Virtual field is marked as required in the GraphQL schema

[MurzNN]

Describe the Bug

I'm trying to create a required virtual field that is not required to be set manually during document creation. For this, the Payload Virtual Field feature should suit well, but it doesn't resolve the issue of requiring the setting of the field value manually on the document creation stage.

Marking the field as virtual should also mark it as not required on the creation stage, but still keep it as not null in the document field type (in the payload-types.ts).

Link to the code that reproduces this issue

https://github.com/MurzNN/pl-issue-virtual-field-required

Reproduction Steps

1. Create a required virtual field and hooks that fill the value, here is an example - field displayName:

export const Users: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'users',
  admin: {
    useAsTitle: 'email',
  },
  auth: true,
  fields: [
    // Email added by default
    // Add more fields as needed
    {
      name: 'firstName',
      type: 'text',
      required: true,
    },
    {
      name: 'lastName',
      type: 'text',
      required: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'displayName',
      type: 'text',
      required: true,
      virtual: true,
      hooks: {
        beforeChange: [
          ({ siblingData }) => {
            if (siblingData.firstName && siblingData.lastName) {
              return `${siblingData.firstName} ${siblingData.lastName}`;
            } else {
              return siblingData.firstName;
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
}

2. See that this field is still required in the GraphQL schema:

type mutationUserInput {
  firstName: String!
  lastName: String
  displayName: String!

that makes it impossible to create a user without filling in the displayName value manually on the creation stage.

Which area(s) are affected?

area: graphql

Environment Info

Binaries:
  Node: 24.13.1
  npm: 11.8.0
  Yarn: 1.22.22
  pnpm: 10.32.1
Relevant Packages:
  payload: 3.80.0
  next: 16.2.1
  @payloadcms/db-sqlite: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/drizzle: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/graphql: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/next/utilities: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/richtext-lexical: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/translations: 3.80.0
  @payloadcms/ui/shared: 3.80.0
  react: 19.2.4
  react-dom: 19.2.4
Operating System:
  Platform: linux
  Arch: x64
  Version: #19-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Mar  6 14:02:58 UTC 2026
  Available memory (MB): 31337
  Available CPU cores: 8

[MurzNN]

There is a possibility to mark this field as non-required in GraphQL via a "condition" trick like this:

    {
      name: 'displayName',
      type: 'text',
      required: true,
      virtual: true,
      admin: {
        condition: () => true, // Triggers GraphQL nullability automatically
      },

This trick really makes the field as not required in the GraphQL schema:

type mutationUserInput {
   firstName: String!
   lastName: String
-  displayName: String!
+  displayName: String

but, together with this, it also makes the type nullable:

  export interface User {
    id: number;
    firstName: string;
    lastName?: string | null;
-   displayName: string;
+   displayName?: string | null;

that is not what we need at all!

[MurzNN]

Also, tried all other options that might help:

      admin: {
        condition: () => true, // Triggers GraphQL nullability automatically
        hidden: true, // Hides the field from the admin UI
        readOnly: true, // Prevents users from submitting a value manually
      },

but they don't.

[MurzNN]

Also, tried setting the defaultValue to the field, but this doesn't fix the issue too.

[MurzNN]

Here #15811 is an issue when we're trying to find a workaround for this bug.