Platform Sharing Rules Generate

Sharing Rules Generator

Generate Salesforce Sharing Rules metadata to control record-level access beyond org-wide defaults. Supports criteria-based rules, role/group-based owner rules, and guest user rules for Experience Sites.

Scope

• In scope: Generating sharingCriteriaRules, sharingOwnerRules, and sharingGuestRules metadata; retrieving existing sharing rules from an org; appending new rules to existing files; configuring rules for Guest and Portal profiles.
• Out of scope: Changing org-wide defaults (OWD/sharing model), creating Experience Sites, configuring permission sets or profiles (use platform-permission-set-generate), territory-based sharing rules.

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Clarifying Questions

Before generating, confirm with the user if not already clear:

• Which object should the sharing rule apply to? (standard or custom object API name)
• What type of rule? (criteria-based, role/group-based owner rule, or guest user rule)
• Who should records be shared with? (role name, group, portal role, or guest user nickname)
• What access level? (Read or Read/Write)
• For criteria-based rules: what field conditions should match?

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Required Inputs

Gather or infer before proceeding:

• Object API name: The sObject the rule targets (e.g., Account, Property__c)
• Rule type: One of sharingCriteriaRules, sharingOwnerRules, or sharingGuestRules
• Shared-to target: Role, group, portal role, or guest user community nickname
• Access level: Read or Edit (maps to Read-Only or Read/Write)
• Criteria (for criteria/guest rules): Field name, operation, and value for each filter item

Defaults unless specified:

• Access level: Read
• includeRecordsOwnedByAll: true for criteria rules
• includeHVUOwnedRecords: false for guest rules
• Account sharing rules include accountSettings with all sub-access levels set to None

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Workflow

All steps are sequential. Do not skip or reorder.

Phase 1 — Discover

1. Resolve the SFDX project path — find the project's sfdx-project.json and identify the package directory for sharingRules/.

2. Check for existing sharing rules — look for <packageDir>/sharingRules/<ObjectName>.sharingRules-meta.xml. If found, read it to understand existing rules and avoid duplicates.

3. If no local file exists, retrieve from the org:

   sf project retrieve start --metadata "SharingRules:<ObjectName>" --target-org <org>
   

Phase 2 — Determine Rule Type

4. Select the rule type based on user intent. Read references/rule-types.md for the complete schema of each type and its required elements.

5. For Account sharing rules: the accountSettings element is required. Default sub-access levels to None unless the user specifies otherwise.

6. For Guest rules: the sharedTo must use <guestUser> with the site guest user's community nickname. Never use <role> or <group> for guest rules.

Phase 3 — Generate

7. Construct the XML following the schema in references/rule-types.md. Key structure:

   • One .sharingRules-meta.xml file per object
   • All rules for the same object go in the same file
   • If appending to an existing file, add the new rule element inside the existing <SharingRules> root

8. Name the rule — derive <fullName> from the intent (PascalCase, no spaces, descriptive). Generate a matching <label> in Title Case with spaces.

9. Write the file to <packageDir>/sharingRules/<ObjectName>.sharingRules-meta.xml.

Phase 4 — Verify

10. Run the verification checklist below before presenting output.

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Verification Checklist

Universal Checks

• Does the file have the XML declaration and <SharingRules xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata"> root?
• Is there exactly one file per object with all rules inside it?
• Does <fullName> use PascalCase with no spaces?
• Is <label> present and human-readable?
• Is <accessLevel> one of Read or Edit?

Criteria Rule Checks

• Is <includeRecordsOwnedByAll> present (required boolean)?
• Does each <criteriaItems> have <field>, <operation>, and <value>?
• Are picklist values valid for the target org?

Guest Rule Checks CRITICAL

• Does <sharedTo> use <guestUser> (NOT <role> or <group>)?
• Is <includeHVUOwnedRecords> present (required boolean)?
• Is <includeRecordsOwnedByAll> ABSENT (only for criteria rules, not guest rules)?

Owner Rule Checks

• Does the rule have both <sharedFrom> and <sharedTo> elements?
• Do both use valid <role>, <roleAndSubordinates>, or <group> targets?

Account-Specific Checks CRITICAL

• If object is Account, is <accountSettings> present with all three sub-elements?
• Are <caseAccessLevel>, <contactAccessLevel>, <opportunityAccessLevel> all set?

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Rules / Constraints

Constraint	Rationale
One .sharingRules-meta.xml file per object	Platform requirement — multiple files cause deployment errors
Guest rules must use <guestUser> in sharedTo	Using <role> or <group> causes: "Specify a guest user's nickname for the guestUser field"
Account rules require <accountSettings>	Without it: "AccountSettings is required for account sharing rules"
includeRecordsOwnedByAll is required on criteria rules	Missing it causes: "Required field is missing: sharingCriteriaRules"
includeHVUOwnedRecords is required on guest rules	Missing it causes deployment failure
Criteria field values must exist as picklist values on the org	Invalid values cause: "Picklist value does not exist"
Never hardcode file paths — resolve from sfdx-project.json	Customer projects use custom package directories

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Gotchas

Issue	Resolution
Guest rule uses <role> instead of <guestUser>	Replace with <guestUser>CommunityNickname</guestUser>
Account rule missing accountSettings	Add <accountSettings> with all three access level sub-elements set to None
Criteria rule missing includeRecordsOwnedByAll	Add <includeRecordsOwnedByAll>true</includeRecordsOwnedByAll>
Picklist value mismatch	Query the org for valid values before generating criteria
Appending duplicates existing rule name	Check existing <fullName> values before writing
Guest user nickname not found	Query: SELECT CommunityNickname FROM User WHERE UserType='Guest' AND IsActive=true

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Output Expectations

Deliverables:

• <packageDir>/sharingRules/<ObjectName>.sharingRules-meta.xml — complete sharing rules file for the target object

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Cross-Skill Integration

Need	Delegate to
Permission set configuration	platform-permission-set-generate skill
Custom object creation (if target object doesn't exist)	platform-custom-object-generate skill

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Reference File Index

File	When to read
references/rule-types.md	Phase 2 — before generating any rule, to get the complete XML schema for each rule type