The Salesforce Winter ’27 release switches off outdated authentication methods. If you run historical integrations such as ERP connections, API connectors or middleware like n8n that rely on these legacy methods, those connections will break without migration. At the same time, External Client Apps (ECA) replace the previous Connected Apps as the new security standard for inbound integrations. Refresh tokens will expire after a period of inactivity, so forgotten credentials no longer pose a risk. Check your interfaces, identify affected workloads and migrate them to the new standards on a risk basis before the deadlines apply.
Rollout phases for the Winter ’27 release
Salesforce rolls out the Winter ’27 release to production environments in several waves: on 4 September, 2 October and on 9 and 10 October 2026. The update can neither be skipped nor postponed. The exact date depends on your Salesforce instance. You find the name of your instance in Setup under Company Information and the exact maintenance schedule in Salesforce Trust Status. Without preparation, automated processes such as lead routing come to a halt after the update.
Replacing Connected Apps
Until now, Connected Apps linked external systems to Salesforce. External Client Apps (ECA) now replace these connections and are configured more restrictively by default. ECAs strictly separate application configuration from administrative policies. That clarifies responsibilities, strengthens access controls and supports modern OAuth patterns. Anyone still using Connected Apps must actively restrict user access and adapt to the new security requirements.
Agentforce and governance
Multi-agent orchestration has been generally available since August 2026. With “Setup with Agentforce” you control or investigate administrative tasks in natural language. The system helps with configuring related lists, with access management or with reading the org health status. Before saving, you must verify permissions, dependencies and the final configuration.
Every agent in production enlarges the attack and monitoring surface of the Salesforce organisation. Decide early how these agents are composed, which data they may access and what they are allowed to reason about.
To monitor these workloads, Salesforce extended the Security Center in mid-September 2026. It offers dedicated control points for the security posture and for monitoring agent connections, depending on edition and licences. Determine the actual control requirements in your company and check whether existing tools suffice before investing in extended governance features.
Higher limits and Flow Builder
Developers automatically get higher Apex heap limits, which makes processing large data volumes easier. Inefficient queries, however, still cause performance problems.
Flow Builder gets a new edit history and a version comparison that shows who changed what and when. Clicking an element name in the comparison table opens a side panel with the complete change details. Elements can now be grouped to structure large flows. Flow Builder generates automatic labels while you build and uses the denser Cosmos theme for a clearer view. A new filter for unused resources lists variables that no element references any more.
Steps for the migration
Switching off legacy authentication requires a systematic changeover. Identify all integrations based on outdated methods and prioritise them by business risk and deadlines. Make sure a supported replacement is ready for every method that is switched off.
Create an Architectural Decision Record (ADR) for every architectural change. Record the initial question, assumptions, the chosen option and the intended business outcome. Validate all affected workloads in a preview sandbox, or refresh an existing sandbox right after the production upgrade.
If you need support assessing your integration landscape or migrating to External Client Apps, Aviando’s architects review your existing interfaces and guide the technical changeover.
