I have reproduced the issue on the latest CLI version.
Yes, I am on the latest version
I have searched existing posts and this report is not a duplicate.
Yes, this isn’t a duplicate
In which of these areas are you experiencing a problem?
App
Expected behavior
shopify app deploy --force should successfully release a new app version for a theme app extension, as it did previously with the same configuration.
Actual behavior
Deploy fails with inconsistent error messages:
- First attempt: “name” is not a permitted key
- Subsequent attempts: At least one specification (.toml OR .json) file is required
Reproduction steps
- Have a theme app extension with this shopify.extension.toml:
name = “variant-images”
uid = “807f7879-75be-1e79-0a44-49a658ceb53e70bedaa6”
type = “theme” - Run shopify app deploy --force
- Deploy fails at “Releasing an app version” stage
Verbose output
Releasing an app version …
2026-03-18T22:45:23.631Z: Request to https://app.shopify.com/app_management/unstable/graphql.json completed in 8773 ms
With response headers:
- content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8
- server-timing: processing;dur=8367, verdict_flag_enabled;desc=“count=5”;dur=0.583, _y;desc=“c5ec8492-ed24-402c-92c6-09252773bc38”, _s;desc=“81bdb001-8117-4b0e-8cd7-4b7022a19be5”
╭─ error ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ │
│ Version couldn’t be created. │
│ │
│ At least one specification (.toml OR .json) file is required │
│ │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
2026-03-18T22:45:23.641Z: Running system process:
· Command: npm prefix
· Working directory: /Users/umid/projects/rubik-prod
2026-03-18T22:45:23.769Z: Obtaining the dependency manager in directory /Users/umid/projects/rubik-prod…
2026-03-18T22:45:24.283Z: Request to https://monorail-edge.shopifysvc.com/v1/produce completed in 427 ms
With response headers:
- x-request-id: c7559c5b-11ee-4b4b-ab3a-cde4c8dc6912
2026-03-18T22:45:24.285Z: Analytics event sent: {
“command”: “app deploy”,
“time_start”: 1773873909385,
“time_end”: 1773873923637,
“total_time”: 14252,
“success”: false,
“cli_version”: “3.84.2”,
“ruby_version”: “”,
“node_version”: “24.3.0”,
“is_employee”: false,
“uname”: “darwin arm64”,
“env_ci”: false,
“env_plugin_installed_any_custom”: false,
“env_plugin_installed_shopify”: “["@shopify/cli"]”,
“env_shell”: “zsh”,
“env_device_id”: “88078abc3f8ba418c7a5dde37f5e8a96a04530d3”,
“env_cloud”: “localhost”,
“env_package_manager”: “npm”,
“env_is_global”: true,
“env_auth_method”: “device_auth”,
“env_is_wsl”: false,
“env_build_repository”: “Shopify/cli”,
“cmd_app_warning_api_key_deprecation_displayed”: false,
“cmd_deploy_flag_message_used”: false,
“cmd_deploy_flag_version_used”: false,
“cmd_deploy_flag_source_url_used”: false,
“cmd_app_all_configs_any”: true,
“cmd_app_all_configs_clients”: “{"shopify.app.toml":"60dbfff985e0a22fb291f1932a8ed6d4"}”,
“cmd_app_linked_config_used”: true,
“cmd_app_linked_config_name”: “shopify.app.toml”,
“cmd_app_linked_config_git_tracked”: true,
“cmd_app_linked_config_source”: “cached”,
“app_extensions_any”: true,
“app_extensions_breakdown”: “{"theme":1,"admin_link":1}”,
“app_extensions_count”: 2,
“app_extensions_custom_layout”: false,
“app_extensions_function_any”: false,
“app_extensions_function_count”: 0,
“app_extensions_theme_any”: true,
“app_extensions_theme_count”: 1,
“app_extensions_ui_any”: false,
“app_extensions_ui_count”: 0,
“app_name_hash”: “7fb903ff10089cb9143c5b3fc72e56b65a07d738”,
“app_path_hash”: “4625f06375b3c00c8505c58d0eced2ea417d61ac”,
“app_scopes”: “["read_products","read_themes","write_metaobject_definitions","write_metaobjects","write_products"]”,
“app_web_backend_any”: false,
“app_web_backend_count”: 0,
“app_web_custom_layout”: false,
“app_web_frontend_any”: false,
“app_web_frontend_count”: 0,
“env_package_manager_workspaces”: true,
“business_platform_id”: 129347402,
“api_key”: “****”,
“cmd_app_reset_used”: false,
“cmd_deploy_include_config_used”: true,
“cmd_deploy_config_modules_breakdown”: “["access","access_scopes","application_url","auth","embedded","handle","metafields","metaobjects","name","pos","product","webhooks"]”,
“cmd_all_timing_network_ms”: 12850,
“cmd_all_timing_prompts_ms”: 0,
“cmd_all_launcher”: “npm”,
“cmd_all_topic”: “app”,
“cmd_all_plugin”: “@shopify/app”,
“cmd_all_force”: true,
“cmd_all_verbose”: true,
“cmd_all_path_override”: true,
“cmd_all_path_override_hash”: “4625f06375b3c00c8505c58d0eced2ea417d61ac”,
“cmd_all_last_graphql_request_id”: “019d031f-e4f3-7195-a3eb-1fbcf6d2d3bc-1773873915”,
“cmd_all_timing_active_ms”: 1401,
“cmd_all_exit”: “expected_error”,
“user_id”: “3f3db0a6-5153-4d96-8c7b-71d1a934ec29”,
“request_ids”: [
“019d031f-d031-7193-809e-32a5f6ec96a5-1773873909”,
“019d031f-d2ba-7dfa-bf29-1c773039c077-1773873910”,
“019d031f-d68c-7cd1-8cd7-96074dcf1e07-1773873911”,
“019d031f-d96b-7877-a704-dde8104879e8-1773873912”,
“019d031f-e4f3-7195-a3eb-1fbcf6d2d3bc-1773873915”
],
“args”: “–force --verbose”,
“error_message”: “Version couldn’t be created.”,
“app_name”: “rubik-variant-images”,
“env_plugin_installed_all”: “["@shopify/cli"]”,
“metadata”: “{"extraPublic":{},"extraSensitive":{}}”
}
2026-03-18T22:45:24.302Z: Reporting handled error to Bugsnag: Version couldn’t be created.
2026-03-18T22:45:24.495Z: Running system process:
· Command: npm prefix
· Working directory: /Users/umid/projects/rubik-prod
2026-03-18T22:45:24.577Z: Obtaining the dependency manager in directory /Users/umid/projects/rubik-prod…
Operating system
macOS
CLI version
3.84.2
Shell
zsh
Nodejs version
24.3.0
What language and version are you using in your application?
Node 24.3.0
