failed to delete notes when permanently deleting multi notes with children notes

[PawsFunctions]

Description

Maybe related to #7288

When attempting to permanently delete two notes—one that contains child notes ("Test 1") and another that may or may not have children ("Test 2")—the behavior is highly unpredictable.

• Sometimes all notes are deleted as expected.
• Other times, no notes are deleted at all.
• Occasionally, only some notes are deleted while others remain.

TriliumNext Version

0.99.1

What operating system are you using?

Ubuntu

What is your setup?

Local + server sync

Operating System Version

Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

Error logs

16:20:47 Creating new CKEditor
app_context.js:20 16:20:48 CKEditor state changed to ready
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: notes '75AAVOM6x901' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: notes 'DB9bC5j3Y5iA' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: notes 'RcbS0EcGh8Qs' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: notes 'qT6yzkO256sh' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: branches 'qT6yzkO256sh_75AAVOM6x901' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: branches 'qT6yzkO256sh_DB9bC5j3Y5iA' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: branches 'qT6yzkO256sh_RcbS0EcGh8Qs' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:20:59 Frontend app reload: branches 'root_qT6yzkO256sh' is erased, need to do complete reload.

Note ID: 3h3sahaoQFD0 is not deleted, it was visible in list

Test 2

16:27:29 Frontend app reload: notes '3h3sahaoQFD0' is erased, need to do complete reload.
 16:27:29 Frontend app reload: branches 'root_3h3sahaoQFD0' is erased, need to do complete reload.

The entire "Test 1" note tree was not deleted

[dosubot]

Hi @PawsFunctions! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Trilium team.

This unpredictable deletion is a known issue in TriliumNext, especially when bulk deleting notes with children in a local + server sync setup. The backend recursively marks notes and their descendants as deleted, but if the note tree is corrupted (e.g., orphaned branches, missing parents, or previous sync/import errors), the deletion cascade can be incomplete, leaving some notes or branches undeleted and visible in the UI. The system does not perform post-delete integrity checks, so partial failures aren't surfaced or recoverable in the UI, which matches your experience and logs reference reference.

Restarting the server or forcing a full sync and reload sometimes resolves lingering notes, but if the note tree is severely corrupted, only restoring from a backup where the tree is intact will reliably fix it. There are no recent code changes addressing this, and manual database fixes are not recommended unless you're comfortable with Trilium's schema reference.

If you see this unpredictability often, it's likely due to underlying note tree inconsistencies from previous sync or import issues.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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