Metadata Format
The Metadata API's native flat structure, one top-level folder per component type, driven by package.xml.
Definition
Metadata format is the file layout the Metadata API works with directly: a flat structure with one top-level folder per component type (objects/, classes/, triggers/, flows/) and a package.xml manifest declaring what's included, unzipped and zipped for every retrieve or deploy call. It's the layout the older Ant Migration Tool used and still what the raw API expects under the hood, but it groups all components of one type together rather than by feature, which makes Git history harder to follow for a specific change. Salesforce CLI's source format solves that readability problem, but every retrieve or deploy still gets converted to metadata format for the actual API call, whether or not the tooling shows that step. Our metadata management guide covers the practical differences teams run into.
How it works in Serpent
Serpent handles the metadata-format conversion behind the scenes on every deployment, so developers and admins only ever work with readable, task-scoped changes rather than raw API structure. The manifest and metadata-format packaging for each release build automatically from what a task touched, with no Ant scripts or manual zip files involved. See release management in Serpent for how deployments are packaged under the hood.
Metadata Format, answered
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