Code Coverage Requirements
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Explain Salesforce's 75% code coverage requirement for production deployments
- Distinguish meaningful coverage from coverage written only to hit the number
Prerequisites: Assertions and Common Patterns
The 75% rule
Deploying Apex to production requires overall org coverage of at least 75%, calculated in aggregate across all Apex — not per class. Every trigger needs at least some coverage too. Coverage is a deployment gate, not a design goal in itself.
Coverage isn't the same as correctness
A test with no assertions at all can still contribute 100% coverage of the lines it executes — it only proves the code ran without throwing an exception, nothing more. Meaningful tests assert real expected outcomes, not just "did it run without crashing."
Identical coverage, very different value
// Executes every line — counts toward coverage — but proves almost nothing
@isTest
static void weakTest() {
AccountHelper.greet('Ada');
}
// Same lines executed, but actually verifies the behavior
@isTest
static void strongTest() {
String result = AccountHelper.greet('Ada');
System.assertEquals('Hello, Ada!', result);
}Both methods report identical code coverage — the difference is that only the second one would actually fail if greet() broke.
Exercise
Explain in a comment why a class with 100% code coverage could still ship a serious bug.
Show hint
Think about what coverage percentage actually measures versus what assertions verify.
Code Coverage Requirements — Quick Check
My Notes
Log in to keep private notes on this lesson.
Questions about this lesson
No questions yet — be the first to ask.
Log in to ask a question about this lesson.
Summary
Salesforce requires at least 75% aggregate Apex code coverage (with every trigger having some coverage) before you can deploy to production — but coverage percentage alone doesn't prove your tests are actually any good.