Make Mongoose's findOneAndUpdate() Return the Updated Document

To make findOneAndUpdate() return the updated document, you need to use the returnDocument option. returnDocument has two possible values: 'before' and 'after'. The default behavior is 'before', which means returning the document as it was before the update was applied.

const testSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    name: String
});

await Test.create({name: 'Test Testerson'});

await Model.findOneAndUpdate({name: 'Test Testerson'}, {name: 'MasteringJS.io'}, {returnDocument: 'before'});
// {name: 'Test Testerson', _id: ... , __v: ...}
await Model.findOneAndUpdate({name: 'Test Testerson'}, {name: 'MasteringJS.io'}, {returnDocument: 'after'});
// {name: 'MasteringJS.io', _id: ... , __v: ...}

The Time Before returnDocument

Before returnDocument was implemented, there were two similar options: returnOriginal or new. Both were booleans that did what returnDocument does now.

await Model.findOne(filter, update, {returnOriginal: false}); // equivalent to returnDocument: 'after'
await Model.findOne(filter, update, {new: true}); // equivalent to returnDocument: 'after'

Note: Mongoose still supports returnOriginal and new. But returnDocument is the recommended approach.

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