initialValue for boolean field not working in Sanity Studio

I understand the frustration! This is actually expected behavior in Sanity Studio. The initialValue property only applies when a document is first created - it doesn't retroactively apply to existing documents or even to fields in documents that are already open.

Here are the key things to understand:

How initialValue works:

Field-level initialValue in your schema only sets the value when:

1. A brand new document is created
2. The field hasn't been touched yet

If you're testing on an existing document or a document that's already been created, you won't see the initial value applied.

To set a boolean field to true by default:

defineField({
  name: 'approved',
  type: 'boolean',
  initialValue: true
})

This should work, but as documented, you need to:

1. Create a completely new document - not edit an existing one
2. Make sure you haven't already interacted with that field (even unchecking a checkbox counts as setting a value)

Common gotchas:

• If you opened a draft before adding the initialValue, that draft won't have it
• If you're testing by refreshing the page on an existing document, it won't apply
• The initialValue is set on the client side when the document form initializes, so it won't show up in existing documents in your dataset

To test it properly:

1. Make sure your schema changes are saved and Studio has reloaded
2. Create a brand new document (click "Create" → select your document type)
3. The boolean should be checked immediately when the form loads

If you need more complex initialization logic or want to set values based on context (like the current user or parent document), you can use Initial Value Templates in your sanity.config.ts file instead.

Hope this clears things up! Let me know if you're still seeing issues after creating a fresh document.