Demystifying Strapi's Populate & Filtering

Introduction Hello everyone! This discussion is based on Richard's Strapi Conf talk on demystifying Strapi's populated filtering which was originally based in Strapi 4. Now that we are on Strapi 5, I've updated this blog post to cover what has changed and highlight the key differences you need to know. This blog post serves as a quick refresher on effectively consuming data in Strapi using field selection, population, and filtering. What's New in Strapi 5? Strapi 5 introduces several significant changes to the REST API, most notably a flattened response format and the introduction of documentId as the primary identifier. We'll highlight these changes throughout the post with callout boxes like this one. Why is This Discussion Necessary? Over the years, Strapi has evolved significantly, and the most noticeable change has been in how we interact with our content. Content consumption is a crucial part of the data interaction experience. This post aims to help you become comfortable with t