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Conflict Detection and Resolution
Conflicts can occur when you’re working with multiple development environments and moving changes between multiple pipeline stages. Conflicts can take different forms, and DevOps Center provides functionality to help you identify potential conflicts early and resolve them.
Here are some common types of conflicts.
Multiple Work Items That Modify the Same Source File
If you have multiple work items that modify the same source file (particularly in cases where multiple developers are modifying the same metadata components in their own respective development environments), the changes can conflict or potentially overwrite each other when they’re merged into the first integrated pipeline stage. During the promotion process, DevOps Center warns you about the potential conflict. In some cases, the source control repository doesn’t know how to reconcile the changes to the same metadata component. Sometimes the promotion is blocked based on a dependency with a shared component.
With next-generation DevOps Center, you can resolve merge conflicts using Agentforce. Agentforce uses DevOps Center MCP tools in the Salesforce DX MCP Server to analyze the conflict and recommend solutions based on natural language prompts. Alternatively, you can resolve the merge conflicts directly in your source repository. See Resolve Merge Conflicts with DevOps Center MCP Tools. Next-generation DevOps Center supports stage promotion. If you use custom promotion for individual work items, you can also combine work items that share components or have dependencies.
When DevOps Center (Managed Package) detects a potential conflict due to work items that share components or contain dependencies, it provides you with the option to combine the work items so you can continue with the promotion. If you don’t choose to combine the affected work items, you can choose to further analyze the potential conflict and fix it manually, or promote the dependent work item first.
Unresolvable Merge Conflict in Two Branches
When a work item or stage is promoted from one pipeline stage to the next, the source files contained in the work item are merged from the first stage’s source control branch to the next stage’s source control branch. The source control system, GitHub, helps to determine if the changes are mergeable before you attempt to promote them. If GitHub detects a conflict, the promotion is blocked.
You can see more information on the merge conflict in the error dialog in the Activity History, and you can view additional details of the conflict in the pull request in the source control system. You can resolve the conflict directly in the source control system or using DevOps Center MCP tools. Then, you can attempt the promotion in DevOps Center.
Your Component Version Is Different from Merged Component
When you have a stage that contains multiple work items that contain the same component, the stage contains a merged version of the component. If you then choose to promote only one of those work items from the stage to the next stage, it’s possible that the version of the component that you promote is different from the merged component that was tested. DevOps Center warns you when this situation occurs and provides you the option to combine the changes using the latest version. We recommend that you promote all work items that contain the common component together, so that the next stage contains the same merged version of the component as what was tested in the previous stage.
- Combine Work Items in Next Generation DevOps Center
Use combine work items to prevent conflicts when promoting individual work items with custom promotion. When work items in a stage share metadata or depend on each other, promoting them individually results in conflicts or blocked promotions. - Combine Work Items in DevOps Center (Managed Package)
Prevent potential conflicts during the promotion process by combining work items that share metadata components. In some cases, the source control repository doesn’t know how to reconcile the changes to the same metadata component. Sometimes the promotion is blocked based on a dependency with a shared component. But have no fear, DevOps Center detects the shared components and provides you with a way to promote your changes through the release pipeline with confidence. - Merge Conflicts
Merge conflicts can occur when multiple work items contain one or more of the same components, especially when multiple developers are making changes that impact the same components in different development environments. DevOps Center warns you about potential merge conflicts so you can investigate to ensure that you don’t inadvertently overwrite desired changes. - Resolve Merge Conflicts in Next Generation DevOps Center
Next-generation DevOps Center uses Agentforce to streamline conflict resolution for both low-code admins and developers. By integrating with Agentforce Vibes, DevOps Center provides AI-assisted guidance whether you work in the UI or the IDE. - Review and Resolve Conflicts in Your Source Control
In cases where DevOps Center can’t combine work items or you choose not to combine, DevOps Center blocks the promotion. In this case, you manually edit the files directly in your source control to resolve the conflict in the affected branch. - Merge Conflict Resolution with DevOps Center MCP Tools (Managed Package)
The DevOps Center Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools in Salesforce DX MCP Server are a set of capabilities that simplify and accelerate the resolution of merge conflicts. The MCP server uses large language models (LLMs) to analyze conflicts, translate them into natural language explanations, and suggest solutions, so you can use natural language prompts instead of commands. Access these tools through Agentforce Vibes in your Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
