startCursor

startCursor is a term used in data retrieval and pagination to denote the position in an ordered sequence from which subsequent results should begin. It represents a point within a dataset, such as records, documents, or events, and is typically used in systems that support cursor-based pagination or streaming. When a server returns a page of results, it may provide a startCursor token that encodes the location for the next retrieval. Clients store this token and use it in a following request to resume fetching results from that position.

In practice, startCursor is commonly used in APIs that support stateless pagination. A response may include a startCursor alongside the page of items, and a client will supply that cursor in the next request to continue from where the previous page left off. The actual encoding of the cursor is implementation-specific; it can be an opaque token or a value derived from item keys or timestamps. Because the cursor is typically opaque to the client, servers often sign or otherwise protect it to prevent tampering.

Compared with offset-based pagination, cursor-based approaches using a startCursor can offer better consistency for dynamic data, as they rely on a stable position within the ordered results rather than a shifting offset. However, the usefulness of a startCursor depends on the underlying data model and guarantees provided by the API, such as how changes to the dataset affect cursor validity and result ordering.

See also: endCursor, nextPageToken, pagination, cursor-based pagination.