---
title: Use GraphQL Back Links for easy queries
nextjs:
  metadata:
    title: Use GraphQL Back Links for easy queries
    description: Back Links in GraphQL
    keywords: backlink, inverseOf, inverse links, GraphQL, TerminusDB
    openGraph:
      images: https://assets.terminusdb.com/docs/graphql-backlink.png
    alternates:
      canonical: https://terminusdb.org/docs/back-links-in-graphql/
---

> To use this HowTo, first [clone the Star Wars demo](/docs/clone-a-demo-terminuscms-project/) into your team on DFRNT TerminusDB cloud. You will then have full access to the data needed for this tutorial.

## Using a Back Link

Many times when we are looking at an object, we are interested in which objects are pointing to it. In the TerminusDB, each object gets a number of extended queries which allows one to discover any objects which point at that object.

Once you have cloned the Star Wars demo, go to the [GraphQL query panel](/docs/graphql-basics/) and type:

```graphql
query{
  People(limit:1) {
      █
  }
}
```

We would like to find the first person in the database, and then find out which starships they are the pilot of. A `Starship` has a `pilot` field, and the backlink is automatically constructed as the `pilot_of_Starship` by TerminusDB.

```graphql
query{
   People(limit:1){
     label
     _pilot_of_Starship{
      label
    }
  }
}
```

This _back link_ will give us back the following:

```json
{
  "data": {
    "People": [
      {
        "label": "Luke Skywalker",
        "_pilot_of_Starship": [
          {
            "label": "X-wing"
          },
          {
            "label": "Imperial shuttle"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

Backlinking allows us to focus on modeling our data in a natural way, while still allowing us to follow the graph in either direction of a field or its opposite without bias. Sometimes these backlinks are called inverseOf or inverse links.