LWC @wire and getRecord: Read Salesforce Records

The most common job of a component is to show data from the record the user is looking at. Lightning Data Service (LDS) does that without a single line of Apex: you declare which fields you need with @wire(getRecord), and LDS loads them, respects the user's field-level security and sharing, caches them, and – crucially – keeps every component on the page in sync when the record changes.

How @wire works

Reading fields from the current record

<!-- accountSummary.html -->
<template>
    <lightning-card title="Account summary">
        <template lwc:if={account.data}>
            <div class="slds-p-horizontal_small">
                <p><strong>{name}</strong> ({industry})</p>
                <p>Annual revenue: {revenue}</p>
                <p>Owner: {ownerName}</p>
                <p>{tierLabel}</p>
            </div>
        </template>
        <template lwc:elseif={account.error}>
            <p class="slds-text-color_error">Couldn't load the account: {errorMessage}</p>
        </template>
        <template lwc:else>
            <lightning-spinner alternative-text="Loading"></lightning-spinner>
        </template>
    </lightning-card>
</template>

// accountSummary.js
import { LightningElement, api, wire } from 'lwc';
import { getRecord, getFieldValue, getFieldDisplayValue } from 'lightning/uiRecordApi';
import NAME from '@salesforce/schema/Account.Name';
import INDUSTRY from '@salesforce/schema/Account.Industry';
import REVENUE from '@salesforce/schema/Account.AnnualRevenue';
import OWNER_NAME from '@salesforce/schema/Account.Owner.Name';

const FIELDS = [NAME, INDUSTRY, REVENUE, OWNER_NAME];

export default class AccountSummary extends LightningElement {
    @api recordId;                                           // set by the record page

    @wire(getRecord, { recordId: '$recordId', fields: FIELDS })
    account;                                                  // { data, error }

    get name() {
        return getFieldValue(this.account.data, NAME);
    }
    get industry() {
        return getFieldValue(this.account.data, INDUSTRY) ?? 'No industry';
    }
    get revenue() {
        return getFieldDisplayValue(this.account.data, REVENUE);   // formatted in the user's locale and currency
    }
    get ownerName() {
        return getFieldValue(this.account.data, OWNER_NAME);
    }
    get tierLabel() {
        return getFieldValue(this.account.data, REVENUE) >= 10000000 ? '★ Strategic account' : 'Standard account';
    }
    get errorMessage() {
        return this.account.error?.body?.message ?? 'Unknown error';
    }
}

▌Account summary
Acme Corporation (Manufacturing)
Annual revenue: $12,500,000
Owner: Asha Verma
★ Strategic account

• Schema imports (@salesforce/schema/Account.Name) are checked when you deploy: rename or delete the field and the deploy fails, and Salesforce won't let an admin delete a field your component references. That's far safer than strings like 'Account.Name'.
• '$recordId' with a dollar sign makes the parameter reactive: when recordId changes, LDS loads the new record automatically.
• getFieldValue returns the raw value (including relationship fields like Owner.Name); getFieldDisplayValue returns the formatted value for currency, dates and picklists.
• The wired property starts as { data: undefined, error: undefined }, so the template shows the spinner until data arrives.

Handling errors

If the record doesn't exist or the user can't see it, the wire delivers an error instead:

// accountSummary.js – same component as above

▌Account summary
Couldn't load the account: The requested resource does not exist

Wiring to a function

When you need to transform the data as it arrives, wire a function instead of a property:

@wire(getRecord, { recordId: '$recordId', fields: FIELDS })
wiredAccount({ data, error }) {
    if (data) {
        this.summary = `${getFieldValue(data, NAME)} – ${getFieldValue(data, INDUSTRY)}`;
        this.error = undefined;
    } else if (error) {
        this.error = error;
        this.summary = undefined;
    }
}

LDS or Apex?

Practice

Summary