Cursor pagination uses a pointer to a specific record as the starting point for the next page.

Basic Pattern

async function getPosts(cursor?: string, pageSize: number = 20) {
  const posts = await prisma.post.findMany({
    take: pageSize,
    skip: cursor ? 1 : 0,
    cursor: cursor ? { id: cursor } : undefined,
    orderBy: { id: 'asc' },
  });

  return {
    data: posts,
    nextCursor: posts.length === pageSize ? posts[posts.length - 1].id : null,
  };
}

Composite Cursor for Non-Unique Ordering

For non-unique fields (createdAt, score), combine with unique field:

async function getPostsByDate(cursor?: { createdAt: Date; id: string }, pageSize: number = 20) {
  const posts = await prisma.post.findMany({
    take: pageSize,
    skip: cursor ? 1 : 0,
    cursor: cursor ? { createdAt_id: cursor } : undefined,
    orderBy: [{ createdAt: 'desc' }, { id: 'asc' }],
  });

  const lastPost = posts[posts.length - 1];
  return {
    data: posts,
    nextCursor:
      posts.length === pageSize ? { createdAt: lastPost.createdAt, id: lastPost.id } : null,
  };
}

Schema requirement:

model Post {
  id        String   @id @default(cuid())
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
  @@index([createdAt, id])
}

Performance

• Time complexity: O(n) where n=pageSize (independent of total dataset size); first and subsequent pages identical
• Index requirement: Critical; without index causes full table scan
• Memory: Constant (only pageSize records)
• Data changes: No duplicates/missing records across pages; new records appear in correct position