til/javascript/add-item-to-an-array-of-references-in-sanity.md

Add Item To An Array Of References In Sanity

Let's say we have an existing record in our Sanity dataset. The schema for that record allows for an array of references to another type of record. As part of programmatically importing some data, we need to tie some records together by adding to that array of references.

We've already set up our Sanity client (via the JavaScript SDK). We have an _id for the record we want to patch. We have a resourceId for the resource that we want to reference in the array.

Here is how we perform that patch:

await sanityClient
  .patch(_id)
  .setIfMissing({resources: []})
  .append('resources', [{_type: 'reference', _ref: resourceId}])
  .commit({autoGenerateArrayKeys: true})

1. We give it the _id of the record we want to patch.
2. We set our array of resources to an empty array ([]) if it hasn't already been set.
3. We append to the resources array with an array containing a single item, a reference to our resource.
4. We commit the changes with the directive that Sanity should auto-generate the _key value for any new array items.