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GraphQL deploy fails after sanity upgrade: fields changed from required to nullable

6 replies
Last updated: Nov 29, 2025
Hey, this is still my first day using sanity.io 🙂 After creating a project at one point I ran sanity upgrade, and now my build on web is failing with these errors: > sanity graphql deploy --playground10
:25:30 PM: Dataset: production10
:25:30 PM: Tag: default10
:25:32 PM: Found BREAKING changes from previous schema:10
:25:32 PM: - SiteSettings._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - SiteSettings._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - SiteSettings._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SiteSettings._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SiteSettings._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Document._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - Document._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Document._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Document._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Document._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Author._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - Author._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Author._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Author._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Author._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityImageAsset._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityImageAsset._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityImageAsset._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityImageAsset._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityImageAsset._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Post._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - Post._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Post._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Post._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Post._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Category._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - Category._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - Category._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Category._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - Category._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityFileAsset._id changed type from ID! to ID.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityFileAsset._type changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityFileAsset._createdAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityFileAsset._updatedAt changed type from DateTime! to DateTime.10
:25:32 PM: - SanityFileAsset._rev changed type from String! to String.10
:25:32 PM: ? Do you want to deploy a new API despite the dangerous changes? (y/N)10
:25:32 PM:10
:25:32 PM:10
:25:32 PM: npm10
:25:32 PM: ERR! code ELIFECYCLE10
:25:32 PM: npm ERR! errno 13010
:25:32 PM: npm10
:25:32 PM: ERR! sanity-gatsby-blog-studio@1.0.8 graphql-deploy: 
sanity graphql deploy --playground
10
:25:32 PM: npm10
:25:32 PM: ERR!10
:25:32 PM: Exit status 13010
:25:32 PM: npm ERR!10
:25:32 PM: npm ERR!10
:25:32 PM: Failed at the sanity-gatsby-blog-studio@1.0.8 graphql-deploy script.10
:25:32 PM: npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.10
:25:32 PM: npm10
:25:32 PM: ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:10
:25:32 PM: npm ERR! /opt/buildhome/.npm/_logs/2020-04-28T19_25_32_466Z-debug.log
AI Update

Welcome to Sanity! Don't worry, this is a common issue that's easy to fix.

The error you're seeing is because your build process is being blocked by an interactive prompt asking you to confirm "breaking changes" in your GraphQL schema. The changes aren't actually dangerous in your case—when you ran sanity upgrade, it updated your schema in a way that made some fields nullable (changed from ID! to ID, String! to String, etc.).

Since you're deploying in an automated environment (like Netlify or another CI/CD platform), the build process can't respond to interactive prompts, so it times out and fails.

The Solution

Use the --force flag to bypass the confirmation prompt:

sanity graphql deploy --playground --force

Update your build script in package.json to:

{
  "scripts": {
    "graphql-deploy": "sanity graphql deploy --playground --force"
  }
}

The --force flag tells Sanity to deploy the GraphQL API without asking for confirmation about breaking changes. This is perfectly safe in your situation since you're just getting started and don't have existing GraphQL queries that would break.

Why This Happened

When you ran sanity upgrade, it updated your Sanity packages to newer versions that changed how certain system fields are typed in GraphQL. The CLI detected these as "breaking changes" because existing GraphQL queries might theoretically be affected, but in practice, these changes (making fields nullable instead of required) rarely cause actual issues.

Other Useful Flags

While you're at it, here are some other helpful flags for the sanity graphql deploy command:

  • --dataset <name> - Deploy to a specific dataset
  • --tag <tag> - Deploy to a specific tag (defaults to 'default')
  • --no-playground - Deploy without the public GraphQL playground
  • --dry-run - Test the deployment without actually deploying

Good luck with your first Sanity project! 🎉

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