Version control is a key enabler for efficient Agile development. At its heart, version control focuses on one core concept: tracking changes to files over time.

For a brief introduction to version control check out this article.

Version control allows for change tracking, peer review, parallel deployment streams, and merging changes rather than overwriting.

Find out more about the benefits of version control here.

Luckily, it’s a simple choice for Salesforce development, as Git has established itself as the de facto version control system. Git is used by millions of developers around the world and is the recommended system for all Salesforce development teams.

Although there are many service providers for Git-based version control, there are three clear market-leaders:

GitHub - Getting started with GitHub

Bitbucket - Guides on Bitbucket

GitLab - Getting started with GitLab

All three provide a mature and effective platform for Salesforce development. There are many other providers out there, and if you are looking for a VCS solution, which one you choose will come down to your teams circumstances and preferences. Check out our blog post here on choosing the right provider for you.

With your trial of Gearset, you can try out the integration with any version control provider. Each of the Git providers mentioned above have their own getting started pages linked so if you would like to trial one of their solutions, just follow the links above to check them out.

To integrate them with Gearset, check out our documents below:

GitHub - Integrating with GitHub

Bitbucket - Integrating with Bitbucket

GitLab - Integrating with GitLab

Once you have chosen which version control provider to use, you will need to set up your source control repository, and decide on things like which branching strategy to use.

We have a few articles and learning resources below to get you started:

How to set up your new source control repository

A best-practice DevOps model

DevOps Launchpad Courses:

Version control fundamentals

The feature branch model

Git branching strategies

Gearset Blogs:

Choosing the right Git branching strategy

If you are interested in more information on the hows, whats and benefits of version control, check out our white-paper on it here.