swagger-api / swagger-api/swagger-ui

Misleading example value in case of cyclic references

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#10,524 4 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@DipakHalkude is already working on this.

Since Oct 30, 2025.

P3 pull-request-welcome type: bug
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

Q&A (please complete the following information)
  • OS: macOS
  • Browser: chrome
  • Version: 135.0.7049.114
  • Method of installation: npm
  • Swagger-UI version: 5.20.5
  • Swagger/OpenAPI version: Swagger 2.0
Content & configuration

Example Swagger/OpenAPI definition:

{
  "swagger": "2.0",
  "paths": {
    "/A": {
      "get": {
        "responses": {
          "200": {
            "schema": {
              "$ref": "#/definitions/A"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions": {
    "A": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "nextA": {
          "$ref": "#/definitions/A"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Swagger-UI configuration options:

SwaggerUI({
        spec: apiSpec,
        dom_id: '#api-ui-container',
        defaultModelRendering: 'model',
        showExtensions: true,
        deepLinking: true,
        plugins: [DisableTryItOutPlugin],
      });
Describe the bug you're encountering
To reproduce...

Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Go to Example value of the only endpoint. You will see that it is:

{
  "nextA": "string"
}

Although the nextA is really an object that follows the same definition, like in

{
  "nextA": {
    "nextA": {}
  }
}

Of course in any given value the nextAs must stop at some recursion level, therefore the Swagger UI would have to decide how many levels to include in the example value. But showing a "string" instead is misleading.

Image
Expected behavior

Even an empty object would make more sense. Please display something better than just a string.

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