---
title: "Getting started with the Force.com APIs for the Hackathon"
description: "With a Salesforce hackathon approaching, the guide introduces the Force.com APIs as a way to build applications using Salesforce1’s authentication, data storage, and business rule services. It compares native Salesforce1 applications, connected web applications using SOAP or REST, and three mobile patterns, including hybrid extensions, native iOS or Android clients, and a “force.com proxy” model. For hands-on setup, it recommends a free Developer Edition account and Salesforce Workbench, then explains OAuth2 web flow and password-plus-token login before showing Ruby with Restforce and Node.js with Nforce. The examples configure a Connected App, keep credentials in environment variables, query records with SOQL, and create Account records, providing a practical starting path for API integration."
---

# Getting started with the Force.com APIs for the Hackathon

[Heroku](https://yomu.fyi/company/heroku) · Scott Persinger · Oct 7, 2014

**Type:** Tutorial

## Summary

With a Salesforce hackathon approaching, the guide introduces the Force.com APIs as a way to build applications using Salesforce1’s authentication, data storage, and business rule services. It compares native Salesforce1 applications, connected web applications using SOAP or REST, and three mobile patterns, including hybrid extensions, native iOS or Android clients, and a “force.com proxy” model. For hands-on setup, it recommends a free Developer Edition account and Salesforce Workbench, then explains OAuth2 web flow and password-plus-token login before showing Ruby with Restforce and Node.js with Nforce. The examples configure a Connected App, keep credentials in environment variables, query records with SOQL, and create Account records, providing a practical starting path for API integration.

## Context

The Salesforce hackathon is approaching, and the Force.com APIs are broad enough that getting started can seem daunting. The guide focuses on core APIs and connected applications while noting that additional APIs, Apex, and Visualforce are outside its scope.

## Approach / What changed

The guide presents web and mobile application patterns, recommends experimenting with a free Developer Edition account and Salesforce Workbench, explains OAuth2 and password-plus-security-token authentication, and demonstrates API access in Ruby with Restforce and Node.js with Nforce. It also covers Connected App credentials, environment variables, SOQL queries, and record creation.

## Takeaways

- Force.com APIs provide authentication, data storage, business rules, querying, record creation or updates, free-text search, and application-specific data storage; authenticated users’ Salesforce data access rules are applied to queries and record changes.
- A Connected App supplies the OAuth consumer key and secret, while API access may also require a redirect URI, username, password, and security token. The guide recommends storing these values in environment variables.
- The examples use SOQL to retrieve Account records and show how to create an Account record with Restforce in Ruby or Nforce in Node.js.

**Tags:** [Force.com](https://yomu.fyi/topic/force-com), [Node.js](https://yomu.fyi/topic/node-js), [OAuth 2.0](https://yomu.fyi/topic/oauth-2-0), [REST APIs](https://yomu.fyi/topic/rest-api), [Ruby](https://yomu.fyi/topic/ruby)

- Source: [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/blog/hackathon-force-getting-started)
- Source URL: https://www.heroku.com/blog/hackathon-force-getting-started
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-09T14:23:35.048Z

[Read original post](https://www.heroku.com/blog/hackathon-force-getting-started)