How come images are returning with just a _ref in their assets?

This is actually expected behavior! When you query images in Sanity, they come back as references by default because images in Sanity are stored as separate asset documents in the Content Lake, and your document just holds a reference to that asset.

The structure typically looks like this:

{
  "image": {
    "asset": {
      "_ref": "image-abc123...",
      "_type": "reference"
    }
  }
}

To get the actual image data (URL, dimensions, metadata, etc.), you need to dereference the asset in your GROQ query. Here's how:

Basic dereferencing:

*[_type == "yourDocType"] {
  image {
    asset->
  }
}

The -> operator follows the reference and returns the full asset document.

Getting specific image fields:

*[_type == "yourDocType"] {
  image {
    asset->{
      url,
      metadata {
        dimensions
      }
    }
  }
}

Including custom fields and metadata: If you've added custom fields to your image type (like alt text), you can include those too:

*[_type == "yourDocType"] {
  image {
    asset->{
      url,
      metadata
    },
    alt,
    hotspot,
    crop
  }
}

This architecture of storing images as separate asset documents with references is actually a powerful feature - it allows Sanity to:

• Reuse the same image across multiple documents without duplication
• Manage assets independently with their own metadata
• Provide efficient asset management through the Content Lake

You can read more about how the Image Type works in Sanity's documentation, including how to configure metadata, hotspot, and custom fields. The docs also have a great guide on displaying images that covers querying and rendering them on the frontend.