ObjectStackBuild Without Code
What admins and business analysts can do visually in Console, Studio, and Setup — and how that stays in sync with metadata written as code
You do not have to write metadata files to build on this platform. Console, Studio, and Setup cover the run–design–administer loop visually — and everything you do there produces the same metadata artifacts a developer would write by hand, checked by the same validation gate. Clicking and coding are two editors over one definition, so a team can freely mix both.
Console — where the app runs
/_console/ is the workspace end users live in:
- Home lists your apps, pending approvals, scheduled digests, and recently visited records.
- Each app renders its declared navigation, views (table, kanban, calendar, gantt, …), dashboards, and record pages — switch views from the toolbar, save filters, pin favorites.
- Approvals inbox collects everything waiting on you; decisions (approve / reject / send back) happen here.
- Record pages carry the collaboration surface: discussion threads, attachments, activity timeline, and change history.
- Global search (
⌘K) spans objects, with partial and pinyin matching.
Studio — where the app is designed
From any app, "Design in Studio" opens the same application in design mode. Studio is organized around four pillars:
| Pillar | What you manage there |
|---|---|
| Data | Every object with its fields, plus per-object tabs for records, forms, validation rules, lifecycle hooks, actions, and API exposure |
| Automation | All flows in one list with enable/disable switches; each opens as a visual diagram — triggers, branches, approval nodes, run history, and problem markers |
| Interface | Apps, navigation, views, pages, and dashboards |
| Access | Permission sets as a matrix of object/field grants, plus sharing configuration |
Two properties make Studio safe to hand to non-developers:
- Draft → publish. Changes save as drafts and go live only when published, with a change list to review first.
- Same gate as code. A change that would break the app (a dangling reference, an invalid predicate) is rejected by the same validation that checks hand-written metadata — there is no "UI edits bypass review" back door.
Setup — where the platform is administered
The System Settings app covers platform administration: user management and invitations, permission assignment, datasources (including federated external databases), diagnostics and audit logs, and the Marketplace — template apps such as HotCRM install with one click and appear alongside your own apps, ready to customize in Studio.
When to reach for code instead
Visual editing shines for day-to-day evolution: adding fields, adjusting views, tweaking a flow, granting access. Teams typically switch to metadata as code when they want version control and pull-request review across many changes, AI-assisted authoring, or promotion of the same app across environments. Both roads meet in the same artifact — start visual, graduate to code, or run both side by side.