Heroku Connect is the most common Heroku feature a Salesforce admin or developer configures. These steps set up a basic sync between a Salesforce object and a Heroku Postgres table. Do this in a Heroku app that already has Heroku Postgres attached.
- Provision Heroku Connect
From the Heroku Dashboard, open your app, go to Resources, and add the Heroku Connect add-on. Confirm Heroku Postgres is attached, since Connect needs a database to sync into.
- Authorize the Salesforce org
Open Heroku Connect, choose the database schema, then authenticate to your Salesforce org with a user that has API access and permission on the objects you plan to sync. Use a dedicated integration user, not a personal login.
- Create a mapping
Pick a Salesforce object such as Account, map it to a Postgres table, select the fields to include, and choose the sync direction. Start with read-only to validate the data flow before enabling writes.
- Validate, then enable bidirectional
Confirm rows appear in Postgres and counts match. Once read sync is healthy, switch the mapping to bidirectional so inserts and updates in Postgres write back to Salesforce.
Read-only copies Salesforce into Postgres. Bidirectional also writes Postgres changes back to the org. Choose per mapping based on who owns the data.
How often Connect checks Salesforce for changes. Faster polling lowers latency but consumes more Salesforce API calls against your daily limit.
An option that uses the Salesforce streaming and bulk APIs to move data faster for high-volume mappings. Enable it when a busy object lags behind.
The specific Salesforce fields exposed as Postgres columns. Map only what the app needs to keep the table lean and reduce API load.
- Heroku Connect consumes your Salesforce API call quota. A frequently updated object can exhaust the daily limit even when the data volume is small, so size polling and mappings around API calls, not row counts.
- Salesforce security settings do not carry over to Heroku Postgres. Anyone with access to the database can read every synced row, so lock down database credentials and access.
- Heroku and Salesforce are billed separately. Dyno usage, Heroku Postgres tiers, and each add-on are their own line items outside your Salesforce contract.