How to make join queries using Sequelize on Node.js

While the accepted answer isn’t technically wrong, it doesn’t answer the original question nor the follow up question in the comments, which was what I came here looking for. But I figured it out, so here goes.

If you want to find all Posts that have Users (and only the ones that have users) where the SQL would look like this:

SELECT * FROM posts INNER JOIN users ON posts.user_id = users.id

Which is semantically the same thing as the OP’s original SQL:

SELECT * FROM posts, users WHERE posts.user_id = users.id

then this is what you want:

Posts.findAll({
  include: [{
    model: User,
    required: true
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

Setting required to true is the key to producing an inner join. If you want a left outer join (where you get all Posts, regardless of whether there’s a user linked) then change required to false, or leave it off since that’s the default:

Posts.findAll({
  include: [{
    model: User,
//  required: false
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

If you want to find all Posts belonging to users whose birth year is in 1984, you’d want:

Posts.findAll({
  include: [{
    model: User,
    where: {year_birth: 1984}
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

Note that required is true by default as soon as you add a where clause in.

If you want all Posts, regardless of whether there’s a user attached but if there is a user then only the ones born in 1984, then add the required field back in:

Posts.findAll({
  include: [{
    model: User,
    where: {year_birth: 1984}
    required: false,
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

If you want all Posts where the name is “Sunshine” and only if it belongs to a user that was born in 1984, you’d do this:

Posts.findAll({
  where: {name: "Sunshine"},
  include: [{
    model: User,
    where: {year_birth: 1984}
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

If you want all Posts where the name is “Sunshine” and only if it belongs to a user that was born in the same year that matches the post_year attribute on the post, you’d do this:

Posts.findAll({
  where: {name: "Sunshine"},
  include: [{
    model: User,
    where: ["year_birth = post_year"]
   }]
}).then(posts => {
  /* ... */
});

I know, it doesn’t make sense that somebody would make a post the year they were born, but it’s just an example – go with it. 🙂

I figured this out (mostly) from this doc:

• http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/models-usage/#eager-loading