import GraphiQLIDE from '@site/src/components/GraphiQLIDE';

Postgres: Insert Mutation

Auto-generated insert mutation schema

For example, the auto-generated schema for the insert mutation field for a table article looks like the following:

insert_article (
  objects: [article_insert_input!]!
  on_conflict: article_on_conflict
): article_mutation_response

# response of any mutation on the table "article"
type article_mutation_response {
  # number of affected rows by the mutation
  affected_rows: Int!
  # data of the affected rows by the mutation
  returning: [article!]!
}

# single object insert (supported from v1.2.0)
insert_article_one (
  object: article_insert_input!
  on_conflict: article_on_conflict
): article

As you can see from the schema:

• objects argument is necessary and you can pass multiple objects to the mutation.
• You can pass an on_conflict argument to convert the mutation to an upsert mutation.
• You can return the number of affected rows and the affected objects (with nested objects) in the response.
• You can use the single object insert to get the inserted object directly as the mutation response.

See the insert mutation API reference for the full specifications.

:::info Note

If a table is not in the public Postgres schema, the insert mutation field will be of the format insert_<schema_name>_<table_name>.

:::

Insert a single object

Example: Insert a new article object and return the inserted article object in the response:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_single_article { insert_article_one( object: { title: "Article 1", content: "Sample article content", author_id: 3 } ) { id title } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article_one": { "id": 21, "title": "Article 1" } } }} />

Using variables:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_single_article($object: article_insert_input! ) { insert_article_one(object: $object) { id title } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article_one": { "id": 21, "title": "Article 1" } } }} variables={{ "object": { "title": "Article 1", "content": "Sample article content", "author_id": 3 } }} />

:::info Note

insert_<object>_one will only be available if you have select permissions on the table, as it returns the inserted row.

:::

:::tip Supported from

The insert_<object>_one mutation is supported in versions v1.2.0 and above.

:::

Insert multiple objects of the same type in the same mutation

Example: Insert 2 new article objects and return both the article objects in the response:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_multiple_articles { insert_article( objects: [ { title: "Article 2", content: "Sample article content", author_id: 4 }, { title: "Article 3", content: "Sample article content", author_id: 5 } ] ) { returning { id title } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article": { "affected_rows": 2, "returning": [ { "id": 22, "title": "Article 2" }, { "id": 23, "title": "Article 3" } ] } } }} />

Using variables:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_multiple_articles($objects: [article_insert_input!]! ) { insert_article(objects: $objects) { returning { id title } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article": { "affected_rows": 2, "returning": [ { "id": 22, "title": "Article 2" }, { "id": 23, "title": "Article 3" } ] } } }} variables={{ "objects": [ { "title": "Article 2", "content": "Sample article content", "author_id": 4 }, { "title": "Article 3", "content": "Sample article content", "author_id": 5 } ] }} />

Insert an object and get a nested object in response

Example: Insert a new article object and return the inserted article object with its author in the response:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_article { insert_article( objects: [ { title: "Article 1", content: "Sample article content", author_id: 3 } ] ) { returning { id title author { id name } } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article": { "affected_rows": 1, "returning": [ { "id": 21, "title": "Article 1", "author": { "id": 3, "name": "Sidney" } } ] } } }} />

Insert an object along with its related objects through relationships {#pg-nested-inserts}

One-to-one / One-to-many relationships

Let's say an author has an object relationship called address to the addresses table and an array relationship called articles to the articles table.

Example: Insert an author along with their address and a few articles.

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insertData { insert_authors (objects: [ { name: "John", address: { data: { location: "San Francisco" } }, articles: { data: [ { title: "GraphQL Guide", content: "Let's see what we can do with GraphQL" }, { title: "Authentication Guide", content: "Let's look at best practices for authentication" } ] } } ] ) { affected_rows returning { id name address_id address { id location } articles { id title author_id } } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_authors": { "affected_rows": 4, "returning": [ { "id": 26, "name": "John", "address_id": 27, "address": { "id": 27, "location": "San Francisco" }, "articles": [ { "id": 28, "title": "GraphQL Guide", "author_id": 26 }, { "id": 29, "title": "Authentication Guide", "author_id": 26, } ] } ] } } }} />

How it works

A nested insert mutation is processed as follows:

1. The object relationship objects are inserted first, i.e. in this case, the address is inserted and its id is collected in this step.

2. The parent object is inserted next. i.e. in this case, the author is now inserted with the address_id being set to the id of the address that was inserted. Because of this, it is not allowed to pass address_id in the author object if you are also providing data for the address relationship.

   The id of the author is collected in this step.

3. The array relationship objects are inserted at the end. i.e. in this case, the articles are now inserted with their author_id set to the author's id collected in the step 2. Hence, it's not possible to specify author_id in the data for the articles relationship.

:::info Note

The order of object insertion can be controlled using the insertion_order option while creating a manual relationship. This is necessary to ensure nested inserts in one-to-one relationships are possible using either side as the parent which would otherwise error out with a Not-NULL violation error in one of the cases.

:::

Many-to-many relationships

Let's say the articles has a many-to-many relationship with the tags table via a bridge table article_tags.

Example: Insert an article along with a few tags.

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insertArticle { insert_articles(objects: [ { title: "How to make fajitas", content: "Guide on making the best fajitas in the world", author_id: 3, article_tags: { data: [ { tag: { data: { label: "Recipes" }, on_conflict: { constraint: tags_label_key, update_columns: [label] } } }, { tag: { data: { label: "Cooking" }, on_conflict: { constraint: tags_label_key, update_columns: [label] } } } ] } } ]) { affected_rows returning { id title content author_id article_tags { tag { label } } } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_articles": { "affected_rows": 5, "returning": [ { "author_id": 3, "article_tags": [ { "tag": { "label": "Recipes" } }, { "tag": { "label": "Cooking" } } ], "content": "Guide on making the best fajitas in the world", "id": 34, "title": "How to make fajitas" } ] } } }} />

How it works

1. The parent object (from the perspective of article) is inserted first i.e. the article is inserted.

   The id of the article is collected in this step.

2. The array relationship objects (from the perspective of article) are inserted next i.e. the article_tags are inserted.

   1. The object relationship objects (from the perspective of article_tags) are inserted now i.e. the tags are now inserted.

      The ids of the tags are collected in this step.

   2. The parent object (from the perspective of article_tags) is inserted at the end i.e. the article_tags are now inserted with their article_id set to the article's id collected in step 1. The tag_id is set to the tag's id collected in step 2.1. Hence, it’s not possible to specify article_id and tag_id in the data for the <em>article_tags</em> relationship.

on_conflict

on_conflict can be passed as an argument in a nested insert statement. In our example, we say that if the unique key (label) already exists for a tag, we update the label of this respective tag (see nested upsert caveats).

Insert an object with a JSONB field

Example: Insert a new author object with a JSONB address field:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_author($address: jsonb) { insert_author ( objects: [ { name: "Ash", address: $address } ] ) { affected_rows returning { id name address } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_author": { "affected_rows": 1, "returning": [ { "id": 1, "name": "Ash", "address": { "city": "Bengaluru", "phone": "9090909090", "state": "Karnataka", "pincode": 560095, "street_address": "161, 19th Main Road, Koramangala 6th Block" } } ] } } }} variables={{ "address": { "street_address": "161, 19th Main Road, Koramangala 6th Block", "city": "Bengaluru", "phone": "9090909090", "state": "Karnataka", "pincode": 560095 } } />

Insert an object with an ARRAY field

Example: Insert a new author with a text array emails field:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_author { insert_author ( objects: [ { name: "Ash", emails: ["[email protected]", "[email protected]"] } ] ) { affected_rows returning { id name emails } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_author": { "affected_rows": 1, "returning": [ { "id": 1, "name": "Ash", "emails": ["[email protected]", "[email protected]"] } ] } } }} />

Using variables:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_author($emails: _text) { insert_author ( objects: [ { name: "Ash", emails: $emails } ] ) { affected_rows returning { id name emails } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_author": { "affected_rows": 1, "returning": [ { "id": 1, "name": "Ash", "emails": ["[email protected]", "[email protected]"] } ] } } }} variables={{ "emails": "{[email protected], [email protected]}" }} />

To insert fields of nested array types, you have to pass them as a Postgres array literal.

Set a field to its default value during insert

To set a field to its default value, just omit it from the input object, irrespective of the default value configuration i.e. via Postgres defaults or using column presets.

Example: If the default value of id is set to auto-incrementing integer, there's no need to pass the id field to the input object:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_article_with_def_id { insert_article( objects: [ { title: "Article 1", content: "Sample article content", author_id: 3 } ] ) { returning { id title } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_article": { "affected_rows": 1, "returning": [ { "id": 21, "title": "Article 1" } ] } } }} />

Set a field to NULL during insert

If a field is nullable in the database, to set its value to null, either pass its value as null or just omit it from the input object.

Example: If age is a nullable field, to set it to null, either don't pass the age field to the input object or pass it as null:

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_author_with_null_age { insert_author( objects: [ { name: "Jeff" } ] ) { returning { id name age } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_author": { "returning": [ { "id": 11, "name": "Jeff", "age": null } ] } } }} />

OR

<GraphiQLIDE query={mutation insert_author_with_null_age { insert_author( objects: [ { name: "Jeff", age: null } ] ) { returning { id name age } } }} response={{ "data": { "insert_author": { "returning": [ { "id": 11, "name": "Jeff", "age": null } ] } } }} />