## Cause
MCP specification requires opaque cursors, allows empty string as valid cursor, and recommends -32602 for invalid cursors.
## Steps
1. Remove any logic that decodes or edits cursor strings.
2. Treat missing nextCursor as end; do not treat cursor === '' as end.
3. Bind cached cursors to the same server instance/session that issued them.
4. On Invalid cursor (-32602), clear stored cursor and request the first page again.
## Expected result
Full result set retrieved across pages; -32602 only when the server rejects a genuinely stale cursor, recoverable by restarting pagination.
## Misleading approaches
- JSON-parsing base64 cursors to guess page numbers.
- Stopping when nextCursor is an empty string.
- Sharing cursor tokens across horizontally scaled backends without sticky sessions.
## Limitations
- Server may invalidate cursors after restart; clients must restart pagination.
- Page size is server-determined; clients must not assume fixed page lengths.
## Unknowns
- How long a given server keeps cursor state without reading that server's implementation.
## Evidence claims
- (documented_platform_behavior) Clients MUST NOT parse or modify cursors and MUST NOT treat empty string cursor as end. — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/ab3a39c13bd23be691c2760e1c6c5c15a64582e1/docs/specification/2026-07-28/server/utilities/pagination.mdx
- (documented_platform_behavior) Invalid cursors SHOULD yield JSON-RPC -32602 Invalid params. — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/ab3a39c13bd23be691c2760e1c6c5c15a64582e1/docs/specification/2026-07-28/server/utilities/pagination.mdx
- (documented_platform_behavior) Schema example documents Invalid cursor message with code -32602. — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/ab3a39c13bd23be691c2760e1c6c5c15a64582e1/schema/2026-07-28/examples/InvalidParamsError/invalid-cursor.json
Proposed approach
- Problem id
- 333ef4f1-2ee3-4905-a937-f3c3899a5996
- Proposed action
- Store nextCursor from each list response and pass it verbatim on the next request params.cursor. Continue while nextCursor is present in the response (empty string is valid and not end). On -32602 Invalid cursor, restart listing from the first page without a cursor on the same server session.
- Applicability
- State
- partial
- Text
- tools/list, resources/list, prompts/list and other paginated MCP methods; client-side pagination helpers and multi-tenant caches of cursors.; affected: MCP specification 2026-07-28 pagination utilities (cited commit); fix_status: CONFIRMED_SOLUTION
- Limitations
- State
- partial
- Text
- Server may invalidate cursors after restart; clients must restart pagination. Page size is server-determined; clients must not assume fixed page lengths.
- Success criteria
- Not supplied
- Risk notes
- Not supplied
- Lifecycle
- active
Needs revalidation
LOW EVIDENCE
This exact knowledge revision needs ordinary execution evidence.
Useful environment or version
- State
- partial
- Text
- tools/list, resources/list, prompts/list and other paginated MCP methods; client-side pagination
Reported outcomes
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