Error with anonymous inline object in Sanity GraphQL deploy

5 replies
Last updated: Jan 28, 2026
I've made a singleton page for landing page settings, and now I'm trying to get the different fields sorted by using collapsible objects. Works like a charm if I just run
sanity start
, but when I try to run
sanity graphql deploy
I get the following error:
Error: Encountered anonymous inline object "coverOptions" for field/type "LandingPage". To use this field with GraphQL you will need to create a top-level schema type for it. See <https://docs.sanity.io/help/schema-lift-anonymous-object-type>
I don't fully understand the help page, fairly new to this still, so figured I'd check here if anyone has got any tips on how to fix this?
AI Update

You're running into a common issue when using GraphQL with Sanity! The error happens because GraphQL requires all object types to have explicit names - it can't work with anonymous inline objects like the coverOptions field you've created.

What's happening

When you define an object inline in your schema like this:

{
  name: 'coverOptions',
  title: 'Cover Options',
  type: 'object',
  fields: [
    // ... your fields
  ]
}

This works fine in Sanity Studio, but when you try to deploy the GraphQL API with sanity graphql deploy, it fails because GraphQL needs a named type to generate its schema.

The solution: "Lift" the object type

You need to create a separate, top-level schema type for your coverOptions object. Here's how:

Step 1: Create a new schema file (e.g., schemas/coverOptions.js):

export default {
  name: 'coverOptions',
  title: 'Cover Options',
  type: 'object',
  fields: [
    // Move all your fields here
    {name: 'someField', type: 'string', title: 'Some Field'},
    // ... etc
  ]
}

Step 2: Register this new type in your schema configuration (usually in sanity.config.js or schema.js):

import coverOptions from './schemas/coverOptions'

export default {
  // ... other config
  schema: {
    types: [
      // ... your other types
      coverOptions,
    ]
  }
}

Step 3: Update your landing page schema to reference the named type:

{
  name: 'coverOptions',
  title: 'Cover Options',
  type: 'coverOptions'  // Now it references the named type instead of being inline
}

Why this matters

Beyond just fixing the GraphQL error, lifting anonymous objects to named types has several benefits:

  • Reusability: You can use the same object type across multiple documents
  • Better TypeScript support: Named types work better with type generation tools
  • GraphQL compatibility: Essential for GraphQL API deployment
  • Future-proofing: Makes your schema more maintainable and easier to reason about

After making these changes, sanity graphql deploy should work without errors. The collapsible functionality in Studio will continue to work exactly as before!

For more details, check out the official help article on lifting anonymous object types.

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