Working with Entity Reference Revisions
Why revision-aware references exist, where they help, and how to avoid revision and performance traps.
Entity Reference Revisions preserves both the target entity and the exact revision used by the host. That makes nested, revisionable content possible, but it also creates lifecycle and query complexity.
Understand ownership
The host revision owns a reference to a specific child revision. Publishing, reverting, translating, and deleting the host can affect which child revisions remain meaningful. Treat the aggregate as one editorial unit.
Avoid accidental loading storms
Deep trees can trigger many entity loads and large render arrays. Use view modes, correct cacheability, and bounded structures. Bulk background processing should load in chunks and release references between batches.
Respect revision context
Do not replace revision-aware references with ordinary entity reference queries when reconstructing historical content. Test revisions, translations, moderation transitions, and cloning together.
Key Takeaways
- Treat host and referenced revisions as an aggregate.
- Test revision and translation workflows together.
- Bound deep structures and batch large processing.