cdk destroy: No stack found in the main cloud assembly

[cporte]

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Status: RESOLVED

Overview:

In version 2.175.0, running cdk destroy <wildcard-pattern>, with an application not containing any stacks at the top-level assembly, but only in nested stages, fails with the following error:

No stack found in the main cloud assembly. Use "list" to print manifest

Workaround:

Downgrade to 2.174.1 or upgrade to 2.175.1, or add an unused stack directly under the App.

Solution:

Downgrade to 2.174.1 or upgrade to 2.175.1.

Related Issues:

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Original issue

Describe the bug

Hello,

Since the version 2.175.0 of the CLI we can no longer run cdk destroy.

Run cdk destroy --force true 'Dev*/*'

No stack found in the main cloud assembly. Use "list" to print manifest

While cdk list does yield some result:

`cdk list` 
  
LocalStage/NetworkStack (LocalStage-NetworkStack)
DevStage/NetworkStack (DevStage-NetworkStack)

The problem is not related to the wildcard nor the specific stack naming.
(Same result with cdk destroy --all or cdk destroy 'DevStage/NetworkStack'

One specificity that might explain the issue, we are using the cdk.Stage class to organize our stacks, but we are not using the CodePipeline constructs (our CI/CD runs outside of AWS and calls the cdk commands using the wildcards)

We didn't try without this code structuration.

Regression Issue

• Select this option if this issue appears to be a regression.

Last Known Working CDK Version

2.174.1

Expected Behavior

Similar to 2.174.1 and before, it is expected to run the stack destruction for the given stacks (or all if --all is specified)

Current Behavior

the cdk destroy commands yield an error:
No stack found in the main cloud assembly. Use "list" to print manifest

Reproduction Steps

import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import * as s3 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-s3';
import {Construct} from 'constructs';

const devEnv = {account: 'XXXXXXXXXXXX', region: 'eu-central-1'};
const app = new cdk.App();

export class DevStage extends cdk.Stage {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StageProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const networkStack = new NetworkStack(this, 'NetworkStack', {
      env: props.env
    });
  }
}

export class NetworkStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new s3.Bucket(this, `MyBucket`, {
      autoDeleteObjects: true,
      removalPolicy: cdk.RemovalPolicy.DESTROY
    });
  }
}

new DevStage(app, 'DevStage', {env: devEnv});

Possible Solution

No response

Additional Information/Context

No response

CDK CLI Version

2.175.0

Framework Version

No response

Node.js Version

20.18.1

OS

Ubuntu 24.04

Language

TypeScript

Language Version

No response

Other information

No response

[pahud]

cloud be related to #32636

let me verify.

[pahud]

I tried your code with a little bit fix

#!/usr/bin/env node
import 'source-map-support/register';
import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
import { Construct } from 'constructs';

const devEnv = {
  account: process.env.CDK_DEFAULT_ACCOUNT,
  region: process.env.CDK_DEFAULT_REGION
};
const app = new cdk.App();

export class DevStage extends cdk.Stage {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StageProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new NetworkStack(this, 'NetworkStack', {
      env: props.env
    });
  }
}

export class LocalStage extends cdk.Stage {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StageProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new NetworkStack(this, 'NetworkStack', {
      env: props.env
    });
  }
}

export class NetworkStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

  }
}

new DevStage(app, 'DevStage', {env: devEnv});
new LocalStage(app, 'LocalStage', {env: devEnv});

deploy

% npx cdk deploy "DevStage/*" "LocalStage/*"

destroy

% npx cdk destroy --force true 'Dev*/*'     
No stack found in the main cloud assembly. Use "list" to print manifest
% npx cdk ls                                
DevStage/NetworkStack (DevStage-NetworkStack)
LocalStage/NetworkStack (LocalStage-NetworkStack)
% npx cdk --version
2.175.0 (build 703e81f)
% npx cdk destroy "LocalStage/NetworkStack"
No stack found in the main cloud assembly. Use "list" to print manifest

downgrading to 2.174.1 fixes this issue

% npx cdk destroy "LocalStage/NetworkStack"
Are you sure you want to delete: LocalStage/NetworkStack (y/n)? 

I can reproduce your case now. This seems to be a regression.

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