TechPrufer
Get started
Shopify
Shopify logoShopify · Feature trail

Pagination with Relative Cursors

2 posts · Aug 2019 – Jun 2021

What this trail covers

Shopify has evolved its APIs to use relative cursor pagination, moving away from offset-based pagination to improve performance and scalability for large datasets. This involves standardizing pagination patterns and providing mechanisms for faster, more scalable data retrieval.

All Shopify trails
  1. Querying Strategies for GraphQL Clients - ShopifyThis post details strategies for scaling GraphQL queries on client-side applications, including implementing pagination with page size and index parameters, using `@include` and `@skip` directives for feature flagging, chaining queries for remote flag dependencies, and leveraging parallel queries to split large queries into smaller, independently scalable parts. It emphasizes setting performance tripwires and consulting with SREs for server-side monitoring.
  2. Pagination with Relative Cursors - ShopifyThis post details the problem of slow queries caused by large offsets in traditional pagination and introduces relative cursor pagination as a solution. It explains how to implement relative cursors using the last record's ID or a combination of the last value and ID for sorting, and provides performance benchmarks demonstrating significant improvements. The post also discusses the conversion process within Shopify and the future plan to deprecate offset-based pagination.