Unify subgroups and projects pagination on the backend

Problem Statement

Right now, we show subgroups and projects together on one page in Security Inventory, but:

• They come from two separate GraphQL connections:
  • group.descendantGroups
  • group.projects
• Each has its own cursor-based pagination (pageInfo.after, before, endCursor).

The frontend merges both lists and handles paging manually. This causes several issues:

• Complex state management (traversing two cursors, and maintaining their states).
• Difficult to keep a consistent page size
• Back navigation (before pagination) is technically possible but unreliable.
• Future implementation of sorting / filtering may increase complexity

Proposal

Move pagination and merging logic to the backend by introducing a new GraphQL field:

group {
subgroupsAndProjects(first: Int, after: String, before: String): GroupItemsConnection!
}

This field would:

• Fetch both descendant groups and projects internally.
• Return them in order: all groups first, then projects.
• Use a single unified cursor (pageInfo with one endCursor, hasNextPage, hasPreviousPage).
• Maintain a stable page size and consistent pagination boundaries.

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References

GitLab supports both cursor-based pagination and offset-based pagination through GraphQL - prefers cursor-based

• https://docs.gitlab.com/development/graphql_guide/pagination/
• https://docs.gitlab.com/development/database/pagination_guidelines/

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Next Steps

• Confirm feasibility of new subgroupsAndProjects resolver.
  • Implement and test pagination in both directions.
  • Update frontend to use new single connection.
  • Remove frontend merge and “Load more” workaround.