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Sanity query returns empty array despite schemas and data in desk

9 replies
Last updated: Jan 28, 2026
HI! Yesterday I followed ta YT tutorial on sanity and something else. This is my first time using sanity, so I spent roughly 24 hours trying to fix the error I got. Essentially I, am exporting an object using SanityClient just like in docs using the correct projectId and token.
import sanityClient from '@sanity/client';
import imageUrlBuilder from '@sanity/image-url';

export const client = sanityClient({
  projectId: '********', // commented out intentionaly
  dataset: 'production',
  apiVersion: '2022-05-08',
  useCdn: true,
  token: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_TOKEN
});

const builder = imageUrlBuilder(client);

export const urlFor = (source) => builder.image(source);
Then I created two schemas for which I also created entries in my
sanity.io/desk and imported them to schema.js file
import createSchema from 'part:@sanity/base/schema-creator';

import schemaTypes from 'all:part:@sanity/base/schema-type';

import product from './product';
import banner from './banner';

export default createSchema({
  name: 'default',
  types: schemaTypes.concat([ product, banner ]),
})
I am using Next.js so I used 
getServerSideProps
to fetch the data this way:
export const getServerSideProps = async () => {
  const query = '*[type == "product"]';
  const products = await client.fetch(query);

  const bannerQuery = '*[type == "banner"]';
  const bannerData = await client.fetch(bannerQuery);

  return {
    props: { products, bannerData },
  };
};
However, when I console.log(products) I get returned an empty array without any errors. Do you know what went wrong or at least a way to debug this? I cannot seem to get any data back from sanity.
AI Update

Based on your code, I can see a few potential issues. The most likely culprit is that you're querying for published documents, but your content might only exist as drafts in Sanity Studio.

The Draft vs Published Issue

When you create documents in Sanity Studio, they initially exist as draft documents with IDs prefixed by drafts.. Your query *[_type == "product"] by default only returns published documents (without the drafts. prefix). If you haven't explicitly published your documents, they won't show up in your query results.

To fix this, you have a few options:

Option 1: Publish your documents in Studio

Go to your Sanity Studio, open each product and banner document, and click the "Publish" button. This will create published versions that your query can find.

Option 2: Use the previewDrafts perspective

Modify your client configuration to include drafts:

export const client = sanityClient({
  projectId: '********',
  dataset: 'production',
  apiVersion: '2022-05-08',
  useCdn: true,
  token: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_TOKEN,
  perspective: 'previewDrafts', // This will show drafts with published fallback
});

The previewDrafts perspective prioritizes draft documents over published versions, which is perfect for development.

Option 3: Query for drafts explicitly in GROQ

You can modify your query to exclude draft IDs:

const query = '*[_type == "product" && !(_id in path("drafts.**"))]';

Or score drafts higher to prioritize them:

const query = '*[_type == "product"] | score(_id in path("drafts.**")) | order(_score desc)';

Other Potential Issues

Token visibility issue

Your token is stored in process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_TOKEN. The NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix makes it available on the client-side, which is fine for read operations. However, make sure:

  1. The token exists in your .env.local file
  2. You've restarted your Next.js dev server after adding the env variable
  3. The token has read permissions for your dataset

API Version and CDN

Since you're using useCdn: true with a token, be aware that CDN caching and tokens can sometimes conflict. For development, try setting useCdn: false to rule out caching issues.

Legacy imports

Your schema.js is using the old Studio v2 syntax (part:@sanity/base/schema-creator). If you're following an old tutorial, this might work, but be aware that newer tutorials use Studio v3 syntax.

Quick Debug Steps

  1. Check if documents exist: Go to https://yourstudio.sanity.studio/desk and verify your products and banners are there
  2. Check document IDs: Click on a document and look at the URL - if it contains drafts., they're unpublished
  3. Test in Vision: In your Studio, go to the Vision plugin (usually in the toolbar) and run your query there to see what returns
  4. Console log the client config: Add console.log(client.config()) to verify your configuration is correct

The most common fix is adding perspective: 'previewDrafts' to your client config or publishing your documents in Studio. Let me know if that resolves it!

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