Understanding Strapi 5's Document Service API

Strapi 5 replaced the Entity Service with the Document Service API. It works with documents — identified by a stable documentId — rather than raw database rows.

The basics

const blogs = await strapi.documents('api::blog.blog').findMany({
  filters: { title: { $containsi: 'strapi' } },
  populate: ['tags'],
});

Common methods

Method	Purpose
findMany	List documents
findOne	Get one by documentId
create	Create a document
update	Update by documentId
delete	Remove a document
publish / unpublish	Manage draft & publish

Why documentId matters

A document can have several versions (draft, published, one per locale). The documentId stays the same across all of them, so relations and URLs stay stable.

Tip

Use the Document Service inside your plugin services, and keep controllers thin. It makes your logic reusable from lifecycles and cron jobs.