_json field

📘

Note

The _json field is locked behind a feature flag. If the field does not display in your GraphQL schema, contact your system administrator to enable it.

The _json field returns the complete raw content payload for a content item in a single GraphQL query. Use this field when you want full access to all available data, including nested structures, without manually listing each field.

What the _json field provides

When you request _json, Optimizely Graph returns the entire serialized content item as a JSON object.

The _json output includes:

• All content properties and values.
• Nested data (content areas, blocks, media, and references).
• Standard metadata fields such as Name, Key, Language, and ContentLink.

Retrieve a complete content item

query GetStartPage {
  StartPage {
    item {
      Name
      _json
    }
  }
}

Response (simplified):

{
  "data": {
    "StartPage": {
      "item": {
        "Name": "Home Page",
        "_json": {
          "Name": "Home Page",
          "Heading": "Welcome",
          "MainBody": "Welcome to our website",
          "Created": "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z",
          "Status": "Published",
          "Language": {
            "DisplayName": "English",
            "Name": "en"
          },
          "ContentLink": {
            "Id": 1,
            "GuidValue": "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111",
            "Url": "/home"
          },
          "__typename": "StartPage"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

You can combine _json with specific fields when you need both structured values and the full object.

Supported use cases

You can use _json in the following locations:

Use _json on the item field

Use _json inside an item query to return the full content item.

query GetStartPage {
  StartPage {
    item {
      Name
      _json   # Returns the complete content item
    }
  }
}

Use _json inside expanded references

Use _json inside Expanded to return fully resolved block or nested content data.

query GetPageWithBlocks {
  StartPage {
    item {
      Name
      MainContentArea {
        Tag
        ContentLink {
          Expanded {
            Name
            _json   # Full nested block data
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Use _json with filters, sorting, or search

You can use _json inside item even when the query includes filters, sorting, or facets.

query FilteredContent {
  Content(
    where: { Name: { contains: "product" } }
    orderBy: { _score: DESC }
    limit: 5
  ) {
    items {
      item {
        Name
        _json   # Full item data
      }
    }
  }
}

Unsupported use cases

Optimizely Graph does not support the _json field directly under items in collection queries.

# Not supported
query Invalid {
  Content {
    items {
      _json   # This causes an error
    }
  }
}

To retrieve full data for each item, use item { _json }:

# Supported alternative
query GetAllContent {
  Content {
    items {
      item {
        _json
      }
    }
  }
}

Advanced use cases of _json

Dynamic content rendering

Use _json when you want to build presentation layers that adapt to any content structure.

query GetContent {
  Content {
    item {
      Name
      ContentType
      _json     # Retrieve all fields for dynamic rendering
    }
  }
}

Retrieve nested content

Use _json inside expanded references to return complete block content.

query GetPageWithBlocks {
  StartPage {
    item {
      Name
      MainContentArea {
        Tag
        ContentLink {
          Expanded {
            Name
            _json     # Full details for each block in the content area
          }
        }
      }
      _json
    }
  }
}

Performance considerations

The _json field returns more data than typical field-based queries. To optimize performance:

• Use _json only when you need most or all fields for a content item.
• Avoid using _json in large list queries (not supported on items).
• Combine item { specificField _json } if you need both explicit fields and the full payload.

Security and data protection

The _json field only returns data your API key has permission to access. Optimizely Graph does not include sensitive system metadata. This includes:

• User permissions
• Role assignments
• Internal security attributes