Metadata API
Salesforce's API for retrieving and deploying org configuration, the foundation nearly every DevOps tool is built on.
Definition
The Metadata API is Salesforce's SOAP-based API for retrieving, deploying, creating, and deleting the configuration (metadata) that defines an org, things like custom objects, fields, flows, Apex classes, and layouts, as opposed to the records (data) those objects hold. It's the foundation nearly every Salesforce DevOps tool is built on: Salesforce CLI, change sets, and third-party release tools all ultimately call Metadata API operations to move configuration between orgs.
Deployments through Metadata API can be validated (check-only) before running for real, and support destructive changes via a dedicated manifest kept separate from what's being deployed. Because it's XML-manifest driven, deployments require an accurate package.xml listing every component type and name included.
A bad or incomplete manifest is one of the most common causes of failed Salesforce deployments, since anything left off the list is simply skipped rather than flagged. Our Salesforce DevOps guide covers how Metadata API deployments fit into a full release pipeline.
How it works in Serpent
Serpent uses standard Metadata API calls for every deployment, with zero footprint installed in your org, and builds the package manifest automatically from the components a task actually touched, so there's no hand-maintained package.xml to keep in sync. Org comparison and sync features read metadata state across sandboxes and production to flag drift before a deployment runs, catching mismatches Metadata API alone won't warn you about. See org management in Serpent for how metadata comparison works across your environments.
Metadata API, answered
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