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Querying single image field with asset reference in GROQ

50 replies
Last updated: Nov 29, 2025
Hello everyone! I am not sure why I am having troubles with this, but I have a schema from which I am trying to only query a single field from, it's an image. It looks like this:
const filter = groq`*[_type == "siteSettings"]`;
  const projection = groq`{ image: gigs_image.asset->url}`;
  const query = [filter, projection].join(' ');
  const image = await client.fetch(query).catch(error => console.error(error));
I adapted this query from a different place, where all of the fields of 
siteSettings
is used. But here, I only need that one field 
gigs_image
. I know I can get that specific field with groq`*[_type == "siteSettings"]{gigs_image}`, but I am not sure how to get the.. 
.asset->url
stuff there.. I am sorry this is a really poorly phrased question, I am still super new to sanity.
AI Update

No worries, this is a common question when you're getting started with GROQ! The good news is your query is actually really close – you just need to simplify it a bit.

You can absolutely include the .asset->url reference directly in your projection. Here's how to write it:

const query = groq`*[_type == "siteSettings"]{ "image": gigs_image.asset->url }`;
const result = await client.fetch(query).catch(error => console.error(error));

Or if you want the first (and likely only) siteSettings document:

const query = groq`*[_type == "siteSettings"][0]{ "image": gigs_image.asset->url }`;
const result = await client.fetch(query).catch(error => console.error(error));

What's happening here:

The -> operator in GROQ is called the dereference operator, and it follows references to other documents. When you have an image field in Sanity, it stores a reference to an asset document. Using gigs_image.asset->url tells GROQ to:

  1. Get the gigs_image field
  2. Follow the reference in asset to the actual image asset document
  3. Return the url field from that asset

A few tips:

  • You don't need to split your filter and projection into separate variables – GROQ queries work as a single pipeline as explained in the projections documentation
  • The quotes around "image" create an alias for the field in your result (so you get { image: "https://..." } instead of { url: "https://..." })
  • If you want the full image object with metadata, you could use gigs_image.asset-> without the .url at the end
  • Since *[_type == "siteSettings"] returns an array, adding [0] gets you the first document directly, which is cleaner if you only have one settings document

Hope this helps! GROQ's reference following with -> is super powerful once you get the hang of it.

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