How to render Sanity images in Next.js using file.asset._ref?

It sounds like you're having trouble rendering images from Sanity in Next.js. The issue is likely that you're trying to use file.asset._ref directly, but this reference needs to be resolved to get the actual image URL.

Here are the most common solutions:

1. Use GROQ to get the URL directly

In your GROQ query, use the -> operator to dereference the asset and get its URL:

*[_type == 'yourType']{
  name,
  "imageUrl": image.asset->url
}

This will give you the full CDN URL that you can use directly in an <img> tag.

2. Use @sanity/image-url (Recommended)

The @sanity/image-url library is the best way to handle Sanity images as it automatically respects crop and hotspot settings:

Install it:

npm install @sanity/image-url

Set up a helper function:

// lib/sanityImageUrl.ts
import { createImageUrlBuilder } from '@sanity/image-url'
import { client } from './sanity' // your sanity client

const builder = createImageUrlBuilder(client)

export function urlFor(source) {
  return builder.image(source)
}

Use it in your component:

import { urlFor } from '@/lib/sanityImageUrl'

function MyComponent({ image }) {
  return (
    <img 
      src={urlFor(image).width(800).url()}
      alt={image.alt || ''}
    />
  )
}

3. Important: Pass the whole image object, not just the reference

Make sure you're passing the entire image object to urlFor(), not just image.asset._ref. The builder needs the full object including crop and hotspot data.

Why file.asset._ref doesn't work

The _ref field contains something like image-abc123-800x600-jpg which is an internal Sanity reference, not a URL. You need to either:

• Resolve it in your query with ->url
• Use @sanity/image-url to build the URL
• Manually construct the URL using the Sanity CDN format

The @sanity/image-url approach is recommended because it handles all the complexity for you, including transformations, crops, and hotspots.