# Something wrong with upsert

**URL:** <https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589>\
**Category:** Dgraph\
**Tags:** kind:question, area:querylang\
**Created:** [November 23, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589 "2020-11-23T08:27:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spinelsun](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/discuss.dgraph.io/spinelsun/32/4596_2.png) [@spinelsun](https://discuss.dgraph.io/u/spinelsun)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589/1 "2020-11-23T08:27:57Z")

</div>

Hi,

This is my User type:

```auto
<User.username>: string @index(hash, trigram) @upsert .
<User.full_name>: string @index(term) @lang .
<User.email>: string @index(hash, trigram) @upsert .
<User.joined_on>: datetime @index(month) .
<User.last_modified>: datetime .
<User.memberships>: [uid] @count @reverse .
<User.api_key_sets>: uid @reverse .

type <User> {
	User.username
	User.full_name
	User.email
	User.joined_on
	User.last_modified
	User.memberships
	User.api_key_sets
}

```

I insert the following data using ratel:

```auto
{
    set{
      # Users
      _:or <dgraph.type> "User" .
      _:or <User.username> "spinelsun" .
      _:or <User.email> "my.mail@gmail.com" .
      _:or <User.joined_on> "2020-11-22" .
      _:or <User.full_name> "Or Chen" .
    }
}

```

It works as expected on the first time I clicked run - a new node of type user with all the data is created.  
The problem is when I hit run again another node is created even though I have the `@upsert` directive on `User.email` and `User.username` predicates.  
according to the documentation:

> When committing transactions involving predicates with the @upsert directive, Dgraph checks index keys for conflicts, helping to enforce uniqueness constraints when running concurrent upserts.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,  
Spinelsun

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anand](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/discuss.dgraph.io/anand/32/5674_2.png) [@anand](https://discuss.dgraph.io/u/anand)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 9:23am UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589/2 "2020-11-23T09:23:15Z")

</div>

Hi @spinelsun  
If you start two transactions **concurrently** and try to commit together, the `@upsert` directive will come into action and abort one of the transactions. The `@upsert` directive does not get activated when you commit transactions via Ratel in a back-to-back, non-overlapping fashion.  
See @dmai’s note in this ticket: [Complete working example of an upsert operation - #2 by dmai](http://discuss.hypermode.com/t/complete-working-example-of-an-upsert-operation/4564/2)  
Also, please review this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIUNIR7L7jw&t=26s).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spinelsun](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/discuss.dgraph.io/spinelsun/32/4596_2.png) [@spinelsun](https://discuss.dgraph.io/u/spinelsun)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589/3 "2020-11-23T10:15:37Z")

</div>

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seanlaff](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/discuss.dgraph.io/seanlaff/32/2142_2.png) [@seanlaff](https://discuss.dgraph.io/u/seanlaff)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589/4 "2020-11-23T13:42:00Z")

</div>

If using an upsert block, is the directive unnecessary? Or should the directive still be placed on the fields to protect against concurrent upsert blocks?

I see this in the docs for upsert block which makes it seem like the directive is unnecessary if using the upsert block, but confirmation would be nice 🙂

> Upsert operations are intended to be run concurrently, as per the needs of the application. As such, it’s possible that two concurrently running operations could try to add the same node at the same time. For example, both try to add a user with the same email address. If they do, then one of the transactions will fail with an error indicating that the transaction was aborted.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anand](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/discuss.dgraph.io/anand/32/5674_2.png) [@anand](https://discuss.dgraph.io/u/anand)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/something-wrong-with-upsert/11589/5 "2020-11-23T13:57:27Z")

</div>

Hi @seanlaff,  
Yes, while using the `upsert` block, `@upsert` directive is not necessary.  
The video shared above does not use an `upsert` block to demonstrate `@upsert` directive.