Getting started with VeLens

VeLens is an AI-powered intelligence layer for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. It reads your org and answers questions with real data. Once you confirm, it takes action, so admins, developers, and marketers spend less time clicking through Marketing Cloud and more time getting work done.

VeLens comes in two parts, both backed by the same server-side brain: VeLens Cloud (the web app) and VeLens for Marketing Cloud (the Chrome extension). This guide covers getting started with each. You'll be running in about five minutes.

Choose your surface

Pick whichever fits how you work. They share one account, one connection, and one brain, so you can use both:

• VeLens Cloud: nothing to install on your machine. Open app.velens.cloud in any browser for the AI workspace, Org Health, and team controls. It can also appear inside Marketing Cloud, in SFMC's own app menu, once an admin adds VeLens to your tenant. That's a one-time setup an administrator does, not something each user installs.
• VeLens for Marketing Cloud: the Chrome extension. In-context tools that live right inside Marketing Cloud pages: command palette, lookups, and AI chat next to whatever you're looking at.

Install the extension

VeLens for Marketing Cloud installs like any other Chrome extension:

1. Add VeLens for Marketing Cloud from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Pin it to your toolbar so the popup is one click away.
3. Open the popup and accept the one-time privacy disclosure. VeLens does not touch Marketing Cloud until you do.
4. Open any Salesforce Marketing Cloud tab. The extension injects itself into the page automatically.
5. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+K to open the command palette and confirm it's live.

The command palette and in-page navigation work immediately and free, using the Marketing Cloud session you're already signed into, with no account and no connection required. Subscriber lookup, the error log, and everything AI-powered need the one-time Connect step below.

Connect your org

The AI layer and cross-business-unit features connect through the VeLens Installed Package in your Marketing Cloud account, using OAuth. There's nothing for you to create and no Client ID, Client Secret, or Auth Base URL to paste anywhere. It's a single "Connect SFMC" flow that takes about five minutes and establishes both your identity and secure API access.

Follow the step-by-step walkthrough in the connect guide. Once connected, AI Chat, the AI email tools, Query Studio AI, and cross-BU lookups all unlock.

You stay in control: revoke access at any time from SFMC Setup → Installed Packages, or disconnect straight from the extension popup or VeLens Cloud. Your credentials are stored encrypted at rest and the extension never holds your refresh tokens.

AI Chat

AI Chat is the agentic assistant at the center of VeLens. Open it from the floating toolbar on any Marketing Cloud page (or the AI Workspace in VeLens Cloud), then type a question or an instruction.

• Asks pull live data: "Why did the Welcome Series automation fail last night?" or "Which data extensions haven't been touched in 90 days?"
• Actions change something: "Draft a re-engagement email for lapsed subscribers" or "Create a template-based email in the Newsletters folder."

Every reply shows a tool trace: the exact tools the agent called, whether they succeeded, and how long they took. Nothing is a black box. You can see the data the agent worked from.

When you ask the agent to write or change something, it doesn't just do it. It proposes the change and waits: you'll see exactly what it plans to do, with a rendered preview for emails, and a Confirm / Cancel choice. Nothing is written to your org until you confirm.

Tools & actions

Behind the chat sits a registry of 19 purpose-built tools, split into two kinds:

• Reads: list automations and their run history, inspect data extension schemas and row counts, pull recent send performance and bounces, list journeys, business units, folders, and templates, and more. Reads run automatically as the agent works through your question.
• Writes: create or update emails, build a layout template, save a bookmark. Writes always propose first. The agent describes what it's about to do, you review it, and only your confirmation executes it. There's no auto-retry and no silent write.

Subscriber lookups deliberately never go through the AI. They run as a direct, no-LLM query from the Subscriber Lookup panel, so no subscriber record ever enters a model prompt.

Because you're viewing your own org, the agent only ever touches data your connected package has permission to reach.

Business units

VeLens is business-unit aware. In the extension it follows the BU you're currently viewing in Marketing Cloud, and in VeLens Cloud you pick the BU from a switcher. Answers and actions are scoped to that context automatically, with no accidental cross-BU writes.

When you move between business units in SFMC, VeLens keeps up. Certain read features, like subscriber lookup, can also search across the business units your package can access when you need the full picture.

Keyboard shortcuts

Three features have dedicated shortcuts; everything else opens from the floating toolbar.

VeLens Cloud (web app)

VeLens Cloud is the browser companion to the extension: same server-side intelligence layer, no extension required. Sign in with the same SFMC connection and you get:

• AI Workspace: the full agent chat, with a business-unit picker and the same write-confirmation guardrails.
• Org Health: a daily snapshot of contacts against your limit, send volume, automation failures, and active journeys.
• Features & Team: owners and admins can enable or disable features org-wide; owners manage member roles.

VeLens Cloud also opens inside Marketing Cloud, from SFMC's own app menu. It's the same app, signed in with the same connection, so your team can reach it without leaving the interface they already work in. An administrator adds VeLens to your Marketing Cloud tenant once to make it appear there; after that it's one click for everyone, with nothing for individual users to install.

If you've already connected the extension, VeLens Cloud recognizes the same organization, so there's nothing extra to set up.

Privacy & security

Privacy is a design constraint, not an afterthought:

• No subscriber row data ever reaches the model. The AI works from schemas, counts, headers, and errors only, never the contents of individual subscriber records. Cell values are masked at the tool boundary, before any result reaches the model or is stored in your conversation history.
• Credentials are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM, and the extension never holds your refresh tokens. They live server-side.
• Writes are confirm-gated. The agent can propose changes, but only your explicit confirmation writes them.

Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.

FAQ

Is VeLens free?

Yes, to start. The command palette and in-page navigation work the moment you install the extension, with no account and no connection required. Everything that reads your org through the API, including subscriber lookup, the error log, and all AI features, needs the one-time Connect step.

What do I get when I connect my org?

Connecting unlocks the API-backed features: AI Chat, subscriber lookup and the error log, send performance and engagement, the AI email editor and subject scorer, Query Studio AI, DE Inspector's AI descriptions, and cross-business-unit features. All of it runs server-side and needs the one-time OAuth connection.

Does it work on my stack?

Yes. VeLens works across every SFMC stack, including modern mc.exacttarget.com instances with no stack number, and it resolves the right SOAP and REST endpoints for your tenant automatically.

Is it affiliated with Salesforce?

No. VeLens is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Salesforce, Inc.

How do I revoke access?

Disconnect from the extension popup or VeLens Cloud, or revoke the Installed Package at any time from SFMC Setup → Installed Packages. Once revoked, VeLens can no longer reach your org.