Paginating results with GraphQL
When you use a connection to retrieve a list of resources, you use arguments to specify the number of results to retrieve. You can select which set of results to retrieve from a connection by using cursor-based pagination.
A review of connections
Anchor link to section titled "A review of connections"Connections retrieve a list of nodes. A node is an object that has a global ID and is of a type that's defined by the schema, such as the Order type.
For example, the orders connection finds all the Order nodes connected to the query root.
The pageInfo field
Anchor link to section titled "The pageInfo field"Each connection returns a PageInfo object that assists in cursor-based pagination.
hasPreviousPage(Boolean!) - Whether there are results in the connection before the current page.hasNextPage(Boolean!) - Whether there are results in the connection after the current page.startCursor(String) - The cursor of the first node in thenodeslistendCursor(String) - The cursor of the last node in thenodeslist
Forward pagination
Anchor link to section titled "Forward pagination"All connections in Shopify's APIs provide forward-pagination. This is achieved with the connection variables:
first(Int!) - The requested number of nodes per pageafter(String) - The cursor to retrieve nodes after in the connection. You should generally pass theendCursorof the previous page asafter.
You can include the pageInfo fields in your queries to paginate your results. The following example includes hasNextPage and endCursor fields, and uses query variables to pass the endCursor value as an argument. The $numProducts variable is required and is used to specify the number of results to return. The $cursor variable isn't required. When the $cursor variable is omitted, the after argument is ignored.
POST /admin/api/2022-07/graphql.json
Variables
JSON response
The response indicates there is a next page and provides the cursor to use as an after input for the next page of nodes. By using the same query with different variables you can query for the next page:
Variables
JSON response
The response indicates there is no next page. This is the last page of the connection.
Backward pagination
Anchor link to section titled "Backward pagination"Some connections in Shopify's APIs also provide backward-pagination. This is achieved with the connection variables:
last(Int!) - The requested number of nodes per pagebefore(String) - The cursor to retrieve nodes before in the connection. You should generally pass thestartCursorof the previous page asbefore.
Similar to forward-pagination, we can start at the end of the list of nodes to the beginning:
Variables
JSON response
The startCursor can be used in the subsequent request as the input before to get the previous page:
Variables
JSON response
Connection Edges
Anchor link to section titled "Connection Edges"In connections, an Edge type describes the connection between the node and its parent. In almost all cases, querying nodes and pageInfo is preferred to querying edges. However, if you would like the Edge metadata, edges can be queried instead of nodes. Each Edge contains a minimum of that edge's cursor and the node.
The following query is equilivant to the forward-pagination query. However, it requests a cursor for every edge instead of only the endCursor.
POST /admin/api/2022-07/graphql.json
Variables
JSON response
The PageInfo endCursor and the last edge's cursor are the same. Also, the list of edges[].node is the equilivent of the nodes list in the forward-pagination query.