Draft deployments

Save org metadata snapshots, and share drafts for simple collaboration on deployments in development

Valerio Chang avatar
Written by Valerio Chang
Updated over a week ago

With Gearset, comparing orgs and creating deployment packages has never been easier. But sometimes you don’t have all the changes you want to deploy ready just yet, or you want to get input from a colleague on what to include in the release. That’s where draft deployments come in.

Save as you go

With draft deployments, you can begin adding components to your deployment package, save your progress, and return to it at a later date. Drafts can be updated multiple times until you’ve added everything you want. You can even refresh your comparison to change your metadata filter part-way through, although this refresh will only allow you to save another draft, rather than saving over your saved draft.

Once you’ve got all the components you want, proceed with the deployment as usual to release your changes.

Build deployments collaboratively

Team members can use draft deployments to collaboratively build deployment packages. Once you’ve made your changes, simply save your draft.

Team members share draft deployments, so one of your team can then jump in and add their own components. When the package is complete, and everyone’s work has been included, you can validate the package and deploy the release, or schedule it for automatic deployment at a later time.

Note that to refresh a team member's comparison filter, you will need to have at least comparison level access delegated to you for both the source and target. If a team member is no longer in the same Gearset team, you will not be able to load the draft that the team member created with the orgs he or she owned. More information on delegating permissions can be found here.

How to save a draft deployment

  1. Run a comparison between two orgs.

  2. Once you’ve selected some objects, click Save draft deployment.... Choose a Draft name, and click Save.

  3. Your selections and the comparison result will be saved in the Draft deployments page (found under Metadata deployments).

How to edit a saved draft deployment

  1. Go to your Draft deployments (under Metadata deployments).

  2. Click Open draft.

  3. Continue building your deployment.

  4. To update your draft, click Save draft deployment....

How to collaborate on a team member's draft deployment

  1. Go to your Draft deployments.

  2. You’ll be able to see the drafts for anyone in your team, who created the draft, and who made the last edit. Click Open draft to begin editing.

  3. When you’re done editing, click Save draft deployment... to save your changes.

Note: While all team members can edit a draft deployment, to actually deploy it you will need to have deployment level access for the target org delegated to you by the owner of the target org connection. If the target is git, only the person who created the draft deployment can deploy it.

How to clone a draft deployment

You can clone draft deployments to quickly select the same components again, or to build a slightly different deployment package. (This is a feature available in our Teams & Enterprise licenses).

  1. Click Clone draft....

  2. Choose the source and target org for which you want to build this deployment.

  3. Click Run comparison. When the comparison finishes, all the items in the draft being cloned will be preselected for you. 

Filtering draft deployments by date

By default, the draft deployment history will display drafts created in the last 10 days. You can change this filter view by clicking on the date range to the right of the filter box.

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