Deselect ref field in Mongoose model

Question

In Mongoose, how can I ensure a field is not returned by default - if that field uses a ref?

const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({

    // --- Works
    isActive: {
        type: Boolean,
        select: false,
    },

    // --- Does NOT work
    clientsList: [ {
        type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
        ref: 'Client',
        select: false,
    }],
});

If I retrieve this user with User.findById, then the returned User object will not include isActive (as expected), but will include clientsList (not expected).

Is there a way to deselect the second field as well?

PS: I understand that I can manually do .select('-clientsList') at the query level, but would prefer to deselect it add the model level, similar to the first field.

Answer 1

You need to exclude the array itself, you are currently excluding the values inside the array.

To fix it, just change your clientList definition like this:

  clientsList: {
    type: [
      {
        type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
        ref: "Client",
        select: false
      }
    ],
    select: false
  }