Universal Containers (UC) works with different partners and has few admin resources that take care of the day-to-day deployment tasks. As a result…

When automating deployments with the Metadata API, it is critical to consider its governing limits. The API imposes a strict limit on the size and contents of the deployment package. The total size of the uncompressed files in the deployment package (.zip file) cannot exceed 400 MB, and the compressed .zip file itself must not exceed 39 MB (C). Additionally, a single deploy or retrieve call is limited to a maximum of 10,000 files (D). These constraints require architects to design deployment strategies that may involve breaking large changes into smaller, independent packages to stay within these limits.

A. The 10,000 file limit applies equally to both deploy and retrieve operations; you cannot retrieve more files than you can deploy in a single transaction.
B. 400 MB is the limit for the uncompressed contents of the package, not the deployed .zip file itself, which is limited to 39 MB.

1. Salesforce Metadata API Developer Guide, "Metadata API Limits". This section explicitly states: "The maximum size of the deployed .zip file is 39 MB." and "The maximum number of files in a deployed .zip file is 10,000." This directly supports options C and D.

2. Salesforce Metadata API Developer Guide, deploy() call documentation. The documentation for the deploy() call references the overall limits, reinforcing that the call is subject to the 39 MB zip size and 10,000 file count restrictions.