---
title: Pagination
label: Pagination
order: 40
desc: Payload queries are equipped with automatic pagination so you create paginated lists of documents within your app.
keywords: query, documents, pagination, documentation, Content Management System, cms, headless, javascript, node, react, nextjs
---

All collection `find` queries are paginated automatically. Responses are returned with top-level meta data related to pagination, and returned documents are nested within a `docs` array.

**`Find` response properties:**

| Property        | Description                                               |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| `docs`          | Array of documents in the collection                      |
| `totalDocs`     | Total available documents within the collection           |
| `limit`         | Limit query parameter - defaults to `10`                  |
| `totalPages`    | Total pages available, based upon the `limit` queried for |
| `page`          | Current page number                                       |
| `pagingCounter` | `number` of the first doc on the current page             |
| `hasPrevPage`   | `true/false` if previous page exists                      |
| `hasNextPage`   | `true/false` if next page exists                          |
| `prevPage`      | `number` of previous page, `null` if it doesn't exist     |
| `nextPage`      | `number` of next page, `null` if it doesn't exist         |

**Example response:**

```json
{
  // Document Array // highlight-line
  "docs": [
    {
      "title": "Page Title",
      "description": "Some description text",
      "priority": 1,
      "createdAt": "2020-10-17T01:19:29.858Z",
      "updatedAt": "2020-10-17T01:19:29.858Z",
      "id": "5f8a46a1dd05db75c3c64760"
    }
  ],
  // Metadata // highlight-line
  "totalDocs": 6,
  "limit": 1,
  "totalPages": 6,
  "page": 1,
  "pagingCounter": 1,
  "hasPrevPage": false,
  "hasNextPage": true,
  "prevPage": null,
  "nextPage": 2
}
```

## Pagination controls

All Payload APIs support the pagination controls below. With them, you can create paginated lists of documents within your application:

| Control | Description                             |
| ------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `limit` | Limits the number of documents returned |
| `page`  | Get a specific page number              |

### Disabling pagination within Local API

For `find` operations within the Local API, you can disable pagination to retrieve all documents from a collection by passing `pagination: false` to the `find` local operation.
