Keyset Pagination
Keyset pagination, also called seek pagination, retrieves the next page using the last seen sort key values, such as created_at and id, instead of a numeric offset. The database seeks directly to the key boundary, staying fast and stable as rows are inserted or deleted.
Technical Architecture & Deep-Dive
Offset pagination scans and discards skipped rows, so deep pages slow down. Keyset queries use WHERE (created_at, id) > (?, ?) ORDER BY created_at, id LIMIT 20, which index-friendly databases handle efficiently.
Providers expose different cursor encodings. An edge BFF can normalize opaque cursors, key tuples, or link headers into one pagination contract for mobile apps, similar to cursor-based pagination but often with explicit sort columns.
Key Architectural Benefits
Implement Keyset Pagination at the Edge
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q:How is keyset pagination different from cursor pagination?
They overlap. Keyset usually means explicit sort-column tuples, while cursor pagination often wraps those values in an opaque token.
Related Architecture Concepts
Cursor-based pagination retrieves large result sets in pages using an opaque cursor that marks the position of the last returned item. Each response includes a cursor for the next page, and clients pass it back to continue, avoiding skipped or duplicated items when data changes.
Offset pagination divides results into pages using limit and offset parameters, such as limit=20 and offset=40 to fetch the third page. It is simple and supports jumping to any page number, but becomes slow and inconsistent on large or frequently changing datasets.
An API response envelope is a wrapper object around the actual data, typically containing fields like data, meta, errors, and pagination. Envelopes give every response a consistent outer structure, making it easier to handle errors and paging uniformly.