Strapi v5.51.1 — Release Notes & Engineering Impact

## 5.51.1 (2026-07-29) ### 🔥 Bug fix - respect field length constraints in AI localizations and isolate… ([#26880](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/26880)) - wording and merging sort options ([844c8d625d](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/844c8d625d)) - preserve sorting on view change ([6ed616ab9a](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/6ed616ab9a)) - **admin:** scope audit logs user filter to log authors ([#27047](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27047)) - **content-manager:** homepage recent-documents dates serialize as empty objects ([#27066](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27066)) - **core:** enforce required media and relations via api.documents.strictRelations ([#27028](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27028)) - **database:** return [] for empty morphMany on read ([#27090](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27090)) - **strapi:** prevent duplicate public assets in Vite builds ([#27089](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27089)) ### ⚙️ Chore - **admin:** allow RFC 6265 control-char regex under develop eslint rules ([e8338bb6ba](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/e8338bb6ba)) - **ci:** remove admin bundle-size workflow ([#27070](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27070)) - **deps:** bump brace-expansion from 1.1.14 to 1.1.16 ([#27071](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27071)) - **deps:** bump shell-quote from 1.8.4 to 1.10.0 ([#27072](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27072)) - **deps:** bump body-parser from 1.20.4 to 1.20.6 ([#27094](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27094)) - **deps:** bump dompurify from 3.4.11 to 3.4.12 ([#27095](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27095)) - **deps:** bump fast-uri from 3.1.2 to 3.1.4 ([#27098](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27098)) - **deps:** bump use-context-selector from 1.4.1 to 1.4.4 ([#27061](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27061)) - **deps:** bump cropperjs from 1.6.1 to 1.6.2 ([#27060](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27060)) - **deps:** upgrade handlebars, axios, tar, and related transitive deps ([#27091](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27091)) - **deps:** bump @radix-ui/react-toolbar from 1.0.4 to 1.1.11 ([#27059](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27059)) - **email-nodemailer:** migrate unit tests from jest to vitest ([#27074](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27074)) - **email-sendmail:** migrate unit tests from jest to vitest ([#27075](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27075)) - **upload-local:** migrate unit tests from jest to vitest ([#27073](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27073)) ### ⚠️ Changes to be aware of #### Required media and relations: opt-in `strictRelations` New config `api.documents.strictRelations` enforces required media and relations on publish (drafts can still be empty). On by default for new projects; existing apps are unchanged until you set it. To opt in, set `documents.strictRelations: true` in `config/api`. ([#27028](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27028)) #### Empty multiple media / morphMany now returns `[]` Populated empty `morphMany` relations (including `type: 'media', multiple: true`) serialize as `[]` instead of `null`, matching other to-many relations. This is unconditional and not gated by `strictRelations`. If clients, webhooks, or integrations check `field === null` for empty galleries / morphMany, treat `[]` as empty instead (e.g. `!field?.length`). ([#27090](https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/27090)) ### ❤️ Thank You - Adrien L @Adzouz - Adrien Lepoutre @Adzouz - akash-dabhi-qed @akash-dabhi-qed - Ben Irvin - Giulio Montagner @giu1io - Gonzalo Andres Garcia @gonbaum - Mehdi Rezaei @mehdiraized - Nico André