Handling empty relationship column the same way other columns are handled, it won't do anything until it is valid - but doesn't error.

packages/server/src/db/linkedRecords/LinkController.js

@@ -234,8 +234,16 @@ class LinkController {
     for (let fieldName of Object.keys(schema)) {
       const field = schema[fieldName]
       if (field.type === "link") {
+        // handle this in a separate try catch, want
+        // the put to bubble up as an error, if can't update
+        // table for some reason
+        let linkedModel
+        try {
+          linkedModel = await this._db.get(field.modelId)
+        } catch (err) {
+          continue
+        }
         // create the link field in the other model
-        const linkedModel = await this._db.get(field.modelId)
         linkedModel.schema[field.fieldName] = {
           name: field.fieldName,
           type: "link",

packages/server/src/db/linkedRecords/index.js

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ exports.updateLinks = async function({
   model,
   oldModel,
 }) {
+  const baseReturnObj = record == null ? model : record
   if (instanceId == null) {
     throw "Cannot operate without an instance ID."
   }
@@ -50,12 +51,16 @@ exports.updateLinks = async function({
     arguments[0].modelId = model._id
   }
   let linkController = new LinkController(arguments[0])
-  if (
-    !(await linkController.doesModelHaveLinkedFields()) &&
-    (oldModel == null ||
-      !(await linkController.doesModelHaveLinkedFields(oldModel)))
-  ) {
-    return record
+  try {
+    if (
+      !(await linkController.doesModelHaveLinkedFields()) &&
+      (oldModel == null ||
+        !(await linkController.doesModelHaveLinkedFields(oldModel)))
+    ) {
+      return baseReturnObj
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    return baseReturnObj
   }
   switch (eventType) {
     case EventType.RECORD_SAVE: