requireNullableResultInRoot

Property	Value
Config name	requireNullableResultInRoot
Default severity	—
Context	Schema
In recommended	No

What it checks

Requires fields on root types (Query, Mutation, Subscription) to return nullable types. When a root field returns a non-null named type and an error occurs at runtime, GraphQL’s null-bubbling behavior propagates the null up to the nearest nullable parent — potentially nulling out the entire data response. Making root fields nullable isolates errors to the individual field that failed, keeping the rest of the response intact.

Non-null list types like [User!]! are intentionally allowed: an empty list is a valid non-null payload, so the null-bubbling concern doesn’t apply at the list level. This matches @graphql-eslint/eslint-plugin.

The rule also works with custom root type names defined via a schema definition.

Examples

# ❌ Bad — root field returns a non-null named type
type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User!
}

# ✅ Good — root fields are nullable, or non-null lists
type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User
  users: [User!]!
}

Configuration

extensions:
  graphql-analyzer:
    lint:
      rules:
        requireNullableResultInRoot: warn