Cannot delete locked image - document type no longer exists in schema

It sounds like you're dealing with a document that's stuck in your dataset with an unknown/deleted document type! This is a common issue when you've removed a schema type from your Studio configuration but documents of that type still exist in your dataset.

The problem with sanity documents delete editorialPage is that the CLI command expects a document ID, not a document type name. Since the error says "A document of the unknown type editorialPage", the document likely has a different _id value (like editorialPage-123 or something similar).

Here are the proper ways to solve this:

Option 1: Find and Delete Using Vision Plugin

Go to your Sanity Studio and open the Vision plugin (the eye icon in the toolbar). Run this GROQ query:

*[_type == "editorialPage"]

This will show you all documents with that type, including their actual _id values. Note the IDs, then you can delete them using the CLI with the correct ID:

sanity documents delete "THE-ACTUAL-ID-HERE"

Remember to check for both published and draft versions - draft IDs have a drafts. prefix:

sanity documents delete "editorialPage-123"
sanity documents delete "drafts.editorialPage-123"

Option 2: Delete Programmatically Using Sanity Client

If you have multiple documents to delete, you can use the Sanity Client in a Node.js script:

import {createClient} from '@sanity/client'

const client = createClient({
  projectId: 'your-project-id',
  dataset: 'your-dataset',
  token: 'your-token-with-write-access',
  apiVersion: '2024-01-01',
  useCdn: false
})

// Query for all editorialPage documents
const docs = await client.fetch('*[_type == "editorialPage"]')

// Delete each one
for (const doc of docs) {
  await client.delete(doc._id)
  console.log(`Deleted ${doc._id}`)
}

Option 3: Use the HTTP Mutation API

You can also use the Mutation API directly with curl. First find the document IDs, then delete them:

curl -X POST \
  https://YOUR-PROJECT-ID.api.sanity.io/v2024-01-01/data/mutate/YOUR-DATASET \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR-TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mutations": [
      {"delete": {"id": "THE-ACTUAL-DOCUMENT-ID"}}
    ]
  }'

About the Media Plugin Lock

Once you properly delete the document (and any draft versions), the media plugin should automatically unlock the image since there won't be any references pointing to it anymore. If it still shows as locked after deletion, try refreshing your Studio or checking if there are other documents referencing that image.

The Vision plugin approach is usually the quickest for finding these orphaned documents with unknown types. Let me know if you need help with any of these methods!