What's the purpose of the SalesforceDX Namespace Registry Connected App?

Question

We have an existing Managed Package for which I'm setting up CI (continuous integration) with sfdx.

For packaging automation we will call force:source:convert followed by force:mdapi:deploy and ahead of this we'll need to authenticate with force:auth:jwt:grant.

To do so requires a Connected App configured for the JWT OAuth flow.

I have linked the package namespace using Namespace Registries in the DevHub and noticed that this results in a SalesforceDX Namespace Registry Connected App showing up in the packaging Org which I am able to install in the packaging Org in the usual way.

I inferred from this that this SalesforceDX Namespace Registry Connected App could be configured (with a self-signed-cert) and used for authentication during the CI process in any number of packaging Orgs.

However, I'm now unsure whether this is the case, since, having looked everywhere for specific documentation I can't find a mention of it.

Unfortunately I'm not a System Admin in the DevHub Org so I can't examine the existing configuration of the SalesforceDX Namespace Registry Connected App to gain any insights.

Answer 1

The Namespace Registry Connected App is the Connected App under which your Dev Hub authorizes to your packaging org. Completing this linkage allows your Dev Hub to spin up namespaced scratch orgs using the namespace owned by the packaging org. If you don't use namespaced scratch orgs, you don't need to connect the namespace registry.

You shouldn't try to reuse the Namespace Registry Connected App for JWT authentication in a CI process. Instead, follow the instructions in the Salesforce DX Developer Guide to create and configure a Connected App with a certificate. You'll use that certificate, and the Client Id of the Connected App you created, with the force:auth:jwt:grant command.