Source Format
Salesforce CLI's folder-per-component layout, organized to work naturally with Git rather than the Metadata API's raw structure.
Definition
Source format is the file layout Salesforce CLI expects in a force-app directory: metadata organized by type and further split so each component (an object, a flow, an Apex class and its metadata file) is its own file or small folder, matching how Git diffs and reviews changes best. It's defined by sfdx-project.json at the project root, which declares one or more package directories in this layout. Source format is what makes commands like sf project retrieve start and sf project deploy start usable without a hand-written manifest, since the CLI can infer scope from which files changed. Nearly all modern Salesforce tooling, VS Code extensions, scratch orgs, 2GP packaging, assumes source format as the default. See our Salesforce CLI guide for how source format fits into everyday CLI use.
How it works in Serpent
Serpent reads and writes source-format metadata natively through its VS Code extension and task workflow, so a developer's local project structure never has to change to work with Serpent. Every task's changes are scoped down to the individual source-format files touched, which is also what makes Serpent's automatic manifest generation and delta deployments possible. See the Serpent VS Code extension for how local source-format work syncs with tasks.
Source Format, answered
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