Ecto Nested Associations

RULES — Follow these with no exceptions

1. Use cast_assoc/3 for has_many/has_one — never manually insert children in a separate step 2. Use Ecto.Multi for operations spanning multiple unrelated tables — do NOT use Ecto.Multi for nested associations 3. Set on_delete explicitly in migrations — :delete_all for owned children, :nothing for independent entities 4. Always create indexes on foreign key columns 5. Use on_replace: :delete in cast_assoc for list management 6. Preload associations before updating them — cast_assoc compares against currently loaded data 7. Do NOT require foreign keys in child changesets — cast_assoc sets them automatically 8. Use Repo.transaction/1 with Ecto.Multi — wrap multi-table operations for atomicity

End-to-End Workflow

1. Identify ownership — determine if children are owned (cascade delete) or independent
2. Define schema — add has_many/belongs_to with appropriate on_replace strategy
3. Create migration — add FK column with on_delete and create index
4. Define changesets — child changeset does NOT require FK field; parent uses cast_assoc
5. Implement context function — use Repo.insert/Repo.update with parent changeset
6. Handle results — pattern-match on {:ok, _} and {:error, changeset}
7. Write tests — test create, update (including removal), and error cases

cast_assoc for Nested Creates

defmodule MyApp.Blog.Post do
  use Ecto.Schema
  import Ecto.Changeset

  schema "posts" do
    field :title, :string
    has_many :comments, MyApp.Blog.Comment

    timestamps()
  end

  def changeset(post, attrs) do
    post
    |> cast(attrs, [:title])
    |> validate_required([:title])
    |> cast_assoc(:comments, with: &MyApp.Blog.Comment.changeset/2)
  end
end

defmodule MyApp.Blog.Comment do
  use Ecto.Schema
  import Ecto.Changeset

  schema "comments" do
    field :body, :string
    belongs_to :post, MyApp.Blog.Post
    timestamps()
  end

  def changeset(comment, attrs) do
    comment
    |> cast(attrs, [:body])
    |> validate_required([:body])
  end
end

# Usage — create post with comments in one operation
Blog.create_post(%{
  title: "My Post",
  comments: [
    %{body: "First comment"},
    %{body: "Second comment"}
  ]
})

Handling cast_assoc Failures

case Repo.insert(Post.changeset(%Post{}, attrs)) do
  {:ok, post} ->
    {:ok, post}

  {:error, changeset} ->
    # Top-level errors on changeset.errors
    # Nested errors on changeset.changes[:comments] (list of changesets)
    {:error, changeset}
end

cast_assoc for Updates with on_replace

defmodule MyApp.Recipes.Recipe do
  schema "recipes" do
    field :name, :string
    has_many :ingredients, MyApp.Recipes.Ingredient, on_replace: :delete

    timestamps()
  end

  def changeset(recipe, attrs) do
    recipe
    |> cast(attrs, [:name])
    |> validate_required([:name])
    |> cast_assoc(:ingredients, with: &MyApp.Recipes.Ingredient.changeset/2)
  end
end

# Update — send the full list; omitted items are deleted
def update_recipe(recipe, attrs) do
  recipe
  |> Repo.preload(:ingredients)
  |> Recipe.changeset(attrs)
  |> Repo.update()
end

Ecto.Multi for Unrelated Tables

def create_order_with_payment(order_attrs, payment_attrs) do
  Ecto.Multi.new()
  |> Ecto.Multi.insert(:order, Order.changeset(%Order{}, order_attrs))
  |> Ecto.Multi.insert(:payment, fn %{order: order} ->
    Payment.changeset(%Payment{}, Map.put(payment_attrs, :order_id, order.id))
  end)
  |> Repo.transaction()
end

Handling Ecto.Multi Results

case create_order_with_payment(order_attrs, payment_attrs) do
  {:ok, %{order: order, payment: payment}} ->
    {:ok, order}

  {:error, failed_operation, failed_changeset, _changes_so_far} ->
    Logger.error("Multi failed at #{failed_operation}: #{inspect(failed_changeset.errors)}")
    {:error, failed_changeset}
end

on_delete Strategies

defmodule MyApp.Repo.Migrations.CreateComments do
  use Ecto.Migration

  def change do
    create table(:comments) do
      add :body, :text
      add :post_id, references(:posts, on_delete: :delete_all)

      timestamps()
    end

    create index(:comments, [:post_id])
  end
end

Verifying FK Indexes After Migration

Confirm FK indexes exist in psql with \d comments. Expect an entry such as comments_post_id_index. If missing, add it in a new migration:

def change do
  create index(:comments, [:post_id])
end

Many-to-Many Associations

Use a join schema with cast_assoc for full control over nested creation and updates:

# Schema
schema "posts" do
  field :title, :string
  many_to_many :tags, MyApp.Blog.Tag, join_through: MyApp.Blog.PostTag, on_replace: :delete
  timestamps()
end

# Join schema
defmodule MyApp.Blog.PostTag do
  use Ecto.Schema

  schema "post_tags" do
    belongs_to :post, MyApp.Blog.Post
    belongs_to :tag, MyApp.Blog.Tag
    timestamps()
  end
end

# Parent changeset — use cast_assoc with the join schema
def changeset(post, attrs) do
  post
  |> cast(attrs, [:title])
  |> validate_required([:title])
  |> cast_assoc(:post_tags, with: &PostTag.changeset/2)
end

Nested Update with Partial Data

When updating a nested association with only some fields, preload the association first and rely on Ecto's internal ID matching — do not require :id in the child changeset:

def update_post(post, %{post: post_attrs, comments: comments_attrs}) do
  post
  |> Repo.preload(:comments)
  |> Post.changeset(%{post_attrs | comments: comments_attrs})
  |> Repo.update()
end

Common Pitfalls

Integration

Companion skills:

• ecto-essentials — schema, migration, and association basics
• ecto-changeset-patterns — changeset composition and cast_assoc rules
• ecto-migration — migration planning for FK and on_delete changes
• testing-essentials — testing nested creates, updates, and error cases