Manual references not showing in Studio after client-side creation

The issue you're experiencing is due to an incorrect reference structure when creating documents programmatically. You're using _id when you should be using _ref.

The Problem

Your current code:

author: {
  _id: response._id,  // ❌ Wrong property name
  _type: 'reference'
}

This creates malformed reference data that Sanity Studio cannot recognize, which is why the selection appears empty and you can't select the referenced document.

The Solution

The correct structure for a reference field is:

author: {
  _type: 'reference',
  _ref: response._id  // ✅ Correct - use _ref, not _id
}

Complete Example

Here's the proper way to create documents with references:

import {createClient} from '@sanity/client'

const client = createClient({
  projectId: 'your-project-id',
  dataset: 'your-dataset-name',
  useCdn: false,
  apiVersion: '2023-05-03',
  token: process.env.SANITY_SECRET_TOKEN
})

// 1. Create document A
const docA = await client.create({
  _type: 'A',
  // ... other fields
})

// 2. Create document B with reference to A
const docB = await client.create({
  _type: 'B',
  author: {
    _type: 'reference',
    _ref: docA._id  // Use _ref property
  }
})

Why This Matters

According to the Sanity reference type documentation, a reference field must have:

• _type: 'reference' - identifies this as a reference type
• _ref: 'document-id' - contains the ID of the referenced document

The _ref property is what Sanity uses to establish the relationship between documents. Using _id instead creates invalid reference data that Studio cannot interpret.

Important Notes

• Always use the published document ID when creating references (without the drafts. prefix)
• For strong references (the default), the referenced document must exist before you create the reference
• If you need to reference documents that may not exist yet, set weak: true in your schema definition
• After fixing your code to use _ref, existing documents with _id will need to be corrected - you can do this with a migration

Once you update your code to use _ref instead of _id, Studio will properly recognize the references and allow you to view and select the referenced documents.