How to Remove Inaccessible Scratch Orgs from Your Local SFDX Configuration

By Yoonsoo Park | | 2 minutes
Salesforce DX Scratch Orgs SFDX

Introduction

If you’re working with Salesforce DX, you’re probably already familiar with the concept of Scratch Orgs. These are temporary Salesforce orgs where you can do your development and testing. But what happens when a scratch org that you’re done with still shows up in your local list, and attempts to remove it result in errors? This article aims to tackle precisely this issue.

Identifying the Problem

You run sfdx force:org:list and notice an org that you no longer need. When you try to remove it using sfdx force:org:delete, you get an error message like DomainNotFoundError or “The org cannot be found”. These issues often occur when the scratch org has already been deleted on the Salesforce side but still exists in your local SFDX configuration.

Symptoms:

  1. Running sfdx force:org:list displays the problematic scratch org.
    force-nforce-003jsL test-ry0x7ndfdivv@example.com 00D040000003jsLEAQ DomainNotFoundError
  2. Attempting to delete the org results in an error.
    ERROR running force:org:delete:  The org cannot be found

Solutions

1. Directly Remove from Local Configuration

Navigate to the .sfdx folder, usually located in your home directory. Inside, you’ll find orgs.json. Open it and manually remove the entry for the problematic scratch org.

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# Navigate to the .sfdx folder in your home directory
cd ~/.sfdx

# Open the orgs.json file in a text editor and manually remove the entry

2. Use sfdx force:org:list --clean

Running this command will clean your local list of orgs, removing any that it can’t find on the server.

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sfdx force:org:list --clean

3. Re-authenticate the Org (If Possible)

If the org still exists on the Salesforce server, sometimes re-authenticating can resolve these issues.

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sfdx force:auth:web:login -r https://test.salesforce.com -a My_Scratch_Org

After re-authenticating, try to delete the org again.

4. Use sfdx force:config:set

Set another default org to potentially resolve some edge cases.

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sfdx force:config:set defaultusername=mynewdefaultorg@example.com

Cheers! 🍺