salesforce-common-errors

What this skill does

# Salesforce Common Errors

## Overview

Quick reference for the most common Salesforce API errors with real error codes, messages, and solutions.

## Prerequisites

- Salesforce connection established (jsforce or simple-salesforce)
- Access to Setup in your Salesforce org
- Familiarity with sObject field API names

## Instructions

### Step 1: Identify the Error

Check the `errorCode` field in the API response or the exception from jsforce.

### Step 2: Match to Error Below

---

### INVALID_LOGIN — Authentication Failed

```
[{"message":"INVALID_LOGIN: Invalid username, password, security token; or user locked out.","errorCode":"INVALID_LOGIN"}]
```

**Cause:** Wrong credentials or security token.
**Solution:**

```bash
# Reset security token: Setup > My Personal Information > Reset My Security Token
# Append token to password: password + securityToken
# Verify IP is whitelisted or token is appended
echo "Password format: ${SF_PASSWORD}${SF_SECURITY_TOKEN}"
```

---

### INVALID_FIELD — Wrong Field Name in SOQL

```
[{"message":"SELECT Id, FullName FROM Account\n                ^\nERROR: No such column 'FullName' on entity 'Account'","errorCode":"INVALID_FIELD"}]
```

**Cause:** Field API name does not exist on the sObject.
**Solution:**

```typescript
// Check available fields via describe
const meta = await conn.sobject('Account').describe();
const fieldNames = meta.fields.map(f => f.name);
console.log('Available fields:', fieldNames.join(', '));
// Common mistake: "FullName" vs "Name", "Email" on Account (doesn't exist — it's on Contact)
```

---

### MALFORMED_QUERY — SOQL Syntax Error

```
[{"message":"unexpected token: 'FORM'","errorCode":"MALFORMED_QUERY"}]
```

**Cause:** Typo in SOQL keywords or missing quotes.
**Solution:**

```sql
-- Wrong: SELECT Id FORM Account (typo)
-- Right: SELECT Id FROM Account

-- Wrong: WHERE Name = Acme (missing quotes)
-- Right: WHERE Name = 'Acme'

-- Wrong: WHERE CreatedDate > 2026-01-01 (needs literal format)
-- Right: WHERE CreatedDate > 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z
```

---

### REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING — Missing Required Fields on Create

```
[{"message":"Required fields are missing: [LastName]","errorCode":"REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING","fields":["LastName"]}]
```

**Cause:** Create/update missing a required field.
**Solution:**

```typescript
// Check required fields
const meta = await conn.sobject('Contact').describe();
const required = meta.fields
  .filter(f => !f.nillable && !f.defaultedOnCreate && f.createable)
  .map(f => f.name);
console.log('Required for create:', required);
// Contact requires: LastName
// Lead requires: LastName, Company
// Opportunity requires: Name, StageName, CloseDate
```

---

### INSUFFICIENT_ACCESS_OR_READONLY — Permission Issue

```
[{"message":"Insufficient access rights on cross-reference id","errorCode":"INSUFFICIENT_ACCESS_OR_READONLY"}]
```

**Cause:** User profile lacks CRUD permission or field-level security blocks access.
**Solution:** In Setup, check:

1. Profile > Object Permissions > verify CRUD for the sObject
2. Profile > Field-Level Security > verify field access
3. Sharing Rules if record-level access is denied
4. Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD) for the object

---

### REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED — API Limit Hit

```
[{"message":"TotalRequests Limit exceeded.","errorCode":"REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"}]
```

**Cause:** Org exceeded the 24-hour rolling API call limit.
**Solution:**

```typescript
// Check remaining API calls
const limits = await conn.request('/services/data/v59.0/limits/');
console.log('Daily API:', limits.DailyApiRequests);
// { Max: 100000, Remaining: 45230 }

// Enterprise Edition base: 100,000/24hr + 1,000 per user license
// Check: Setup > Company Information > API Requests, Last 24 Hours
```

---

### UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW — Record Locking Conflict

```
[{"message":"unable to obtain exclusive access to this record","errorCode":"UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW"}]
```

**Cause:** Another process is updating the same record simultaneously.
**Solution:** Retry with exponential backoff — this is transient.

```typescript
// This commonly occurs with triggers, workflows, or parallel bulk jobs
// Retry 3 times with increasing delay
await withRetry(() => conn.sobject('Account').update({ Id: id, Name: 'New Name' }));
```

---

### DUPLICATES_DETECTED — Duplicate Rule Triggered

```
[{"message":"Use one of these records?","errorCode":"DUPLICATES_DETECTED"}]
```

**Cause:** Salesforce Duplicate Rules matched existing records.
**Solution:**

```typescript
// Allow duplicates by setting header
const result = await conn.sobject('Lead').create(
  { LastName: 'Smith', Company: 'Acme', Email: '[email protected]' },
  { headers: { 'Sforce-Duplicate-Rule-Header': 'allowSave=true' } }
);
```

---

### FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION — Validation Rule Failed

```
[{"message":"Phone number must be 10 digits","errorCode":"FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION"}]
```

**Cause:** A validation rule on the sObject rejected the data.
**Solution:** Check Setup > Object Manager > [Object] > Validation Rules to see active rules and fix your data accordingly.

---

### ENTITY_IS_DELETED — Record in Recycle Bin

```
[{"message":"entity is deleted","errorCode":"ENTITY_IS_DELETED"}]
```

**Cause:** Record was soft-deleted and is in the Recycle Bin.
**Solution:**

```sql
-- Query deleted records with ALL ROWS
SELECT Id, Name, IsDeleted FROM Account WHERE Id = '001xx' ALL ROWS

-- Undelete via API
```

```typescript
await conn.sobject('Account').undelete('001xxxxxxxxxxxx');
```

## Quick Diagnostic Commands

```bash
# Check Salesforce system status
curl -s https://api.status.salesforce.com/v1/instances | jq '.[0]'

# Check org API limits via sf CLI
sf org display --target-org my-org

# List recent API errors in debug log
sf apex log list --target-org my-org
sf apex log get --log-id 07Lxx --target-org my-org
```

## Error Handling

| HTTP Status | Error Code | Retryable? |
|------------|------------|------------|
| 400 | MALFORMED_QUERY, INVALID_FIELD | No — fix query |
| 401 | INVALID_SESSION_ID | Yes — refresh token |
| 403 | REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED | Yes — wait and retry |
| 404 | NOT_FOUND | No — wrong ID or sObject |
| 409 | UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW | Yes — retry with backoff |
| 500 | UNKNOWN_EXCEPTION | Maybe — check SF status |

## Resources

- [Salesforce Status API](https://api.status.salesforce.com/)
- [REST API Error Responses](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/errorcodes.htm)
- [SOQL Date Literals](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.soql_sosl.meta/soql_sosl/sforce_api_calls_soql_select_dateformats.htm)
- [Salesforce Governor Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet.meta/salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet/salesforce_app_limits_platform_api.htm)

## Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see `salesforce-debug-bundle`.