If Developer Console is missing from your Setup menu after the Winter ‘27 upgrade, or Web Console never showed up at all, the cause is usually one of two settings: a toggle on the new Web Console Setup page, or a permission your user doesn’t have. We tested both in a Developer Edition org that was upgraded to Winter ‘27 and in a full-copy sandbox, and the results differ in places from what several release write-ups describe.
The short answer
- From Setup, search Quick Find for Web Console and open the page.
- To get Developer Console back, switch Enable Developer Console to Active.
- To use Web Console, switch Enable Web Console to Active and make sure your user has both Web Console User and View All Data.
- Refresh the page. The gear menu updates after a reload.
What Winter ‘27 changed
Salesforce announced Web Console general availability in September 2026. It is a browser-based IDE built on VS Code for the Web, launched from the gear menu, and it handles Apex and LWC edits, SOQL, Anonymous Apex and debug logs. During the beta it stayed off until an admin enabled it.
Some coverage says Winter ‘27 switches Developer Console off by default. That isn’t what we saw. In our upgraded Developer Edition org, the gear menu still listed Developer Console after the upgrade, and Web Console didn’t appear until the permissions below were in place. Release behaviour can vary by org type and rollout wave, so check your own Setup page rather than assuming either default.
The two toggles
The Web Console Setup page has two independent switches. In our org, both were active once Web Console was set up.
| Enable Web Console | Enable Developer Console | What users get |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Inactive | Web Console only. Supported code-editing entry points launch Web Console. |
| Active | Active | Both consoles in the Setup menu. Developer Console stays an editing option alongside Web Console. |
| Inactive | Either | Developer Console remains the development tool, as it was before Winter ‘27. |
The page describes the Web Console toggle as giving access to users who hold both the Web Console User and View All Data permissions, so turning it on doesn’t expose anything to users without them.
Why Web Console isn’t in your menu
Two permissions are required, and the second is the one that surprises people. The Web Console User system permission carries this description in Setup: it allows the user to access Web Console and also requires the View All Data permission.
We tested the edge case. A user with Web Console User but without View All Data saw no Web Console entry in the gear menu. There was no error or explanation, just a missing menu item. If a developer tells you Web Console is missing while a colleague can see it, compare their View All Data first.
Web Console User is a system permission, set under Setup → Profiles → System Permissions or on a permission set. In our org, Web Console only appeared in the gear menu once that permission was enabled on the user’s profile, so if the menu entry is missing, check that checkbox before assuming the feature isn’t available.
In a sandbox, the permission may not be listed at all. That happens when the sandbox’s licenses are behind production’s. Go to Setup → Company Information, click Match Production Licenses, then check the profile’s system permissions again.
The View All Data catch
View All Data bypasses sharing entirely. Org-wide defaults, role hierarchy and sharing rules stop applying to that user, which the security model guide walks through layer by layer. So enabling Web Console for a team is really a decision to let that team read every record in the org.
That’s a reasonable trade in a sandbox. In production, treat it as an access-control decision:
- Grant Web Console User and View All Data through a dedicated permission set, and keep them off shared profiles.
- Assign that permission set only for the duration of the work, with an expiry date where your process allows it.
- Leave users who shouldn’t see all data on Developer Console, VS Code or Agentforce Vibes IDE.
Opening Developer Console when the menu entry is gone
The fastest fix is the toggle. When you can’t change it, there is a direct URL: append /_ui/common/apex/debug/ApexCSIPage to your My Domain URL.
In both orgs we tested, the URL opened Developer Console with its toggle switched off. It is an undocumented path, so keep it as a fallback and don’t build a process around it.
That result has a security consequence. Switching Developer Console off hid the menu entry, but the page itself still loaded for a user who could otherwise use it. If you need to stop someone using Developer Console, do it through their permissions, because the toggle only controls what the menu shows.
Salesforce also published a known issue for Winter ‘27 GovCloud preview sandboxes where Developer Console disappears from Lightning Experience. Its workarounds are the Classic user menu and the same direct URL, with Support as the last resort.
Web Console, Developer Console or Agentforce Vibes?
Salesforce positions the tools differently. Web Console is the lightweight option for quick edits, queries and debugging inside one org, and unlike Developer Console it can edit Lightning Web Components. Agentforce Vibes IDE is a full development environment for project work, and it appears as its own entry in the gear menu, so don’t mistake it for Web Console. Developer Console is still there if your team’s workflows depend on it.
Winter ‘27 brought other developer changes worth reading alongside this one: larger Apex heap limits and FORMULA() in the SOQL WHERE clause.
Checklist before you turn Web Console on
| Check | Where |
|---|---|
| Decide whether Developer Console stays available | Setup → Web Console → Enable Developer Console |
| List who will get View All Data, and why | The permission set you grant it through |
| Enable Web Console User on the profile or permission set | Setup → Profiles → System Permissions |
| In a sandbox where the permission isn’t listed, match licenses first | Setup → Company Information → Match Production Licenses |
| Tell developers where to find the new tool | Gear menu → Web Console |
| Re-check after the next release | The Web Console Setup page |