Preview Lightning Web Components Locally – A Useful Update from Summer ’25

Salesforce continues to enhance the developer experience with each new release, and the Summer ’25 update is no exception. One of the standout additions this time is a feature that developers have been asking for: the ability to preview Lightning Web Components (LWCs) locally, without needing to deploy them to a Salesforce org. This feature is currently in beta, but it already shows great potential in making the development process faster, smoother, and more developer-friendly.

What Exactly Is This Feature?

Previously, if you wanted to test how a Lightning Web Component looked or behaved, you had to deploy it to a Salesforce org—often a scratch org or sandbox—and then manually open the app page or record page where the component was placed. This process involved extra steps and could slow down development significantly.Now, with the local preview feature, developers can simply run a command from their local machine, and a browser window opens showing only the selected component. It runs in a simulated Salesforce environment, so you can interact with your component as if it were in the real system—but without actually logging into or deploying to Salesforce.

Why This Matters – Real Developer Problems, Real Solutions

Let’s say you’re building a custom LWC for a case form. You might make several changes in one day—tweaking the layout, updating the logic, fixing minor bugs. Each time, deploying the component to a scratch org just to view it slows you down. It also requires a constant internet connection, which isn’t always ideal.

This feature allows you to make changes and immediately view the results locally. No org login, no deployments, no delays. It’s a faster feedback loop, which means:

• You catch UI bugs sooner.
• You try out new ideas more freely.
• You focus on building, not deploying.

For many developers, this change may seem small at first—but over days and weeks, it saves hours of work.

Key Use Cases

Here are a few scenarios where local preview makes a big difference:

1. Rapid UI Prototyping
   You’re designing the front-end of a new component and want to experiment with colors, layouts, or responsiveness. The ability to instantly view changes on your screen, without logging into Salesforce, makes the design process much faster.
2. Learning and Practicing LWC
   If you’re new to Salesforce development, deploying every test component to an org can feel frustrating. With this feature, you can create and explore simple LWCs easily in your own development space.
3. Team Collaboration
   Working on a shared org sometimes causes conflicts—multiple people deploying and testing components can overwrite each other’s work. Local preview solves this by letting everyone work and test independently.
4. Offline or Low-Connectivity Work
   Since the preview runs locally, you don’t need to be online all the time. This is particularly useful if you’re coding while traveling or working from areas with poor connectivity.

How to Use It

To get started with local preview:

1. Make sure you have the Salesforce CLI installed.
2. You need a Salesforce DX project set up locally.

Run the following command in your terminal

sf lightning dev component --name yourComponentName

1. This command starts a local server and opens your browser to preview that specific LWC in isolation. You’ll see exactly how your component renders and behaves in a browser window, using the styles and logic defined in your code.

Things to Keep in Mind

• This is a beta feature, so you might come across some limitations or unexpected behaviors.
• Components that rely heavily on org data (like Apex calls, wire adapters, or record data) may not function fully in the local preview.
• Local preview works best for pure UI components or those with client-side logic.
• You still need an authenticated Salesforce environment to work with your DX project, but you don’t need to deploy components every time.

Developer Experience Reimagined

Salesforce has often been criticized for the friction in its development workflows compared to more modern front-end frameworks. This local preview capability is a clear step toward narrowing that gap. It aligns Salesforce development with what many developers are used to from other platforms—fast iteration, quick feedback, and working offline.

It also brings Salesforce development closer to standard web development practices, which is great for new developers transitioning into the ecosystem.

Final Thoughts

The Local Preview for Lightning Web Components is a productivity-focused feature that makes everyday development easier. It doesn’t replace your full deployment workflow, but to iterate faster and make better design and logic decisions without wasting time.

Whether you’re building a component for a customer portal, internal dashboard, or a complex business process, being able to test and debug locally means fewer interruptions and more focus on building the right solution. For anyone working regularly with LWCs, this is definitely a feature worth exploring. Please let use know your thought about Preview Lightning Web Components Locally.