What does "Clean Core" mean in the context of S/4HANA?

Clean Core is SAP's architectural principle of keeping the core S/4HANA system as close as possible to SAP's standard, unmodified delivery — pushing custom logic, extensions, and integrations out to extension platforms (primarily SAP BTP) rather than modifying core objects directly, and using only SAP-released, stable extension points (like released CDS Views and APIs) when extending in-app.

flowchart LR
    A[SAP Standard Core - unmodified] --> B[Released APIs / extension points]
    B --> C[Custom logic lives in BTP extensions or in-app extensibility]

The goal is a core system that can absorb SAP's regular updates and innovations without the risk, cost, and delay that heavy custom modifications historically introduced — essentially separating "what SAP maintains" from "what the customer builds" as cleanly as possible, rather than blending them together inside the same core codebase.

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