Skip to main content

Running Your First Scan

A scan is the process through which aprity reads your Salesforce metadata, builds a dependency graph, analyzes it with AI, and produces documentation. This guide shows you how to run your first scan.

Before you begin

Make sure you have completed the previous setup steps:

Starting a scan

  1. Open the aprity app in Salesforce.
  2. Go to the Generate tab.
  3. Configure your scan options:

Documentation language

Select the language for the generated documentation. All six languages are available on every plan:

LanguageCode
EnglishEN
FrenchFR
SpanishES
GermanDE
ItalianIT
PortuguesePT

Scope

Choose how much of your org to document. Documentation plans cover the whole org by default. On the Trial plan, documentation is capped at 3 objects, so an object selector lets you pick which objects to include and the output carries a trial watermark.

Documentation is always delivered through the aprity web portal — there are no downloadable documentation files and no output-format choice (no Markdown, HTML, DOCX, or PDF). On Intelligence and Trial plans, you can additionally publish to Salesforce Knowledge or Confluence via the Connectors tab.

  1. Click Generate Now.

Generate tab with scan options

tip

For your first scan, the default settings are a good starting point. aprity will document your full org and make everything available in the web portal.

What happens during a scan

After you click Generate Now, aprity runs through four phases. You can monitor progress on the screen as the scan advances.

Phase 1: Metadata extraction

aprity connects to your org via the JWT Bearer flow and reads your metadata. This includes:

  • Custom and standard objects, fields, and relationships
  • Validation rules, formula fields, and roll-up summaries
  • Flows, Process Builder processes, and workflow rules
  • Apex triggers, classes, and test classes
  • Lightning pages and components
  • Permission sets and profiles

No data records are read -- only metadata definitions.

Phase 2: Dependency graph construction

aprity builds a deterministic dependency graph from the extracted metadata. This graph maps how every component relates to others:

  • Which triggers fire on which objects
  • Which flows read or write which fields
  • Which validation rules reference which fields
  • Which Apex classes call which methods

This phase is fully deterministic -- no AI is involved.

Phase 3: AI-powered analysis

Using the dependency graph as context, aprity sends structured prompts to its AI engine to generate:

  • Business-friendly descriptions of each object and its purpose
  • Functional explanations of automation rules and flows
  • Process narratives connecting related components into coherent business processes
  • Technical analysis of code complexity and dependencies
info

The AI explains what your metadata already defines. It does not make assumptions or invent information beyond what is present in your org.

Phase 4: Documentation generation

aprity assembles the analysis results and publishes them to the aprity web portal. On Intelligence and Trial plans, the Salesforce Knowledge and Confluence publishing steps also run during this phase if those connectors are configured.

Scan duration

Scan duration depends on the size and complexity of your org:

Org complexityApproximate duration
Small (under 50 custom objects)5 to 15 minutes
Medium (50 to 200 custom objects)15 to 45 minutes
Large (over 200 custom objects)45 minutes to 2 hours

You do not need to keep the aprity app open during the scan. The process runs in the cloud, and you will find the results on the Analyses tab when it completes.

:::warning Do not close the scan prematurely If you navigate away during the initial seconds after clicking Generate Now, the scan request may not be submitted. Wait until you see the progress indicator before leaving the page. :::

Scan limits

The number of scans you can run depends on your plan:

PlanScan limit
Trial4 scans total (14-day period)
Documentation1 scan per week
Intelligence7 scans per week

Next step

Once your scan completes, open the aprity web portal to browse your generated documentation. You sign in to the portal with Salesforce SSO at your tenant URL (for example, https://{slug}.app.aprity.ai); your aprity contact will provide the exact URL. See The aprity Web Portal for a tour of what you can do there.