Retrieving CustomFields causes empty CustomObject to be retrieved

[mdonnalley]

Summary

(NOTE: created from internal slack thread)

With 2.36.8 or later, I am observing that even though I am trying to retrieve a customField, the CLI fetches the Object-meta.xml file as well and its overwriting the existing Object-meta.xml file by removing all the content of it and making it blank(and even though the file exists the state of the file is always fetched as created for object-meta.xml)

sf project retrieve start -m CustomField:Account_Plan__c.Products_Services__c -o qa

Retrieving v59.0 metadata from sgupta3@salesforce.com.artlr1qa1 using the v60.0 SOAP API
Preparing retrieve request... Succeeded

Retrieved Source
=====================================================================================================================================================
| State   Name                                 Type         Path                                                                                      
| ─────── ──────────────────────────────────── ──────────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 
| Changed Account_Plan__c.Products_Services__c CustomField  force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/fields/Products_Services__c.field-meta.xml 
| Created Account_Plan__c                      CustomObject force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml  

git diff force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml
diff --git a/force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml b/force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml
index d175c1808..d254e9b03 100644
--- a/force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml
+++ b/force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml
@@ -1,173 +1,2 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<CustomObject xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>Accept</actionName>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>Accept</actionName>
-        <formFactor>Large</formFactor>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>Accept</actionName>
-        <formFactor>Small</formFactor>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>CancelEdit</actionName>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>CancelEdit</actionName>
-        <formFactor>Large</formFactor>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>CancelEdit</actionName>
-        <formFactor>Small</formFactor>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>
-        <actionName>Clone</actionName>
-        <type>Default</type>
-    </actionOverrides>
-    <actionOverrides>

Expected result

Expected force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml to not be empty

Actual result

force-app/main/default/objects/Account_Plan__c/Account_Plan__c.object-meta.xml is empty

System Information

{
  "architecture": "darwin-x64",
  "cliVersion": "@salesforce/cli/2.39.6",
  "nodeVersion": "node-v21.7.1",
  "osVersion": "Darwin 23.4.0",
  "rootPath": "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/@salesforce/cli",
  "shell": "zsh",
  "pluginVersions": [
    "@oclif/plugin-autocomplete 3.0.16 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-commands 3.3.1 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-help 6.0.21 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-not-found 3.1.6 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-plugins 5.0.14 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-search 1.0.23 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-update 4.2.7 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-version 2.0.17 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-warn-if-update-available 3.0.15 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-which 3.1.8 (core)",
    "@salesforce/cli 2.39.6 (core)",
    "apex 3.1.9 (core)",
    "auth 3.6.3 (core)",
    "custom-metadata 3.1.16 (user)",
    "data 3.3.2 (core)",
    "deploy-retrieve 3.6.6 (core)",
    "info 3.2.3 (core)",
    "limits 3.3.4 (core)",
    "marketplace 1.2.4 (core)",
    "org 4.1.3 (core)",
    "packaging 1.26.4 (user)",
    "schema 3.3.4 (core)",
    "settings 2.2.1 (core)",
    "sobject 1.3.6 (core)",
    "source 3.3.3 (core)",
    "telemetry 3.3.4 (core)",
    "templates 56.2.4 (core)",
    "trust 3.6.6 (core)",
    "user 3.5.2 (core)",
    "@salesforce/sfdx-scanner 3.15.0 (user)",
    "sfdmu 4.30.0 (user)",
    "sfdx-git-delta 5.38.2 (user)",
    "vlocityestools 0.24.5 (user)"
  ]
}

Additional Information

Last working version was 2.35.6

Workaround: retrieve the object at the same time you're retrieving the field, or just retrieve the whole object instead of a single field

[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.

[github-actions]

Hello @mdonnalley 👋 None of the versions of sf you shared match the latest release.

Shared: 2.39.6
Latest: 2.40.7

Update to the latest version of Salesforce CLI (docs) and confirm that you're still seeing your issue.
You can also try the rc and nightly releases! (docs)

After updating, share the full output of sf version --verbose --json

[git2gus]

This issue has been linked to a new work item: W-15727064

[mdonnalley]

latest-rc (2.41.8) has been patched to include the fix for this

[jshackell-sfdc]

This issue is fixed in version 2.41.8 -- enjoy!

[Goobles]

This issue still exists in 2.42.6
I do not enjoy 😞

[aheber]

@shabu74, disclaimer, I'm not a maintainer and not an employee of Salesforce. Just another person who depends on these tools for their daily work.

Your words come across hurtful. If that wasn't your intention I hope you can appreciate how I see them. I can personally attest to the level of care that this team has for their product.

If you feel this isn't going well enough for you then please get involved and find a way to contribute. Testing, code fixes, whatever you think would help get a solution delivered faster.

It is wonderful that this is an open source project and is very special that we have such direct access to the developers and team. Please be respectful, I would be very sad if this team became less available due to poor public interactions. Please remember that your words are read by humans and can have a real impact, positive or negative.