Free tools / Salesforce release calendar
Preview sandboxes move to Spring ’27 on January 9, 2027. Production orgs follow over three weekends: January 16, February 6 and February 20. Enter your instance to get your exact date, then use the watch list below to find what will break your test automation first.
01 // your instance
02 // where to find it
In Salesforce, open Setup, search for Company Information, and read the Instance field. Production instances look like USA322 or NA224. Sandboxes have their own instance, usually ending in S or starting with CS.
Dates come live from Salesforce Trust, the same data behind status.salesforce.com. Nothing you type is stored.
// spring ’27 at a glance //
Enter your instance to see your exact upgrade date.
- Preview sandboxes upgradeJanuary 9, 2027
- Production weekend 1January 16, 2027
- Production weekend 2February 6, 2027
- Production weekend 3February 20, 2027
Each org gets one production weekend, set by its instance.
// watch list for test automation //
Login and access changes break suites before anything on screen does. These are the changes to fix first, in date order. Each one is a Salesforce release update or announced retirement.
Coming with Spring ’27
Nov 30, 2026
Device flow stops working on connected apps
What breaks: Logins from scripts and CLIs that use the OAuth device flow on a standard connected app.
Do this: Move those logins to an External Client App, or switch CI to the JWT bearer flow.
Feb 20, 2027
Username-password OAuth flow is retired
What breaks: Test helpers and CI jobs that request a token with grant_type=password. They stop getting tokens, and nothing shows an error in the UI.
Do this: Switch to the JWT bearer or client credentials flow, then rotate the secrets your pipeline stores.
Spring ’27
Instanced URLs are blocked in API traffic
What breaks: Config files and scripts that call hosts like na123.salesforce.com. Calls fail at the network layer, before login.
Do this: Use your My Domain URL everywhere. Turn on the block setting in a sandbox now to catch stragglers early.
Spring ’27
Sharing recalculates in the background
What breaks: Tests that change a role or group from Apex or Flow, then check record access on the next line.
Do this: Poll for the expected access or share rows instead of asserting straight away.
Summer ’27
SOAP login() retired for API 31.0 to 64.0
What breaks: Older frameworks and data loaders that still log in with SOAP login(). Since Winter ’27, users also need the Use Any API Auth permission.
Do this: Find every SOAP login call now and move it to OAuth before the summer release.
Already live since Winter ’27
Winter ’27 + Spring ’27
Lightning reflows above 200% zoom
What breaks: Positional XPath and DOM-depth locators on headers, modals, date pickers, cards and menus. Spring ’27 extends this to To Do lists and dual listboxes.
Do this: Use role and label based locators, and run critical paths at 200% zoom and above.
Winter ’27
Profile names are hidden by default
What breaks: Steps that read another user’s profile name as a standard user now get blanks, not errors.
Do this: Run tests as real standard users, and stop asserting on other users’ profile names.
// key dates //
Date
What happens
Source
Mid-December 2026
Release notes preview published
Expected, based on past releases
Not published yet
Sandbox preview refresh cutoff
Salesforce Sandbox Preview Instructions
January 9, 2027
Preview sandboxes upgrade to Spring ’27
Confirmed on Salesforce Trust
January 16, 2027
Production weekend 1
Confirmed on Salesforce Trust
February 6, 2027
Production weekend 2
Planned; instance slots still being posted
February 20, 2027
Production weekend 3, and username-password flow retirement
Planned; retirement date confirmed by Salesforce
Trust lists upgrade times in UTC, so a January 9 upgrade starts on the evening of January 8 in US time zones. Salesforce can move maintenance windows; the lookup above always reads the latest.
// your testing plan //
01 //
Before January 9
List every test login. Flag password and device flows.
Search configs and scripts for hardcoded instance URLs.
Pick the sandbox that gets the preview, and refresh it before the cutoff.
Run your full regression on Winter ’27 and save the results as a baseline.
02 //
Preview: January 9 to your upgrade
Run the full regression in the preview sandbox on the first weekend.
Diff against the baseline. Sort each failure into product change or real bug.
Run critical paths as a standard user, not an admin.
Check Setup > Release Updates for anything that auto-enables in Spring ’27.
03 //
Your upgrade weekend and after
Smoke test your top business flows the Monday after.
Re-run integration and CI logins.
Keep regression running weekly. Patch releases keep landing after the major release.
// keep going //
Before your upgrade weekend, read this
// deep dive //
What Winter ’27 already broke in Selenium and Playwright suites
The login, CI and locator changes from the last release, with the fix for each.
Read the post →
// calculator //
What does each release cost your team in regression?
Three releases a year means three forced regression runs. Put a number on it.
Open the calculator →
// free tools //
More free tools for Salesforce QA teams
Calculators, playbooks and open-source tools in one place. No sign-up needed for the calculators.
Browse free tools →
// questions //
Questions about the Spring ’27 release
When is the Salesforce Spring ’27 release?
Preview sandboxes upgrade on January 9, 2027. Production orgs upgrade over three weekends: January 16, February 6 and February 20, 2027. Your exact date depends on your instance.
How do I find my Salesforce instance?
Is my sandbox on the preview?
What in Spring ’27 breaks test automation?
Where do these dates come from?
// next step //
Run your Spring ’27 regression on the preview
Point TestZeus at your preview sandbox on January 9. Run your suite in plain English, see what Spring ’27 changed, and fix it before your production weekend.
// Start testing //
