Secure Salesforce with Heroku App Link

While Salesforce is the heart of your business data, there are times you need more specialised power; like high-speed AI, complex calculations, or unique tools built in languages like Python or Ruby, often through an AppExchange addon.

Traditionally, connecting these “outside” tools to your Salesforce “inside” was complicated and risky. Heroku App Link is the modern solution that creates a secure, managed bridge between these two worlds.

What is Heroku App Link?

Heroku App Link is a digital “secure gateway” that connects your Salesforce org to applications running on Heroku. It allows your team to take custom code and turn it into native Salesforce actions that can be used inside Flow, Apex, and Agentforce.

Instead of dealing with 14 or more complex technical steps to sync systems, App Link handles the “plumbing” automatically. It manages the authentication, validates every request, and ensures that data flows only where it is supposed to go.

How does it work with Heroku?

App Link is a specialised add-on that sits within the Heroku platform. When you use it, Heroku places a “service mesh”—think of it as a 24/7 digital security guard—in front of your application. This relationship allows your business to:

• Use any language: Your developers can build in Ruby, Node.js, Python, or Go, and those tools will work perfectly inside Salesforce.
• Scale effortlessly: Heroku handles the heavy computing power and infrastructure so your Salesforce environment stays fast and responsive.
• Maintain central control: Even though the app lives on Heroku, Salesforce admins can see and manage the connection directly from the Salesforce Setup screen.

Why Your Business Needs App Link (The Value)

The biggest risk in modern software is the “forever key”, long-lived digital tokens that attackers can steal to gain permanent access to your data. Heroku App Link eliminates this danger to keep your business safe:

• Keys that expire: App Link replaces permanent keys with "short-lived credentials" that expire quickly, making stolen tokens useless to hackers.
• Private connections: Instead of leaving your app open on the public internet, the service mesh ensures that only your specific Salesforce org can talk to your app.
• Permission matching: You can set the app to "User Mode," meaning it only has access to the exact same information as the person currently logged in.
• Reduced "Blast Radius": Because every connection is tied to a specific org and expires fast, the risk of a major data breach is significantly lowered.

This solves the one obvious problem with Salesforce security - the third party applications not written by Salesforce, but having access to your data (such as App Exchange addons or other third party connections).

How to get started using App Link

Setting up a secure connection shouldn’t be a headache. By using Heroku App Link, we can help you unlock the full power of the Salesforce ecosystem including the latest AI agents, without ever compromising your security.

Contact reinteractive today to have our experts set up Heroku App Link for your organisation. We’ll handle the technical setup so you can focus on building a better business.