possible to reference a jsonb_array_length in a where clause
This is the standard behaviour of SQL. SQL statements are (logically) processed in a certain specified order. 

Following that order, the WHERE clause is executed before the SELECT one. That's why the WHERE clause cannot access the value of js_users_count: It has not yet been computed.

That's why your second query works, but your first one doesn't.

On the other hand, it is possible to have js_users_count on the ORDER BY, because that clause is processed after the SELECT:

SELECT
    queryable_type, 
    jsonb_array_length(as_data-&gt;'users_who_like') as js_users_count 
FROM 
    queryables 
WHERE
    queryable_type = 'Item' and jsonb_array_length(as_data-&gt;'users_who_like') &gt; 1 
ORDER BY
    js_users_count desc;


Don't be afraid about a certain computation being done twice. It can be either optimized (as some kind of common subexpression elimination optimization) or its impact is completely neglectable in the overall performance of a query.

If you want to really make sure that an expression is not evaluated twice, you can use one (often annoying) feature of PostgreSQL CTE: the fact that they're optimization fences (i.e.: they won't be inlined, or converted to subqueries in the final statement):

WITH q1 AS
(
    SELECT
        queryable_type, 
        jsonb_array_length(as_data-&gt;'users_who_like') as js_users_count 
    FROM 
        queryables 
    WHERE
        queryable_type = 'Item'
)
SELECT
     *
FROM
    q1 
WHERE
    js_users_count &gt; 1 
ORDER BY
    js_users_count desc;


This will create a (virtual temporary) table q1 with the already computed values of jsonb_array_length. I would only do this kind of thing if the function used takes a very long time to execute (has a very high cost), and there's evidence that it's actually called twice (you can check with some RAISE DEBUG statements in the function itself, if it's been written by you).

References:


SQL Query Order of Operations
You Can Reference Your Derived SELECT Columns In Your ORDER BY Clause In SQL
SQL Programming: Understanding the Logical Order of Operations in SELECT statements
Order of execution of a Query