Governor Limits

Governor Limits are runtime limits enforced by the Salesforce platform that prevent any single transaction from monopolizing shared resources in the multitenant environment. They restrict the number of SOQL queries (100 per synchronous transaction), DML statements (150), callouts, heap size, CPU time, and other operations to ensure fair resource allocation across all tenants.

Governor Limits are runtime ceilings the Salesforce platform enforces against every transaction to protect its multitenant infrastructure. They cover SOQL query count (100 per transaction in synchronous Apex), DML statements (150), CPU time (10 seconds synchronous, 60 seconds asynchronous), heap size (6 MB sync, 12 MB async), callout duration, and dozens of other resources. Hit a limit and the transaction throws a System.LimitException; partial work is rolled back, and the user sees an error. The platform's reliability for any one customer depends on every other customer's code respecting these limits.

Designing Apex against governor limits is the central skill that separates Salesforce platform code from generic backend code. Bulkify every loop so 200 records process in one query, not 200. Use collections to defer DML until the end of a method. Move long-running work to @future or Queueable Apex where the limits are looser. Cache repeated lookups in Maps. Profile against limits using the Limits class itself before pushing to production. The limits are not a constraint to work around once and forget - they are an architectural premise that shapes every line of platform code.