Drizzle ORM - SQL Cursor-based pagination

Drizzle | SQL Cursor-based pagination

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SQLite

This guide assumes familiarity with:

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Select statement with order by clause
Relational queries with order by clause
Indices

This guide demonstrates how to implement cursor-based pagination in Drizzle:

index.ts

schema.ts

import { asc, gt } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { users } from './schema';

const db = drizzle(...);

const nextUserPage = async (cursor?: number, pageSize = 3) => {
  await db
    .select()
    .from(users)
    .where(cursor ? gt(users.id, cursor) : undefined) // if cursor is provided, get rows after it
    .limit(pageSize) // the number of rows to return
    .orderBy(asc(users.id)); // ordering
};

// pass the cursor of the last row of the previous page (id)
await nextUserPage(3);

select * from users order by id asc limit 3;

// next page, 4-6 rows returned
[
  {
    id: 4,
    firstName: 'Brian',
    lastName: 'Brown',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T12:34:55.182Z
  },
  {
    id: 5,
    firstName: 'Beth',
    lastName: 'Davis',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T12:40:55.182Z
  },
  {
    id: 6,
    firstName: 'Charlie',
    lastName: 'Miller',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T13:04:55.182Z
  }
]

import { pgTable, serial, text, timestamp } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

export const users = pgTable('users', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  firstName: text('first_name').notNull(),
  lastName: text('last_name').notNull(),
  createdAt: timestamp('created_at').notNull().defaultNow(),
});

+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
| id | first_name | last_name  |         created_at         |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  1 | Alice      | Johnson    | 2024-03-08 12:23:55.251797 |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  2 | Alex       | Smith      | 2024-03-08 12:25:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  3 | Aaron      | Williams   | 2024-03-08 12:28:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  4 | Brian      | Brown      | 2024-03-08 12:34:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  5 | Beth       | Davis      | 2024-03-08 12:40:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  6 | Charlie    | Miller     | 2024-03-08 13:04:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  7 | Clara      | Wilson     | 2024-03-08 13:22:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  8 | David      | Moore      | 2024-03-08 13:34:55.182    |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+
|  9 | Aaron      | Anderson   | 2024-03-08 12:40:33.677235 |
+----+------------+------------+----------------------------+

If you need dynamic order by you can do like below:

const nextUserPage = async (order: 'asc' | 'desc' = 'asc', cursor?: number, pageSize = 3) => {
  await db
    .select()
    .from(users)
    // cursor comparison
    .where(cursor ? (order === 'asc' ? gt(users.id, cursor) : lt(users.id, cursor)) : undefined)
    .limit(pageSize)
    .orderBy(order === 'asc' ? asc(users.id) : desc(users.id));
};

await nextUserPage();
await nextUserPage('asc', 3);
// descending order
await nextUserPage('desc');
await nextUserPage('desc', 7);

The main idea of this pagination is to use cursor as a pointer to a specific row in a dataset, indicating the end of the previous page. For correct ordering and cursor comparison, cursor should be unique and sequential.

If you need to order by a non-unique and non-sequential column, you can use multiple columns for cursor. This is how you can do it:

import { and, asc, eq, gt, or } from 'drizzle-orm';

const nextUserPage = async (
  cursor?: {
    id: number;
    firstName: string;
  },
  pageSize = 3,
) => {
  await db
    .select()
    .from(users)
    .where(
      cursor
        ? or(
            gt(users.firstName, cursor.firstName),
            and(eq(users.firstName, cursor.firstName), gt(users.id, cursor.id)),
          )
        : undefined,
    )
    .limit(pageSize)
    .orderBy(asc(users.firstName), asc(users.id));
};

// pass the cursor from previous page (id & firstName)
await nextUserPage({
  id: 2,
  firstName: 'Alex',
});

select * from users
  where (first_name > 'Alex' or (first_name = 'Alex' and id > 2))
  order by first_name asc, id asc limit 3;

// next page, 4-6 rows returned
[
  {
    id: 1,
    firstName: 'Alice',
    lastName: 'Johnson',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T12:23:55.251Z
  },
  {
    id: 5,
    firstName: 'Beth',
    lastName: 'Davis',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T12:40:55.182Z
  },
  {
    id: 4,
    firstName: 'Brian',
    lastName: 'Brown',
    createdAt: 2024-03-08T12:34:55.182Z
  }
]

Make sure to create indices for the columns that you use for cursor to make query efficient.

import { index, ...imports } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

export const users = pgTable('users', {
// columns declaration
},
(t) => ({
  firstNameIndex: index('first_name_index').on(t.firstName).asc(),
  firstNameAndIdIndex: index('first_name_and_id_index').on(t.firstName, t.id).asc(),
}),
);

-- As of now drizzle-kit only supports index name and on() param, so you have to add order manually
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "first_name_index" ON "users" ("first_name" ASC);
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "first_name_and_id_index" ON "users" ("first_name" ASC,"id" ASC);

If you are using primary key which is not sequential (e.g. UUIDv4), you should add sequential column (e.g. created_at column) and use multiple cursor. This is how you can do it:

const nextUserPage = async (
  cursor?: {
    id: string;
    createdAt: Date;
  },
  pageSize = 3,
) => {
  await db
    .select()
    .from(users)
    .where(
      // make sure to add indices for the columns that you use for cursor
      cursor
        ? or(
            gt(users.createdAt, cursor.createdAt),
            and(eq(users.createdAt, cursor.createdAt), gt(users.id, cursor.id)),
          )
        : undefined,
    )
    .limit(pageSize)
    .orderBy(asc(users.createdAt), asc(users.id));
};

// pass the cursor from previous page (id & createdAt)
await nextUserPage({
  id: '66ed00a4-c020-4dfd-a1ca-5d2e4e54d174',
  createdAt: new Date('2024-03-09T17:59:36.406Z'),
});

Drizzle has useful relational queries API, that lets you easily implement cursor-based pagination:

import * as schema from './db/schema';

const db = drizzle(..., { schema });

const nextUserPage = async (cursor?: number, pageSize = 3) => {
  await db.query.users.findMany({
    where: (users, { gt }) => (cursor ? gt(users.id, cursor) : undefined),
    orderBy: (users, { asc }) => asc(users.id),
    limit: pageSize,
  });
};

// next page, cursor of last row of the first page (id = 3)
await nextUserPage(3);

Benefits of cursor-based pagination: consistent query results, with no skipped or duplicated rows due to insert or delete operations, and greater efficiency compared to limit/offset pagination because it does not need to scan and skip previous rows to access the next page.

Drawbacks of cursor-based pagination: the inability to directly navigate to a specific page and complexity of implementation. Since you add more columns to the sort order, you’ll need to add more filters to the where clause for the cursor comparison to ensure consistent pagination.

So, if you need to directly navigate to a specific page or you need simpler implementation of pagination, you should consider using offset/limit pagination instead.

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