Could the New Salesforce Web Console Mark the End for Developer Console?

I remember in my early days of learning to work with Salesforce, I was introduced to the Developer Console. It was sold to me, as a junior admin and later functional consultant, as the place to go to read log files, query records with SOQL, and review or edit Apex files. It also became the place to go to write and edit Aura components – yet when Lightning Web Components came out, it did not support them. 

Developer Console is beloved, but it is long overdue for a replacement or upgrade. It seems that this heavily desired upgrade is finally here in the form of Web Console, which will be available in beta from April 14, 2026. Read on to learn more about what it is, how to use it, and why this is potentially one of the most valuable changes for Salesforce users in many years.

Web Console in a Nutshell

According to Salesforce, Web Console is a browser-based IDE that lives inside the platform and is easily accessible. If you’re familiar with Developer Console, this will sound extremely familiar to you, as it was also available within Salesforce from underneath the gear icon.

The new Web Console will be able to perform a number of key functions in a far more modern tool than its Developer Console counterpart. Whenever you need to review logs to identify where issues are occurring, Web Console will be able to assist. You’ll also be able to run SOQL queries to retrieve records from Salesforce, and see how those queries perform with the new Query Plan Inspector. 

Whenever you need to run ad-hoc Apex with Anonymous Apex, Web Console will be able to help you here as well. Finally, any time you need to review and make changes to your Apex, Visualforce, and even Lightning Web Components (LWC), the Web Console will be ready to serve you from within the Salesforce interface. 

Salesforce has been very specific in crafting this list of features. Their goal is not to just build a new Developer Console, but instead to create a new tool for Salesforce professionals to be able to execute key functions across the platform with ease, and without needing to open a separate developer environment.

Security, Guardrails, and Governance

As Web Console is only accessible once you’ve authenticated your user in Salesforce, this means that it is also protected by Salesforce’s standard security functions. You will not have any additional access to Salesforce data or metadata through the Web Console that you will through the Salesforce User Interface, for example. 

However, not all features are available in all orgs. Think about the way Developer Console works today – in a Sandbox, you are able to open, make changes to, and save an Apex Class or Trigger, but the same is not possible in a production environment. You need to go through the standard change control process (write, thoroughly test in Sandbox or developer environments, then deploy to production when you’re ready). 

In this way, Salesforce is ensuring that the guardrails that have always been in place to protect production data and metadata remain. Changes to metadata files are far more streamlined than it has historically been, but only in environments where this should be the case.

Long Overdue, Well-Received

One thing that I will say is that Salesforce themselves have said that the Web Console is not about replacing a legacy tool feature-by-feature, and I appreciate the approach and reasoning that seems to be behind this. Developer Console was extremely good at what it did, but when you compare it to a fully-fledged IDE, it pales in comparison. I’m glad to see that the Developer Console isn’t just getting a “Lightning” overhaul, but instead, Web Console will do what Developer Console could do and far, far more. 

If you ask an experienced Salesforce Developer what the primary tool that they use for their work is, I’m sure that they won’t tell you that they’ve been hacking solutions together with Developer Console. The likelihood is they’re using an IDE like Visual Studio Code in combination with the Salesforce CLI.

Here’s a scenario I want you to consider: you’re a Salesforce Developer, and you’ve just gone live with a massive project in your org a few weeks ago and are taking a well-deserved break. You decide not to take your work computer (as we all dream of when we go on holidays), but you did bring a lightweight, personal laptop with you for some light browsing and entertainment as you travel. Suddenly, the unimaginable happens – you get a call from the business with an urgent request. There was an unidentified bug that they’ve only just discovered, and they need you to urgently jump in and help. Historically, you’d be in a spot of bother as your developer environment (the Visual Studio Code and Salesforce CLI environment identified before) isn’t configured on your personal computer. 

In this new timeline, you’re blessed with the power of Web Console from Salesforce. You now just need to log in to Salesforce through your web browser (after quickly configuring your company VPN on your computer, of course), and open Web Console from the top-right corner of the page. That’s it! Your fully-fledged IDE environment is available and ready for you to save the day from a sandy beach in a tropical paradise.

The Beta Period

Web Console will need to be enabled in your org, with a beta beginning on April 14, 2026. Because it is still technically in development, this will allow businesses that do not wish to participate to continue as per normal. You can continue leveraging Developer Console as the web-based, readily available tool and continue to use VS Code and other IDE tools, whether you enable the beta or not.

Summary

I strongly encourage you to enable the Web Console in an org where it makes sense to do so as soon as possible. For those of us who love Developer Console but have been sad watching it fall further and further behind in recent years, this news is the breath of fresh air that we’ve been waiting for. 

Can you see this having a positive impact on the way your development teams work in Salesforce? Are there any potential downsides to Salesforce creating a tool like this that I’ve not considered? Share your thoughts in the comments.