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Connecting Salesforce to AlphaSense

Kristin Mize
Updated

Connect your Salesforce account to securely connect your organization's CRM data

The Salesforce integration lets you securely connect your organization's CRM data — including standard and custom objects, files, knowledge articles, and activity history — to AlphaSense, so your team can search, analyze, and reference Salesforce records alongside market intelligence and external research. This is a real-time connection: AlphaSense queries Salesforce live at request time and does not ingest CRM data into its search index. Query results are retained in observability traces for 10 days before automatic deletion. 

The integration uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication: a Salesforce administrator installs the AlphaSense connected app in your org, and individual users then authorize under their own Salesforce identity. Because Salesforce enforces its own object-, field-, and record-level security on every API request, AlphaSense only surfaces records a user is already permitted to see.

Note: Salesforce-specific facts below (auth model, permissions, API limits) are drawn from Salesforce's official documentation. Items marked [CONFIRM] are AlphaSense product behaviors to verify against the live connector.

This article explains:

Before You Begin

  • You must have an active Salesforce account on an edition with API access (Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, or Developer Edition; Professional Edition requires the API add-on).
  • A Salesforce administrator with the Customize Application permission plus either Modify All Data or Manage Connected Apps is required to install the AlphaSense connected app in your Salesforce org.
  • Users will only see records, fields, and files they are already permissioned to access in Salesforce. The integration honors your org's profiles, permission sets, Organization-Wide Defaults, role hierarchy, and sharing rules on every request.

Step 1: Installation (Admin Only)

A Salesforce administrator must authorize the AlphaSense app and set who may use it before any user in the organization can connect.

  1. In AlphaSense, click the Integration icon on the left-hand toolbar to open the Integration Center.
  2. Locate the Salesforce tile and click Connect.
  3. You will be redirected to the Salesforce login page. Sign in with a System Administrator account.
  4. Salesforce presents the OAuth consent screen. Unlike other integrations, AlphaSense does not send explicit OAuth scopes in the Salesforce authorization request — the permissions granted to the app are determined entirely by the Connected App configuration in your Salesforce org's admin console. Review the permissions shown and click Allow.
  5. After approval, the AlphaSense connected app appears in your Salesforce org under Setup → Manage Connected Apps (Manage Access to a Connected App).
  6. Set the Permitted Users policy to control who can connect (Manage OAuth Access Policies):
    • All users may self-authorize — any user can authorize the app after logging in.
    • Admin approved users are pre-authorized (recommended) — only users with an assigned profile or permission set can use the app. Grant access by adding the app to the relevant profiles or permission sets.

Important: Individual users cannot connect their Salesforce accounts to AlphaSense until the administrator completes this installation step. Under Salesforce's deny-by-default security model for connected apps, uninstalled apps are blocked for most users.

Note: Switching Permitted Users from All users may self-authorize to Admin approved users are pre-authorized revokes existing authorizations unless a user is already granted access via a profile or permission set. Plan the change so users aren't unexpectedly cut off.

Step 2: Individual User Connection

Once the administrator has installed and authorized the connected app, each user can connect their own Salesforce account.

  1. In AlphaSense, open the Integration Center and click Connect on the Salesforce tile.
  2. Sign in with your Salesforce credentials (or SSO) when prompted.
  3. Review and approve the OAuth permissions.
  4. Your connection is now active. Each user connects under their own Salesforce identity, so the connection inherits that user's profile, permission sets, and record access.

If the org uses Admin approved users are pre-authorized, a user must have the app assigned via a profile or permission set, or the authorization will be blocked.

What's Accessible

Salesforce content is queried live — not ingested or stored. The connector is fully dynamic: it does not target a fixed list of objects. Instead, it can query any standard or custom object in your Salesforce org that the connecting user's profile and permission set grants read access to — including Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Cases, Activities, Knowledge articles, Files, and any custom objects. Only fields exposed by the user's field-level security are returned; hidden fields are never surfaced.

Capabilities

The MCP server exposes six tools that define what AlphaSense can do with Salesforce:

Tool What it does
salesforce_search_objects Search for standard and custom objects by name pattern (e.g., "Account" finds Account, AccountHistory). Uses Salesforce's describe API.
salesforce_describe_object Get detailed schema metadata for any object — all fields, types, relationships, and picklist values. Uses Salesforce's object describe API.
salesforce_query_records Query records from any object using SOQL, with field selection, filters, sorting, and relationship queries.
salesforce_aggregate_query Run GROUP BY queries with aggregate functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX) and HAVING clauses for statistical analysis.
salesforce_search_all Search across multiple objects simultaneously using SOSL (Salesforce Object Search Language), with per-object field selection and filters.
get_user_salesforce_domain Retrieve the Salesforce domain URL for a connected user.

How It Works

  • Real-time access. AlphaSense queries Salesforce at request time through the Salesforce REST API. Records are not ingested or indexed into AlphaSense's search index. Query results are retained in observability traces for 10 days before automatic deletion.
  • Permissions evaluated at query time. Salesforce applies object-, field-, and record-level security to every API call, so results mirror the connecting user's live access. Organization-Wide Defaults, role hierarchy, sharing rules, and manual shares all apply.
  • Most restrictive wins. When object- and record-level rules conflict, Salesforce applies the most restrictive outcome, and AlphaSense surfaces only what the user could see in Salesforce at the moment of the query.
  • OAuth tokens. AlphaSense uses the OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow with refresh tokens for ongoing access. Tokens are stored encrypted server-side and scoped to the minimum permissions required.
  • User mapping. The connector maps Salesforce users to their AlphaSense identities so each person's queries run under their own Salesforce permissions. [CONFIRM: exact sync scope and cadence for user mapping]

Items to Note

  • API request limits (Salesforce): Salesforce enforces a rolling 24-hour API request limit shared across REST, SOAP, Bulk, and Connect APIs. For Enterprise Edition it starts at 100,000 requests per 24 hours and scales with licenses (+1,000 per user license). It is a soft limit — your org can exceed it, but further calls may be throttled. Broad or high-frequency querying from AlphaSense draws against this org-wide pool.
  • App type: As of Spring '26, Salesforce recommends External Client Apps for new integrations. Existing connected apps continue to work.
  • Edition requirement: API access is included with Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer editions. Professional Edition requires the API add-on.

Review data security, architecture, and more at https://trust.alpha-sense.com/

Modify or Revoke Access

To change which users can use the app (admin):

  1. Go to Setup → Manage Connected Apps and open the AlphaSense app.
  2. Adjust the Permitted Users policy, or add/remove the app from the relevant profiles and permission sets (Manage OAuth Access Policies).
  3. Optionally set IP restrictions or refresh-token validity under OAuth Policies.

To disconnect (individual user):

  1. Click Disconnect on the Salesforce integration tile in AlphaSense.
  2. AlphaSense revokes the OAuth token and stops querying Salesforce. CRM data is not ingested into AlphaSense's search index. Query results retained in observability traces are automatically deleted after 10 days.

Individual users can disconnect at any time, which immediately revokes AlphaSense's access under their identity. Disconnecting one user does not affect the org-wide install or other users' connections.

To revoke access from Salesforce (admin):

  1. Go to Setup → Manage Connected Apps.
  2. Block or uninstall the AlphaSense app to revoke access for all users.
  3. To revoke a specific user's active session, navigate to Setup → Connected Apps → Manage Current Sessions and revoke the relevant token.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

I can't connect Salesforce in AlphaSense.

  • Confirm your admin has installed and authorized the app. If the org uses Admin approved users are pre-authorized, confirm the app is assigned to your profile or permission set.
  • Check that your Salesforce edition includes API access (Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, or Developer). Professional Edition requires the API add-on.

My authorization was suddenly revoked.

  • An admin may have switched the app's Permitted Users policy to Admin approved users are pre-authorized. Ask your admin to grant access via a profile or permission set. (Manage OAuth Access Policies)

I don't see records or fields I expect.

  • The connection honors your Salesforce permissions. Verify your profile/permission set grants object and field access, and that record-level sharing (OWD, role hierarchy, sharing rules) exposes those records to you.

A broad search is slow or returns partial results.

  • Live queries draw against your org's shared 24-hour API request pool. Near the limit, Salesforce throttles requests; narrow the query or retry later.

Are my Salesforce credentials shared with anyone?

  • No. OAuth tokens are stored encrypted server-side and used only to query the content you've authorized, in real time.

What happens to my data when I disconnect?

  • AlphaSense revokes the token and stops querying Salesforce. CRM data is not ingested into AlphaSense's search index. Query results retained in observability traces are automatically deleted after 10 days.

Sources

All Salesforce platform facts in this guide are drawn from Salesforce's official documentation:

AlphaSense product behaviors marked [CONFIRM] are not sourced from Salesforce and should be verified against the live connector before publishing.

By following this guide, you can set up and manage your Salesforce integration in AlphaSense while keeping your CRM data secure and accessible.

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