As part of its latest stable release, open source headless CMS, Strapi v4 was updated. A new design system, user interface, plug-in Application Programming Interface (API), database query engine, and better REST and GraphQL API performance are among the features. Strapi v4 enables anyone to quickly extend Strapi via plugins and personalise the admin interface.
The new Plugin API makes it simple for developers to create plugins. Plugins in Strapi v3 were loaded via a file structure. Many files would need to be configured in order to develop a plugin. This method lacked code flexibility and made the plugin difficult to maintain.
The company has adopted a programmatic approach in version 4, which allows plugins to have their own file structure. Plugin developers just need to change two files in the package’s root directory:
- strapi-server.js for the Server.
- strapi-admin.js for the Admin panel.
Furthermore, they may easily construct the admin panel interface of their plugins using the components offered by the Strapi Design System. This eliminates the need for developers to devote time to building the plugin’s user interface, allowing them to concentrate solely on feature development. These enhancements let the developers to share, cooperate, and contribute more effectively.
The v3 plugins will not be compatible with the v4 and need to be migrated. Naturally, the plugins created for the v4 will not be compatible with older Strapi versions.
Users may now choose which fields and relations to load from the database, perform complicated component queries, and filter and sort data like a pro. The OR, AND, and NOT operators, as well as component filtering, have been added. It means that consumers will only receive the data they require, rather than all data.
Customers may choose exactly what data they want to get from the API, it allows for more innovation in frontend development. Concentrate on creativity and design rather than backend constraints. That will be possible with the API.