MCETransformationsSettings Metadata Type Guide

Architectural Overview#

The MCETransformationsSettings metadata type manages organization-level feature flags that govern native interactions between Salesforce Flow Builder and Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE). As enterprise architectures increasingly unite core CRM events with real-time marketing orchestration, Salesforce provides direct declarative flow actions to trigger MCE transactional emails and push contacts into MCE Journeys.

MCETransformationsSettings serves as the governance boundary for these direct actions. By standardizing this setting across scratch orgs, sandboxes, and production environments, architects guarantee that automated flow actions dispatching messages via Marketing Cloud Engagement operate consistently without manual Setup toggling post-deployment.

Directory and File Conventions#

In the Salesforce DX project source format, MCETransformationsSettings follows the standard org settings decomposition rules. It resides in the settings/ folder and is packaged under the Settings type with member name MCETransformations.

Key Metadata Fields#

The MCETransformationsSettings schema defines four boolean attributes controlling Flow Builder integration capabilities:

Declarative XML and Package Manifest Examples#

Below is an enterprise configuration enabling full Flow Builder orchestration to Marketing Cloud Engagement:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MCETransformationsSettings xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <enableMceTransformations>true</enableMceTransformations>
    <enableMcetContactKeyOverride>true</enableMcetContactKeyOverride>
    <enableMcetSendToEmail>true</enableMcetSendToEmail>
    <enableMcetTriggerJourney>true</enableMcetTriggerJourney>
</MCETransformationsSettings>

Package Manifest (package.xml)#

When using manifest-driven deployments, retrieve or deploy MCETransformationsSettings under the parent Settings metadata type:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>MCETransformations</members>
        <name>Settings</name>
    </types>
    <version>68.0</version>
</Package>

CLI Retrieval and Deployment Commands#

Use the Salesforce CLI (sf) to retrieve and deploy MCETransformationsSettings:

# Retrieve MCETransformationsSettings from target org
sf project retrieve start --metadata Settings:MCETransformations

# Deploy MCETransformationsSettings to target org
sf project deploy start --metadata Settings:MCETransformations

# Deploy the entire settings folder
sf project deploy start --source-dir force-app/main/default/settings

Architect Best Practices and Gotchas#

• Deployment Dependency with Flows: If any Flow metadata in your deployment package leverages the Send to Journey or Send to MCE Email actions, deploy Settings:MCETransformations prior to or in the same transaction as the Flow. Deploying dependent flows to an org where enableMceTransformations is false results in compilation errors.
• Tenant API Connector Prerequisites: Turning on enableMceTransformations enables the UI actions, but executing calls requires a valid connected app and Marketing Cloud Engagement tenant integration token provisioned in Setup.
• ContactKey Governance: Use caution when enabling enableMcetContactKeyOverride. Overriding contact keys dynamically in flows can lead to duplicate contacts and billing consumption in Marketing Cloud Engagement if not aligned with your enterprise master data management (MDM) strategy.

Frequently asked questions

What does MCETransformationsSettings control in Salesforce?

It controls Flow Builder integrations with Marketing Cloud Engagement, governing whether flows can send emails, trigger journeys, and override recipient contact keys.

How is MCETransformationsSettings represented in package manifests?

It is deployed as a member of the Settings metadata type named MCETransformations in package.xml manifests.

What prerequisite is required before enabling journey triggers in flows?

The primary flag enableMceTransformations must be set to true before child toggles like enableMcetTriggerJourney take effect.

Where is the settings file stored in SFDX projects?

The metadata file is stored in force-app/main/default/settings/MCETransformations.settings-meta.xml.