sf project retrieve start OOM crash when package.xml contains any CustomLabel member.

[AnonyEastRainbow]

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Summary

sf project retrieve start --manifest crashes with JavaScript heap out of memory whenever the manifest contains any CustomLabel member. Even requesting a single label triggers the crash. Removing all CustomLabel members from the manifest allows the retrieve to succeed.

Steps To Reproduce

IMPORTANT
Provide a repository that's configured to reproduce the issue. If you are unable to provide a repo, please explain why not. The more info we have from the start, the faster we can resolve your issue.
We may close your issue if you don't include proper instructions.

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

1. Create a package.xml with some CustomLabel.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>BDM</members>
        <name>CustomLabel</name>
    </types>
    <version>67.0</version>
</Package>

2. Run sf project retrieve start --manifest "manifest\package.xml"
3. CLI reaches [3/4] Waiting for the org to respond, the elapsed time counter stops incrementing after 5 - 15 seconds. The process appears frozen at this point.
4. After several minutes, the process crashes with OOM.

Tip

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

Expected result

Retrieve completes successfully for the requested label.

Actual result

CLI reaches [3/4] Waiting for the org to respond, the elapsed time counter stops incrementing after 5 - 15 seconds. The process appears frozen at this point. After several minutes, the process crashes with OOM. Console output NodeJS GC errors.

Retrieving v67.0 metadata from [username] using the v67.0 SOAP API

 - [3/4] Waiting for the org to respond 3.79s

 Status: Pending
 Elapsed Time: 5.09s


<--- Last few GCs --->

[17524:000001A159E1C000]   160456 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 4094.6 (4110.0) -> 4093.2 (4109.3) MB, pooled: 0 MB, 14.63 / 0.00 ms  (+ 5.0 ms in 15 steps since start of marking, biggest step 5.0 ms, walltime since start of marking 22 ms) (average mu = 0.321[17524:000001A159E1C000]   160486 ms: Mark-Compact 4095.2 (4110.5) -> 4090.2 (4110.2) MB, pooled: 1 MB, 26.66 / 0.00 ms  (average mu = 0.215, current mu = 0.111) allocation failure; scavenge might not succeed

FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
----- Native stack trace -----

 5: 00007FF652CE116C v8::internal::StrongRootAllocatorBase::deallocate_impl+16604
 6: 00007FF652CE09AB v8::internal::StrongRootAllocatorBase::deallocate_impl+14619
 7: 00007FF6545B24AD node::AsyncResource::CallbackScope::CallbackScope+2184429
 8: 00007FF652CCBFC0 uv_udp_get_send_queue_count+44896
 9: 00007FF652CE681A X509_STORE_set_cleanup+5098
10: 00007FF652CF2CB6 uv_timer_set_repeat+20694
11: 00007FF6528C3907 v8::CodeEvent::GetFunctionName+131959
12: 000001A11FE77A10

Additional information

1.The target org contains thousands of Custom Labels.
2.The local project's force-app/main/default/labels/ directory contains several large label files (500KB+ each)..
3.The crash occurs regardless of how many CustomLabel members are specified (1 or 150 — same result).
4.Removing CustomLabel type entirely from the manifest allows retrieve to succeed.

System Information

CLI:
@salesforce/cli/2.145.6 win32-x64 node-v24.18.0

Plugin Version:
@oclif/plugin-autocomplete 3.2.53 (core)
@oclif/plugin-commands 4.1.60 (core)
@oclif/plugin-help 6.2.53 (core)
@oclif/plugin-not-found 3.2.88 (core)
@oclif/plugin-plugins 5.4.84 (core)
@oclif/plugin-search 1.2.53 (core)
@oclif/plugin-update 4.7.55 (core)
@oclif/plugin-version 2.2.50 (core)
@oclif/plugin-warn-if-update-available 3.1.68 (core)
@oclif/plugin-which 3.2.58 (core)
@salesforce/cli 2.145.6 (core)
agent 1.44.5 (core)
apex 3.9.39 (core)
api 1.3.50 (core)
auth 4.4.7 (core)
code-analyzer 5.12.0 (user)
custom-metadata 3.3.101 (user)
data 4.0.112 (core)
deploy-retrieve 3.24.59 (core)
info 3.4.151 (core)
limits 3.3.102 (core)
marketplace 1.3.41 (core)
org 5.11.22 (core)
packaging 2.30.4 (core)
schema 3.3.129 (core)
settings 2.4.96 (core)
sobject 1.4.123 (core)
telemetry 3.8.31 (core)
templates 56.19.0 (core)
trust 3.8.38 (core)
user 3.10.7 (core)
sfdx-git-delta 6.31.0 (user)

SF ENV. VARS.
SF_AUTOUPDATE_DISABLE,true
SF_DISABLE_AUTOUPDATE,true
SF_UPDATE_INSTRUCTIONS,Use "npm update --global @salesforce/cli" to update npm-based installations.

Windows: true
Shell: powershell
Channel: stable

---

Diagnostics

✅ pass - salesforcedx plugin isn’t installed
✅ pass - you don't have any linked plugins
✅ pass - http_proxy and HTTP_PROXY environment variables match
✅ pass - no_proxy and NO_PROXY environment variables match
❌ warn - no_proxy and/or NO_PROXY environment variables set
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-trust] can ping: https://registry.npmjs.org
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-trust] can ping: https://registry.yarnpkg.com
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-trust] can ping: https://registry.npmmirror.com/
✅ pass - using latest or latest-rc CLI version
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-deploy-retrieve] sourceApiVersion matches apiVersion
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-deploy-retrieve] sourceApiVersion matches default target org max apiVersion
✅ pass - can access: https://test.salesforce.com
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-auth] CLI supports v2 crypto
✅ pass - [@salesforce/plugin-auth] CLI using stable v1 crypto
❌ fail - can't access: https://appexchange.salesforce.com/services/data
✅ pass - can access: https://developer.salesforce.com/media/salesforce-cli/sf/channels/stable/sf-win32-x64-buildmanifest

System Information

{
  "architecture": "win32-x64",
  "cliVersion": "@salesforce/cli/2.145.6",
  "nodeVersion": "node-v24.18.0",
  "osVersion": "Windows_NT 10.0.26200",
  "rootPath": "C:\\Development\\nodejs\\node_modules\\@salesforce\\cli",
  "shell": "powershell",
  "pluginVersions": [
    "@oclif/plugin-autocomplete 3.2.53 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-commands 4.1.60 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-help 6.2.53 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-not-found 3.2.88 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-plugins 5.4.84 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-search 1.2.53 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-update 4.7.55 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-version 2.2.50 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-warn-if-update-available 3.1.68 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-which 3.2.58 (core)",
    "@salesforce/cli 2.145.6 (core)",
    "agent 1.44.5 (core)",
    "apex 3.9.39 (core)",
    "api 1.3.50 (core)",
    "auth 4.4.7 (core)",
    "code-analyzer 5.12.0 (user) published 95 days ago (Mon Apr 27 2026) (latest is 5.15.0)",
    "custom-metadata 3.3.101 (user) published 82 days ago (Sun May 10 2026) (latest is 4.0.0)",
    "data 4.0.112 (core)",
    "deploy-retrieve 3.24.59 (core)",
    "info 3.4.151 (core)",
    "limits 3.3.102 (core)",
    "marketplace 1.3.41 (core)",
    "org 5.11.22 (core)",
    "packaging 2.30.4 (core)",
    "schema 3.3.129 (core)",
    "settings 2.4.96 (core)",
    "sobject 1.4.123 (core)",
    "telemetry 3.8.31 (core)",
    "templates 56.19.0 (core)",
    "trust 3.8.38 (core)",
    "user 3.10.7 (core)",
    "sfdx-git-delta 6.31.0 (user) published 168 days ago (Fri Feb 13 2026) (latest is 6.45.1)"
  ]
}

[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.

[iowillhoit]

Hey @AnonyEastRainbow, trying to narrow this down. If you create a fresh scratch org, create a single custom label in the org, and then try to retrieve with a manifest, does it still error?

Is this failing on other operating systems? Mac or Linux?

Did this work on a previous version of the CLI? If so, what was the most recent version that worked for you?