType parameter exactly as shown. Do not substitute a detail parameter or any other shape; metadataType is the only parameter this tool accepts:
get_metadata_type_fields({ "metadataType": "CustomApplication" }) — check whether the uiBundle field exists in the response's field listget_metadata_type_fields({ "metadataType": "UIBundle" }) — check whether the target field exists in the response's field listField resolution based on API response:
| Field Check | If present | If absent (older API version) |
|---|---|---|
CustomApplication.uiBundle | Use <uiBundle>{appNamespace}__{appName}</uiBundle> | Use <webApplication>{appName}</webApplication> (no namespace) |
UIBundle.target | Use <target>CustomApplication</target> | Omit the <target> element entirely |
If salesforce-api-context is unavailable after a real attempt, fall back to the newer field names (uiBundle + target).
Create any files and directories that don't already exist:
| Metadata Type | Path |
|---|---|
| CustomApplication | <sourceDir>/applications/{appName}.app-meta.xml |
Note: <sourceDir> is determined from sfdx-project.json. Read packageDirectories[] and use the entry where "default": true; the full source directory is <path>/main/default. If no default is set, use the first entry. Commonly force-app/main/default, but this path is configurable.
Use the default template in the doc below. Values in {braces} are resolved property references — substitute them with the actual values from Step 1. Apply the field resolution from Step 2 to determine which XML elements to use.
| Metadata Type | Template Reference |
|---|---|
| CustomApplication | configure-metadata-custom-application.md |
{appName}) with the resolved values, then use the expanded template to populate the metadata XML content.<uiBundle> with <webApplication> in the generated output.This step edits an existing file — it never creates a new one. UIBundle is a bundle-style metadata type: its meta XML normally lives inside its own folder at uiBundles/{appName}/{appName}.uibundle-meta.xml, alongside the bundle's other source files (e.g. index.html, src/). Some older or hand-authored projects may instead have it at the flat path uiBundles/{appName}.uibundle-meta.xml (no subfolder).
Run scripts/resolve-uibundle-path.sh "{appName}" — it prints the path of the existing meta XML (preferring the nested layout, falling back to the flat layout). Edit that exact file in place; do not create a second file at the other path or migrate it to a different layout as part of this skill.
If Step 2 confirmed the target field exists on UIBundle, add <target>CustomApplication</target> inside the existing <UIBundle> element of that file, preserving every other existing element and value untouched (skip this step entirely if the field doesn't exist in the org's API version — do not create the file or add <target> in that case).
Do NOT:
.uibundle-meta.xml file.uibundle-meta.xml file at a different path when one already exists (nested or flat) — edit the existing one in place, wherever it isuiBundles/{appName}/{appName}.uibundle-meta.xml (or uiBundles/{appName}.uibundle-meta.xml, if that's the existing layout) unmodified while adding <target> somewhere elseThe only files this skill produces or modifies are applications/{appName}.app-meta.xml (new) and the existing {appName}.uibundle-meta.xml (edited in place, only if <target> applies). Any other UI-bundle-related file appearing in the output is a bug.
Example of the fully updated file (at uiBundles/{appName}/{appName}.uibundle-meta.xml, or the flat path if that's the existing layout) — this illustrates the end state of the existing file, not a new file to create:
Do not modify any default property values for CustomApplication metadata that are not expressed as variables wrapped in {braces}.
Before deploying, confirm:
applications/{appName}.app-meta.xml exists with correct content<uiBundle> or <webApplication>)target field is supported: the existing {appName}.uibundle-meta.xml (nested at uiBundles/{appName}/, or flat at uiBundles/, whichever already existed) has <target>CustomApplication</target>.uibundle-meta.xml file was created — exactly one {appName}.uibundle-meta.xml exists, at whichever path it already lived atsf project deploy validate --metadata CustomApplication UIBundle --target-org ${usernameOrAlias}