Public datasets in Sanity: Read vs Write access with tokens?

That's correct! A public dataset in Sanity means public read access only. Write operations always require authentication via a token.

Here's how it breaks down:

Public Read Access means anyone can query and fetch content from your dataset without authentication. This is useful for delivering published content to your website visitors. However, even with a public dataset, certain operations still require a token:

• Accessing draft documents (documents with . in their IDs like drafts.article-123)
• Using the previewDrafts perspective in GROQ queries
• Accessing any document marked as private based on custom roles

Write Access Always Requires a Token - there's no such thing as "public write access" in Sanity. Any operation that creates, updates, or deletes content requires authentication with an API token that has appropriate permissions.

This is a critical security feature. Even if your dataset is public for reading, you maintain complete control over who can modify your content. For write operations, you should use robot tokens (for production) or personal tokens (for development), and these should never be exposed in client-side code. Instead, implement write operations through:

• Server-side code or API routes
• Serverless functions (like Sanity Functions)
• Backend services where the token stays secure

So yes, your understanding is spot on: public datasets = public read only, write always requires a token with appropriate permissions.