CodeScan Rules Deactivation

Five CodeScan rules are being fully deactivated as of the 21st of September. Review your Quality Profiles and switch to the replacement rules listed below.

Upcoming Rule Deactivations: 5 Rules Retiring on the 21st of September 2026

Five CodeScan rules will be fully deactivated as of 21st September 2026. Each rule below has already been marked Deprecated and superseded by an improved rule with better or more accurate coverage.

How to check if you're affected

Rules subject to deactivation are highlighted in red next to the overall rule count within your Quality Profiles.

1. Navigate to Quality Profiles in CodeScan.
2. Look for rules highlighted in red next to the overall rule count within each profile.
3. Open any flagged rule to see its specific deactivation reason and recommended replacement.

Rules being deactivated

1. Custom fields must have a description field

Key: sfmeta:RequireDescriptionField

Language: Salesforce Metadata

Type: Code Smell

Why it's flagged Custom fields should have a description of their function to avoid confusion. This rule requires .object or .field-meta.xml metadata files to be downloaded.

Reason for deactivation All functionality has been folded into sfmeta:RequireDescriptionComponent.

Action: Remove this rule from your custom Quality Profile and add sfmeta:RequireDescriptionComponent instead.

2. Unnecessary Parentheses

Key: sf:UnnecessaryParentheses

Language: Apex

Type: Code Smell

Why it's flagged Expressions are sometimes wrapped in unnecessary parentheses, making them look like function calls.

Reason for deactivation Superseded by an improved rule covering the same code style concern.

Action: Remove this rule from your custom Quality Profile and add sf:UselessParentheses instead.

3. Use System.Assert instead of System.assertEquals

Key: sf:UseAssertInsteadOfAssertEquals

Language: Apex

Type: Code Smell

Why it's flagged When asserting that a value equals a boolean literal, System.assert should be used instead of System.assertEquals.

Reason for deactivation Salesforce now recommends using the Assert class for unit tests.

Action: Remove this rule from your custom Quality Profile and add sf:UseIsTrueInsteadOfAreEqual instead.

4. Use System.assertEquals instead of System.assert (equality via ==)

Key: sf:UseAssertEqualsInsteadOfAssertEquality

Language: Apex

Type: Code Smell

Why it's flagged This rule detects unit test assertions on object reference equality. Instead of using System.assert combined with == as the equality operator, assertions should use a more specific method like assertEquals.

Reason for deactivation Salesforce now recommends using the Assert class for unit tests.

Action: Remove this rule from your custom Quality Profile and add sf:UseAreEqualInsteadOfAssertBoolean instead.

5. Use System.assertEquals instead of System.assert (equality via .equals())

Key: sf:UseAssertEqualsInsteadOfAssert

Language: Apex

Type: Code Smell

Why it's flagged This rule detects unit test assertions on object reference equality. Instead of using System.assert combined with .equals() as an equality check, assertions should use a more specific method like assertEquals.

Reason for deactivation Salesforce now recommends using the Assert class for unit tests.

Action: Remove this rule from your custom Quality Profile and add sf:UseAreEqualInsteadOfIsTrue instead.

Quick reference table

Deprecated Rule	Rule ID	Replacement Rule
Custom fields must have a description field	sfmeta:RequireDescriptionField	sfmeta:RequireDescriptionComponent
Unnecessary Parentheses	sf:UnnecessaryParentheses	sf:UselessParentheses
Use System.Assert instead of System.assertEquals	sf:UseAssertInsteadOfAssertEquals	sf:UseIsTrueInsteadOfAreEqual
Use System.assertEquals instead of System.assert (==)	sf:UseAssertEqualsInsteadOfAssertEquality	sf:UseAreEqualInsteadOfAssertBoolean
Use System.assertEquals instead of System.assert (.equals())	sf:UseAssertEqualsInsteadOfAssert	sf:UseAreEqualInsteadOfIsTrue

What you need to do

1. Check your Quality Profiles for any of the five rules listed above.
2. If found, remove the deprecated rule and add its corresponding replacement rule.
3. Re-run your analysis to confirm the new rule is active and behaving as expected.

Questions? Contact us at [e-mail].