Apex Recipes (https://github.com/trailheadapps/apex-recipes) is Salesforce's open-source collection of canonical Apex code patterns — reference implementations for common scenarios.
Categories covered:
- Trigger handler frameworks — one trigger per object delegating to a handler.
- Async patterns — Queueable, Batch, Scheduled with proper testing.
- Callout patterns — REST callouts with mocking, retries, error handling.
- DML patterns — bulkified, allOrNone, partial-success.
- Test patterns —
@TestSetup, factories,Test.startTest/stopTest, mocks. - LWC + Apex —
@AuraEnabled,@wire, imperative. - Integrations — Platform Events, Change Data Capture, scheduled jobs.
Why it matters:
- Reference for "how does Salesforce intend this to be used" — patterns endorsed by Salesforce.
- Code review baseline — when team disagreement arises, "Apex Recipes does it this way" is a useful arbiter.
- Onboarding — new Salesforce devs can read it cover-to-cover.
- Continuously updated — new patterns added with new platform features (e.g., Pub/Sub API, LWC patterns).
Companion: LWC Recipes, Postman Collection for Salesforce APIs, Trailhead Apex Specialist — together a comprehensive learning curriculum.
What it teaches that's easy to miss:
- `Database.AllowsCallouts` marker for async classes that callout.
- Custom exceptions inheriting
Exception. - `System.runAs` for permission tests.
- Mockable interfaces via dependency injection.
- Fflib_ApexMocks for stubbing at scale (separate library).
If a candidate hasn't browsed Apex Recipes, that's a red flag for senior roles — it's the de facto Salesforce-best-practice playbook.