Document Service API: Populating fields

By default the Document Service API does not populate any relations, media fields, components, or dynamic zones. This page describes how to use the populate parameter to populate specific fields.

💡 Tip

You can also use the select parameter to return only specific fields with the query results (see the select parameter documentation).

✋ Caution

If the Users & Permissions plugin is installed, the find permission must be enabled for the content-types that are being populated. If a role doesn't have access to a content-type it will not be populated.

Relations and media fields

Queries can accept a populate parameter to explicitly define which fields to populate, with the following syntax option examples.

Populate 1 level for all relations

To populate one-level deep for all relations, use the * wildcard in combination with the populate parameter:

Example request

const documents = await strapi.documents("api::article.article").findMany({
  populate: "*",
});

Example response

{
  [
    {
      "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
      "title": "Test Article",
      "slug": "test-article",
      "body": "Test 1",
      // ...
      "headerImage": {
        "data": {
          "id": 1,
          "attributes": {
            "name": "17520.jpg",
            "alternativeText": "17520.jpg",
            "formats": {
              // ...
            }
            // ...
          }
        }
      },
      "author": {
        // ...
      },
      "categories": {
        // ...
      }
    }
    // ...
  ]
}

Populate 1 level for specific relations

To populate specific relations one-level deep, pass the relation names in a populate array:

Example request

const documents = await strapi.documents("api::article.article").findMany({
  populate: ["headerImage"],
});

Example response

[
  {
    "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
    "title": "Test Article",
    "slug": "test-article",
    "body": "Test 1",
    // ...
    "headerImage": {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "17520.jpg"
      // ...
    }
  }
  // ...
]

Populate several levels deep for specific relations

To populate specific relations several levels deep, use the object format with populate:

Example request

const documents = await strapi.documents("api::article.article").findMany({
  populate: {
    categories: {
      populate: ["articles"],
    },
  },
});

Example response

[
  {
    "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
    "title": "Test Article",
    "slug": "test-article",
    "body": "Test 1",
    // ...
    "categories": {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Test Category",
      "slug": "test-category",
      "description": "Test 1"
      // ...
      "articles": [
        {
          "id": 1,
          "title": "Test Article",
          "slug": "test-article",
          "body": "Test 1",
          // ...
        }
        // ...
      ]
    }
  }
  // ...
]

Components & Dynamic Zones

Components are populated the same way as relations:

Example request

const documents = await strapi.documents("api::article.article").findMany({
  populate: ["testComp"],
});

Example response

[
  {
    "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
    "title": "Test Article",
    "slug": "test-article",
    "body": "Test 1",
    // ...
    "testComp": {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Test Component"
      // ...
    }
  }
  // ...
]

Dynamic zones are highly dynamic content structures by essence. To populate a dynamic zone, you must define per-component populate queries using the on property.

Example request

const documents = await strapi.documents("api::article.article").findMany({
  populate: {
    testDZ: {
      on: {
        "test.test-compo": {
          fields: ["testString"],
          populate: ["testNestedCompo"],
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Example response

[
  {
    "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
    "title": "Test Article",
    "slug": "test-article",
    "body": "Test 1",
    // ...
    "testDZ": [
      {
        "id": 3,
        "__component": "test.test-compo",
        "testString": "test1",
        "testNestedCompo": {
          "id": 3,
          "testNestedString": "testNested1"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  // ...
]

Populating with create()

To populate while creating documents:

Example request

strapi.documents("api::article.article").create({
  data: {
    title: "Test Article",
    slug: "test-article",
    body: "Test 1",
    headerImage: 2,
  },
  populate: ["headerImage"],
});

Example response

{
  "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
  "title": "Test Article",
  "slug": "test-article",
  "body": "Test 1",
  "headerImage": {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "17520.jpg"
    // ...
  }
}

Populating with update()

To populate while updating documents:

Example request

strapi.documents("api::article.article").update("cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn", {
  data: {
    title: "Test Article Update",
  },
  populate: ["headerImage"],
});

Example response

{
  "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
  "title": "Test Article Update",
  "slug": "test-article",
  "body": "Test 1",
  "headerImage": {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "17520.jpg"
    // ...
  }
}

Populating with publish()

To populate while publishing documents (same behavior with unpublish() and discardDraft()):

Example request

strapi.documents("api::article.article").publish("cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn", {
  populate: ["headerImage"],
});

Example response

{
  "id": "cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn",
  "versions": [
    {
      "id": "cjld2cjxh0001qzrm1q1i7rn",
      "locale": "en",
      // ...
      "headerImage": {
        "id": 2,
        "name": "17520.jpg"
        // ...
      }
    }
  ]
}