By default, every GraphQL field can return either its declared type or null. The non-null modifier (!) tells clients that a field will never be null. If a resolver returns null for a non-null field, the execution engine raises an error rather than sending unexpected null values to clients.

type User {
  name: String!
  bio: String
}

In this schema, name always has a value. The bio field may be null.

Implicit Nullability from C# Types

Hot Chocolate infers nullability from your C# types. When nullable reference types (NRT) are enabled in your project, the mapping is straightforward.

Value Types

Value types are non-null by default. Use ? to make them nullable.

Reference Types (NRT Enabled)

With NRT enabled (recommended), non-nullable references map to non-null GraphQL types.

Reference Types (NRT Disabled)

Without NRT, all reference types are nullable by default. Hot Chocolate cannot distinguish string from string? because the compiler treats them identically.

We strongly recommend enabling NRT. It provides accurate schema nullability without extra attributes and catches null-related bugs at compile time.

Enabling Nullable Reference Types

Add the following to your .csproj file to enable NRT across the project:

<PropertyGroup>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
</PropertyGroup>

You can also enable it per file with #nullable enable at the top of the file.

Explicit Nullability

When you need to override the inferred nullability, use attributes or the descriptor API.

// Types/Book.cs
public class Book
{
    [GraphQLNonNullType]
    public string Title { get; set; }

    public string? Author { get; set; }
}

[GraphQLNonNullType] forces the field to be non-null in the schema regardless of the C# nullability.

Non-Null List Items

Lists have two layers of nullability: the list itself and its items. With NRT enabled:

To override nullability on list items explicitly:

// Types/Book.cs
public class Book
{
    [GraphQLType(typeof(ListType<NonNullType<StringType>>))]
    public List<string> Genres { get; set; }
}

Both produce genres: [String!] in the schema.

Next Steps

• Need to define lists? See Lists.
• Need to understand arguments? See Arguments.
• Need input types? See Input Object Types.
• Need to learn about scalars? See Scalars.