Imagine walking into a Salesforce org where every object is tangled in a web of before/after triggers, recursive updates, and integration side effects. We’ve all seen it: a trigger kicks off an update, which calls a flow, which calls another trigger, and somewhere along the way, something breaks. Debugging becomes detective work. Scaling? Nearly impossible.

That was our world until we embraced Platform Events.

In this blog, I’ll take you behind the scenes of how we transformed a legacy Salesforce org riddled with integration spaghetti into a clean, scalable, event-driven architecture. Whether you’re a Salesforce Developer, Architect, or Integration Engineer, you’ll walk away with not only code examples and real-world use cases but also the architectural mindset needed to apply Platform Events in the wild.

The Nightmare: Coupled Triggers, Broken Integrations, & Missed SLAs

Once upon a production org, we had:

  • 8+ triggers across Opportunity, Order, and Case
  • 3 external systems (ERP, fulfillment, notifications) relying on chained DML and callouts
  • Frequent CPU timeouts, missed webhook retries, and integration bottlenecks

Sound familiar?

We weren’t just fighting bugs, we were fighting architecture debt.

The Turning Point: Enter Platform Events

When the thought came to my mind, “Why don’t we try Platform Events?”, I decided to try that after reading the entire PE Developer Guide. I used them in some projects, but never used them at scale.

What followed was a transformation in how we thought about communication, ownership, and system resilience.

Rebuilding with Event-Driven Bricks

Instead of direct callouts in triggers or chained logic, I:

  • Published a Transaction_Completed__e event whenever a deal closed
  • Created three independent subscribers:
    • One updated the ERP (via MuleSoft)
    • One notified the warehouse
    • One emailed the customer

Each subscriber worked asynchronously, in parallel, and could fail independently without taking the whole transaction down.

Platform Events: The Unique Power Behind the Curtain

What truly sets Platform Events apart is how they fundamentally shift the way we think about communication between systems, both within Salesforce and across the enterprise.

Unlike traditional trigger-based logic or direct API integrations, Platform Events let you fire-and-forget. You publish an event and trust that one or many subscribers will respond when ready. It’s asynchronous, decoupled, and scalable by design.

Here are some of the superpowers Platform Events unlocked for us:

  • Asynchronous Execution: We no longer worry about callouts or external failures within DML transactions. Events are published independently of the logic that processes them.
  • Multiple Subscribers: One event can be consumed by many listeners — whether it’s a Flow, an Apex trigger, or an external middleware like MuleSoft or Azure Logic Apps. Each system reacts on its own terms.
  • Decoupled Logic: Business units and integration teams can build and maintain their logic independently. The publisher doesn’t need to know who’s listening — and that’s a beautiful thing.
  • Built-In Retry & Replay: Events can be replayed if a consumer misses them, making the architecture more resilient and error-tolerant.
  • Flow-Friendly: Platform Events are not just for developers. Admins can subscribe to events using declarative Flows, extending the power of events to low-code users.
  • Built to Scale: We moved from sporadic integration delays to over 25,000 Platform Events per day across four orgs with no degradation in performance or reliability.

Platform Events didn’t just improve our architecture; they changed our mental model. Instead of asking, “What needs to happen next?” we now ask, “What should respond to this event?”

Unique Patterns That Made a Difference

1. Outbox Pattern for Event Reliability

We used a custom Event_Log__c object to queue events before publishing them in batches via scheduled jobs. This gave us durability, retries, and logs.

2. Event Chaining

Lead_Captured__e → triggers Quote_Requested__e → triggers Task_Queued__e. Each stage lives in its own world.

3. Dynamic Subscribers via Metadata

We built a subscriber that reads Custom_Metadata__mdt to determine which endpoint to call, making it configurable per client.

4. Payload Hashing to Avoid Duplicates

Before publishing, we hashed the payload. If a hash already existed in the last 10 minutes, we skipped the publish. No more duplicate fulfillment requests.

Code Sample

Publisher Apex:

Opportunity_Won__e oppEvent = new Opportunity_Won__e(
    OpportunityId__c = opp.Id,
    Amount__c = opp.Amount,
    AccountId__c = opp.AccountId
);
Database.SaveResult result = EventBus.publish(oppEvent);

Subscriber Apex Trigger:

trigger FulfillmentSubscriber on Opportunity_Won__e (after insert) {
    FulfillmentService.enqueueOrders(Trigger.New);
}

We built a FulfillmentService that’s testable, mockable, and transaction-safe.

The Unexpected Wins

  • No more integration chain reactions
    • if one system is down, others still run
  • Post-deployment flexibility
    • we added a new subscriber 6 months later with zero code change
  • Business agility
    • Admins built Flows on top of PE events without dev help

Lessons Learned

  • Don’t publish from subscriber triggers. Always isolate the publisher and subscribers
  • Use custom logging. PE doesn’t store history—build your own logs
  • Avoid overly large payloads. Keep events lightweight and to the point
  • Version your events. We used Order_Confirmed_v1__e, v2__e, etc., to avoid breaking changes

TL;DR

Platform Events let you:

  • Build decoupled, real-time systems
  • Scale integrations without drowning in trigger soup
  • Support both Apex and Flow subscribers
  • Design for failure, not around it

If you’re an architect designing for resiliency and agility, Platform Events are your secret weapon.

Want More Architect Insights Like This?

I regularly share hard-won lessons like this on LinkedIn from event-driven Salesforce, to microservices patterns, to Flow-Apex hybrid strategies.

👉 Follow me on LinkedIn and let’s connect!
📣 Drop a comment or DM, I’d love to hear how you’ve used Platform Events.

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