Getting Started

Setting up Pools for the first time — connect GitHub and a Dev Hub, create a sandbox or scratch org pool, and fetch environments from it.

Pools keep a stock of ready-to-use Salesforce environments — sandboxes cloned from a source org, or scratch orgs created from source — provisioned ahead of time. This guide covers activating the feature and creating your first pool. If any term here is unfamiliar (Dev Hub, SFDX auth URL, GitHub App), the CI/CD getting started guide explains each one.

Step 1: Activate the feature

On the Activate Features page, open the Pools card. Its setup wizard has two steps, both shared with other features:

• App Integration — connect GitHub, as in Step 3 of the CI/CD guide.
• Dev Hub — register the Dev Hub org that will provision the pool's environments, as in Step 4 of the CI/CD guide.

The Pools card needs App Integration and a Dev Hub — steps already complete if another feature set them up.

Step 2: Create a pool

Under Pools, click Create Pool and work through the wizard:

1. Basic info — pool type (Sandbox or Scratch Org), a name, a unique tag, the repository, and the Dev Hub. For sandbox pools, optionally a source sandbox to clone from.
2. Pool config — minimum available instances (codev provisions more when the pool drops below it), maximum total, how long unassigned environments are kept, and the expiration strategy.
3. Review — the generated configuration, editable before saving.

codev starts provisioning immediately and keeps the pool topped up from then on.

The Create Pool wizard.

Step 3: Use the pool

The Pools page shows each pool's provisioned, available, and assigned counts. Developers fetch an environment from a pool when they need a fresh org, and review environments are assigned from pools automatically when pull requests open.

The Pools page: availability at a glance.

Where to go next

Creating and Configuring PoolsFetching and Using EnvironmentsPool Monitoring and Health