Refactor core for better readability

**Feature request**
It would be great to have filtering for api.

**Use case**
Many users need this functionality for production deployments.

**Implementation idea**
Add a new config option `enable_filtering` with default `false`.

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by locating the configuration handling and API request path, then determine where enable_filtering should be read and what filtering behavior the API requires; done means the option defaults to false and filtering works for the stated production use case.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.