MongoDB populate returning null - node.js

Question

I am trying to populate my user schema with items but for some reason it does not populate anything in to the user schema. Could someone please take a look. I have 1 user and 1 item belonging to that user within my database but nothing is populating and I keep seeing null.
User Schema
var mongoose = require('mongoose')
var userSchema = mongoose.Schema({
name: {
type: String,
required: true
},
discordID: {
type: String,
required: true
},
discordImage: {
type: String,
required: true
},
items: [{
type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
ref: 'Item'
}]
})
const User = module.exports = mongoose.model('User', userSchema)
Item Schema
var mongoose = require("mongoose")
var itemSchema = mongoose.Schema({
name: {
type: String,
required: true
},
purchasedPrice: {
type: Number,
required: true
},
purchasedDate: {
type: String,
required: true
},
author: {
type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
required: true,
ref: "User"
}
})
const Item = module.exports = mongoose.model("Item", itemSchema)
Populate Code
app.get("/inventory", async (req, res) => {
try {
await req.user.populate({
path: 'items'
}).execPopulate()
console.log(req.user)
} catch (error) {
console.log(error)
}
res.status(200).render("inventory.ejs", { currentUser: req.user })
})
Objects in the DB:
Item:
User:

Answer 1

Used virtual method on user schema to create association
userSchema.virtual("items", {
ref: "Item",
localField: "_id",
foreignField: "author"
})
Worked fine with original code

Answer 2

I keep seeing null.
and
no its just empty
hints there are no items added to your user. You need to have some ids you can populate.
All populate does is convert an ObjectID into a document. There is no magic that will sync itemSchema.author with userSchema.items.
Hence, it's not enough to add the author to the item. You also need to add the item to the author.
So for example, you could add an item like this:
const item = new Item({author: user._id});
await item.save();
req.user.items.push( item );
await req.user.save();
Now when you log req.user, are there any items there?
Once you see objectIds, then you can go back and add that .populate('items') into the mix and I promise you it'll work.