sf community create command fails after taking the winter 26 update

[realstevenpowell]

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Summary

Since Oct 6th, when our devhub received the latest winter update, we've noticed the sf community create cli command consistently fails to create the site. Specifically, after running the command and querying the Id it returns, we find that the "Status" is always "Error" and it throws the message: "An unexpected error occurred. Try again or contact your Salesforce administrator for help."

If I hop into the same scratch org and manually create the site with the same exact settings, I find that it is created successfully.

In addition, I also noticed that the sf community create --help help text does not note that -p/--url-path-prefix is now a REQUIRED flag but when I run the actual sf community create command it will fail without the -p flag included. This is strange given if I manually create the site in my org with clickops, I can successfully create the site without including a url path prefix.

Here is my sf cli version:

$ sf --version
@salesforce/cli/2.108.6 darwin-arm64 node-v22.19.0

Steps To Reproduce

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• Generate a project with sf project generate or fork dreamhouse-lwc.
• Provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the issue.

To reproduce, spin up a scratch org with the winter update and run:
sf community create --name 'Example Site' --template-name 'Partner Central' --url-path-prefix ExampleSite --json -o <org-alias>
Then query for the status with:
sf data query --query "SELECT fields(all) FROM BackgroundOperation WHERE Id = '<id-here>' LIMIT 200" --json -o <org-alias>

Tip

use sf doctor --create-issue to automatically fill the required information

Expected result

I'd expect the site to be successfully created in my scratch org.

Actual result

The background operations errors

Additional information

System Information

PASTE_VERSION_OUTPUT_HERE

$ sf --version
@salesforce/cli/2.108.6 darwin-arm64 node-v22.19.0

[github-actions]

Hello @realstevenpowell 👋 It looks like you didn't include the full Salesforce CLI version information in your issue.
Please provide the output of version --verbose --json for the CLI you're using (sf or sfdx).

A few more things to check:

• Make sure you've provided detailed steps to reproduce your issue.
  • A repository that clearly demonstrates the bug is ideal.
• Make sure you've installed the latest version of Salesforce CLI. (docs)
  • Better yet, try the rc or nightly versions. (docs)
• Try running the doctor command to diagnose common issues.
• Search GitHub for existing related issues.

Thank you!

[github-actions]

Thank you for filing this issue. We appreciate your feedback and will review the issue as soon as possible. Remember, however, that GitHub isn't a mechanism for receiving support under any agreement or SLA. If you require immediate assistance, contact Salesforce Customer Support.

[realstevenpowell]

$ sf version --verbose --json
{
  "architecture": "darwin-arm64",
  "cliVersion": "@salesforce/cli/2.108.6",
  "nodeVersion": "node-v22.19.0",
  "osVersion": "Darwin 24.6.0",
  "rootPath": "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@salesforce/cli",
  "shell": "zsh",
  "pluginVersions": [
    "@oclif/plugin-autocomplete 3.2.35 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-commands 4.1.33 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-help 6.2.33 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-not-found 3.2.68 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-plugins 5.4.47 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-search 1.2.31 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-update 4.7.7 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-version 2.2.33 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-warn-if-update-available 3.1.48 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-which 3.2.40 (core)",
    "@salesforce/cli 2.108.6 (core)",
    "agent 1.24.13 (core)",
    "apex 3.8.1 (core)",
    "api 1.3.3 (core)",
    "auth 3.9.8 (core)",
    "community 3.3.1 (user) published 347 days ago (Fri Oct 25 2024) (latest is 3.3.41)",
    "data 4.0.57 (core)",
    "deploy-retrieve 3.23.3 (core)",
    "functions 1.23.0 (user) published 582 days ago (Tue Mar 05 2024)",
    "info 3.4.88 (core)",
    "limits 3.3.67 (core)",
    "marketplace 1.3.8 (core)",
    "org 5.9.30 (core)",
    "packaging 1.27.10 (user) published 663 days ago (Thu Dec 14 2023) (latest is 2.20.5)",
    "schema 3.3.82 (core)",
    "settings 2.4.48 (core)",
    "signups 2.3.10 (user) published 486 days ago (Sun Jun 09 2024) (latest is 2.6.49)",
    "sobject 1.4.73 (core)",
    "telemetry 3.6.57 (core)",
    "templates 56.3.65 (core)",
    "trust 3.7.113 (core)",
    "user 3.6.38 (core)"
  ]
}

[iowillhoit]

Hey @realstevenpowell, I just ran our plugin-community integration tests against a Winter 25 (v65) org and did not have any issues.

It looks like you have a "user installed" version of community that is almost a year old. Try uninstalling that with sf plugins uninstall @salesforce/plugin-community. Next time you run a community command, the latest version of that plugin will automatically be installed since it is a JIT (just in time) plugin.

[realstevenpowell]

Yo! @iowillhoit I appreciate the follow up!
I gave your suggestion a try but it looks like the sf community create request is still returning errors on the winter 25 release.

Here I can see it installing the community plugin on the fly (after removing it first):

$ sf community create --name 'Example' --template-name 'Partner Central' -p "Example" --json -o winter
@salesforce/cli: Installing plugin community@3.3.41... installed v3.3.41
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "message": "Your Site is being created.",
    "name": "Example",
    "jobId": "08PEk00000UaC4dMAF",
    "action": "Site creation is under way. To track its status, query the BackgroundOperation object and include the jobId."
  },
  "warnings": []
}

But the job Id returns the Error status:

$ sf data query --query "SELECT Status,Error FROM BackgroundOperation WHERE Id = '08PEk00000UaC4dMAF' LIMIT 200" --json -o winter
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "records": [
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "BackgroundOperation",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/BackgroundOperation/08PEk00000UaC4dMAF"
        },
        "Status": "Error",
        "Error": "An unexpected error occurred. Try again or contact your Salesforce administrator for help."
      }
    ],
    "totalSize": 1,
    "done": true
  },
  "warnings": []
}

[realstevenpowell]

@iowillhoit
Actually I think the issue is specifically with the "Partner Central" template.
If I run the same sf community create command referencing the "Aloha" template (which ya'll have in that integration test), then the site is created successfully.

Example:

$ sf community create --name 'Example' --template-name 'Aloha' -p "Example" --json -o winter
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "message": "Your Site is being created.",
    "name": "Example",
    "jobId": "08PEk00000UaVbuMAF",
    "action": "Site creation is under way. To track its status, query the BackgroundOperation object and include the jobId."
  },
  "warnings": []
}

$ sf data query --query "SELECT Status,Error FROM BackgroundOperation WHERE Id = '08PEk00000UaVbuMAF' LIMIT 200" --json -o winter
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "records": [
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "BackgroundOperation",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/BackgroundOperation/08PEk00000UaVbuMAF"
        },
        "Status": "Complete",
        "Error": null
      }
    ],
    "totalSize": 1,
    "done": true
  },
  "warnings": []
}

[iowillhoit]

Hey @realstevenpowell, are you able to create a "Partner Central" community using the web UI in a Winter 25 org?
If not, you'll need to open a support case for this one since the CLI team doesn't own any of the community templates. If you do, it would be helpful to link to it here so that others could reference it in the future.

[prakash-concret]

I encountered a similar issue with the Custom Service template. I can confirm that I’m able to successfully create the “Custom Service” community through the user interface, but not via the CLI after the Winter release.

sf community create --name 'Example Test' --template-name 'Customer Service' -p "ExampleTest" --json -o element__dev 
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "message": "Your Site is being created.",
    "name": "Example Test",
    "jobId": "08POv00000outGPMAY",
    "action": "Site creation is under way. To track its status, query the BackgroundOperation object and include the jobId."
  },
  "warnings": []
}

sf data query --query "SELECT Status,Error FROM BackgroundOperation WHERE Id = '08POv00000outGPMAY' LIMIT 200" --json -o element__dev

{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "records": [
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "BackgroundOperation",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/BackgroundOperation/08POv00000outGPMAY"
        },
        "Status": "Error",
        "Error": "An unexpected error occurred. Try again or contact your Salesforce administrator for help."
      }
    ],
    "totalSize": 1,
    "done": true
  },
  "warnings": []
}

[realstevenpowell]

Apologies on my previous typos. I meant to say that we're experiencing this error on Winter 26 orgs.
Regarding:

Hey @realstevenpowell, are you able to create a "Partner Central" community using the web UI in a Winter 25 org?

I have confirmed that I can successfully create the community using the org web interface. It only fails when attempting to create the site with the sf cli.

I have also opened a case with salesforce support.