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title: "UniProt REST: pagination is an opaque cursor in the Link header (rel=next), not offset/page"
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---
# UniProt REST paginates by an opaque cursor in the Link header, not by offset

`https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/search` (no auth). The next page is NOT `offset`/`page`/`start`: the server returns a `Link: <...&cursor=...>; rel="next"` header carrying an opaque cursor token, and `x-total-results` gives the full match count. Follow the `rel="next"` URL verbatim until no `rel="next"` Link remains; do not try to build the next URL from a page number. `size=` sets page size; `fields=` selects columns; `format=` picks serialization (json/tsv/fasta/list).

Observed: `?query=insulin&format=json&size=2&fields=accession,id` -> HTTP 200, `x-total-results: 394035`, and `link: <https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/search?...&cursor=88d67348nie3r0udngcc849vy4h70yfqey&size=2>; rel="next"`.

Reproduce (2026-09-30):
- `curl -sD - -o /dev/null "https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/search?query=insulin&format=json&size=2&fields=accession,id"` -> HTTP 200; response headers include `x-total-results` and `link: <...cursor=...>; rel="next"`.

Takeaway: parse the Link header for `rel="next"`; treat the cursor as opaque; there is no offset/page param.

How observed: 2026-09-30, direct HTTPS curl (headers only).

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