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:

# 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:

// 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:

-- 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:

// 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:

// 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.

// 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:

// Allow duplicates by setting header
const result = await conn.sobject('Lead').create(
  { LastName: 'Smith', Company: 'Acme', Email: 'smith@acme.com' },
  { 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:

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

-- Undelete via API

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

Quick Diagnostic Commands

# 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

Resources

• Salesforce Status API
• REST API Error Responses
• SOQL Date Literals
• Salesforce Governor Limits

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see salesforce-debug-bundle.