Metadata that cannot be removed from a beta managed package

Question

In the Consideration for Installed Flows documentation it states:

You can’t delete flows from Managed - Beta package installations in development org

This came as a big surprise to me, as I thought that the whole point of using Beta packages was to be able to test them before committing to including the packaged metadata with a release.

Our continuous integration process is set up to automatically package a beta version when code is merged into our main branch. We are using first-generation Managed Packages.

Is there any other metadata that cannot be removed from a Beta package, or is this a flow-specific limitation? Does Salesforce have something like the Metadata Coverage Report that lists them?

Answer 1

I was not aware of the inability to remove flows (1GP beta), so thanks for sharing. However, I believe you are misunderstanding what this means. I believe this is simply saying that flows from 1GP or 2GP managed packages are not subscriber deleteable, rather than set in stone within the package itself when using betas.

In terms of other beta "gotchas", we found a serious flaw in handling picklist values in custom metadata type fields in 1GP managed packages - once the picklist field and CMT is released any further additions cannot be removed EVEN BEFORE creating a new managed or beta release. This is discussed on the partner forums here.

I am not aware of any resource that collects together such limitations.