Propagation

By default, MikroORM will propagate all changes made to one side of bidirectional relations to the other side, keeping them in sync. This works for all relations, including M:1 and 1:1. As part of the discovery process, all M:1 and 1:1 properties are re-defined as getter/setter.

const author = new Author(...);
const book = new Book(...);
book.author = author;
console.log(author.books.contains(book)); // true

Warning

Propagation on new entities you create via constructor is supported too, by modifying the entity class prototype, but this technique fails when useDefineForClassFields TypeScript compiler flag is enabled (which is true when targeting ES2022 or higher). You can get around this by using declare keyword in your entity definition, or by creating entity instances via em.create(), which will ensure the propagation is enabled.

Propagation of Collection's add() and remove() operations

When you use one of Collection.add() method, the item is added to given collection, and this action is also propagated to its counterpart.

// one to many
const author = new Author(...);
const book = new Book(...);

author.books.add(book);
console.log(book.author); // author will be set thanks to the propagation

For M:N this works in both ways, either from owning side, or from inverse side.

// many to many works both from owning side and from inverse side
const book = new Book(...);
const tag = new BookTag(...);

book.tags.add(tag);
console.log(tag.books.contains(book)); // true

tag.books.add(book);
console.log(book.tags.contains(tag)); // true

Collections on both sides have to be initialized, otherwise propagation won't work.

Although this propagation works also for M:N inverse side, you should always use owning side to manipulate the collection.

Same applies for Collection.remove().