ent/doc/md/tutorial-todo-gql-paginate.md

---
id: tutorial-todo-gql-paginate
title: Relay Cursor Connections (Pagination)
sidebar_label: Relay Cursor Connections
---

In this section, we continue the [GraphQL example](tutorial-todo-gql.md) by explaining how to implement the 
[Relay Cursor Connections Spec](https://relay.dev/graphql/connections.htm). If you're not familiar with the
Cursor Connections interface, read the following paragraphs that were taken from [relay.dev](https://relay.dev/graphql/connections.htm#sel-DABDDDAADFA0E3kM):

> In the query, the connection model provides a standard mechanism for slicing and paginating the result set.
> 
> In the response, the connection model provides a standard way of providing cursors, and a way of telling the client
> when more results are available.
> 
> An example of all four of those is the following query:
> ```graphql
> {
>   user {
>     id
>     name
>     friends(first: 10, after: "opaqueCursor") {
>       edges {
>         cursor
>         node {
>           id
>           name
>         }
>       }
>       pageInfo {
>         hasNextPage
>       }
>     }
>   }
> }
> ```

#### Clone the code (optional)

The code for this tutorial is available under [github.com/a8m/ent-graphql-example](https://github.com/a8m/ent-graphql-example),
and tagged (using Git) in each step. If you want to skip the basic setup and start with the initial version of the GraphQL
server, you can clone the repository as follows:

```console
git clone git@github.com:a8m/ent-graphql-example.git
cd ent-graphql-example 
go run ./cmd/todo/
```


## Add Annotations To Schema

Ordering can be defined on any comparable field of Ent by annotating it with `entgql.Annotation`.
Note that the given `OrderField` name must be uppercase and match its enum value in the GraphQL schema.

```go title="ent/schema/todo.go"
func (Todo) Fields() []ent.Field {
    return []ent.Field{
		field.Text("text").
			NotEmpty().
			Annotations(
				entgql.OrderField("TEXT"),
			),
		field.Time("created_at").
			Default(time.Now).
			Immutable().
			Annotations(
				entgql.OrderField("CREATED_AT"),
			),
		field.Enum("status").
			NamedValues(
				"InProgress", "IN_PROGRESS",
				"Completed", "COMPLETED",
			).
			Default("IN_PROGRESS").
			Annotations(
				entgql.OrderField("STATUS"),
			),
		field.Int("priority").
			Default(0).
			Annotations(
				entgql.OrderField("PRIORITY"),
			),
    }
}
```

## Add Pagination Support For Query

1\. The next step for enabling pagination is to tell Ent that the `Todo` type is a Relay Connection.

```go title="ent/schema/todo.go"
func (Todo) Annotations() []schema.Annotation {
	return []schema.Annotation{
        //highlight-next-line
		entgql.RelayConnection(),
		entgql.QueryField(),
		entgql.Mutations(entgql.MutationCreate()),
	}
}
```

2\. Then, run `go generate .` and you'll notice that `ent.resolvers.go` was changed. Head over to the `Todos` resolver
and update it to pass pagination arguments to `.Paginate()`:

```go title="ent.resolvers.go" {2-5}
func (r *queryResolver) Todos(ctx context.Context, after *ent.Cursor, first *int, before *ent.Cursor, last *int, orderBy *ent.TodoOrder) (*ent.TodoConnection, error) {
	return r.client.Todo.Query().
		Paginate(ctx, after, first, before, last,
			ent.WithTodoOrder(orderBy),
		)
}
```

## Pagination Usage

Now, we're ready to test our new GraphQL resolvers. Let's start with creating a few todo items by running this
query multiple times (changing variables is optional):

```graphql
mutation CreateTodo($todo: TodoInput!) {
    createTodo(todo: $todo) {
        id
        text
        createdAt
        priority
        parent {
            id
        }
    }
}

# Query Variables: { "todo": { "text": "Create GraphQL Example", "status": "IN_PROGRESS", "priority": 1 } }
# Output: { "data": { "createTodo": { "id": "2", "text": "Create GraphQL Example", "createdAt": "2021-03-10T15:02:18+02:00", "priority": 1, "parent": null } } }
```

Then, we can query our todo list using the pagination API:

```graphql
query {
    todos(first: 3, orderBy: {direction: DESC, field: TEXT}) {
        edges {
            node {
                id
                text
            }
            cursor
        }
    }
}

# Output: { "data": { "todos": { "edges": [ { "node": { "id": "16", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpEKF2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" }, { "node": { "id": "15", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpD6F2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" }, { "node": { "id": "14", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpDqF2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" } ] } } }
```

We can also use the cursor we got in the query above to get all items that come after it.

```graphql
query {
    todos(first: 3, after:"gqFpEKF2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU", orderBy: {direction: DESC, field: TEXT}) {
        edges {
            node {
                id
                text
            }
            cursor
        }
    }
}

# Output: { "data": { "todos": { "edges": [ { "node": { "id": "15", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpD6F2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" }, { "node": { "id": "14", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpDqF2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" }, { "node": { "id": "13", "text": "Create GraphQL Example" }, "cursor": "gqFpDaF2tkNyZWF0ZSBHcmFwaFFMIEV4YW1wbGU" } ] } } }
```

---

Great! With a few simple changes, our application now supports pagination. Please continue to the next section where we
explain how to implement GraphQL field collections and learn how Ent solves the *"N+1 problem"* in GraphQL resolvers.