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Esix provides several intuitive methods for retrieving models from your MongoDB database. These methods are chainable and type-safe, making it easy to fetch the data you need.

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Retrieving All Models

Use the all() method to retrieve all records from a collection: 
const posts = await BlogPost.all();
This returns an array of all BlogPost instances in the database.

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Finding by ID

The find() method retrieves a single model by its ID: 
const post = await BlogPost.find('5f5a41cc3eb990709eafda43');
The find() method returns null if no model with the given ID exists.

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Method Signature

static async find<T extends BaseModel>(
  this: ObjectType<T>,
  id: string
): Promise<T | null>
Source: packages/esix/src/base-model.ts:129

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Finding by Attribute

The findBy() method retrieves the first model where a specific attribute matches a value: 
const user = await User.findBy('email', '[email protected]');

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Method Signature

static async findBy<T extends BaseModel, K extends keyof T | '_id'>(
  this: ObjectType<T>,
  key: K,
  value: K extends keyof T ? T[K] : any
): Promise<T | null>
Source: packages/esix/src/base-model.ts:147
Use findBy() for unique attributes like email addresses or usernames.

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Getting the First Result

When you need the first result from a query, use the first() method: 
const firstPost = await BlogPost.where('status', 'published').first();
This is particularly useful when combined with filtering and ordering: 
const latestPost = await BlogPost
  .where('status', 'published')
  .orderBy('createdAt', 'desc')
  .first();
The first() method returns null if no matching models are found.

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Executing Queries

Most query builder methods return a QueryBuilder instance, allowing you to chain multiple conditions. Call get() to execute the query and retrieve the results: 
const posts = await BlogPost
  .where('authorId', 'author-123')
  .orderBy('createdAt', 'desc')
  .get();

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Example: Complete Retrieval Workflow

Here’s a practical example showing different ways to retrieve models: 
class User extends BaseModel {
  public name = '';
  public email = '';
  public status = 'active';
}

// Get all users
const allUsers = await User.all();

// Find a specific user by ID
const user = await User.find('5f5a41cc3eb990709eafda43');

if (user) {
  console.log(`Found user: ${user.name}`);
}

// Find user by email
const userByEmail = await User.findBy('email', '[email protected]');

// Get first active user
const firstActiveUser = await User.where('status', 'active').first();

// Get all active users
const activeUsers = await User.where('status', 'active').get();

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Next Steps

Filtering

Learn how to filter models using where clauses and comparison operators

Pagination

Implement pagination with limit, skip, and orderBy

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