fix(drizzle): pagination applied incorrectly when sorting by a field inside an array field

packages/drizzle/src/find/findMany.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import type { FindArgs, FlattenedField, TypeWithID } from 'payload'
 
-import { inArray } from 'drizzle-orm'
+import { asc, desc, inArray, max, min } from 'drizzle-orm'
 
 import type { DrizzleAdapter } from '../types.js'
 
@@ -96,20 +96,59 @@ export const findMany = async function find({
 
   const db = await getTransaction(adapter, req)
 
-  const selectDistinctResult = await selectDistinct({
-    adapter,
-    db,
-    joins,
-    query: ({ query }) => {
-      if (orderBy) {
-        query = query.orderBy(() => orderBy.map(({ column, order }) => order(column)))
-      }
-      return query.offset(offset).limit(limit)
-    },
-    selectFields,
-    tableName,
-    where,
-  })
+  const oneToManyJoinedTableNames = new Set(
+    joins.filter((j) => j.isOneToMany).map((j) => getNameFromDrizzleTable(j.table)),
+  )
+
+  const hasSortOnOneToMany =
+    oneToManyJoinedTableNames.size > 0 &&
+    orderBy?.some(({ column }) =>
+      oneToManyJoinedTableNames.has(getNameFromDrizzleTable(column.table)),
+    )
+
+  let selectDistinctResult: { id: number | string }[] | undefined
+
+  // avoid duplicate results by using a group query instead of select distinct when there is a sort on a one-to-many joined table
+  if (hasSortOnOneToMany) {
+    const mainTable = adapter.tables[tableName]
+    let groupQuery = (db as any).select({ id: mainTable.id }).from(mainTable).$dynamic()
+
+    if (where) {
+      groupQuery = groupQuery.where(where)
+    }
+
+    joins.forEach(({ type, condition, table }) => {
+      groupQuery = groupQuery[type ?? 'leftJoin'](table, condition)
+    })
+
+    groupQuery = groupQuery.groupBy(mainTable.id)
+
+    groupQuery = groupQuery.orderBy(() =>
+      orderBy.map(({ column, order }) => {
+        if (oneToManyJoinedTableNames.has(getNameFromDrizzleTable(column.table))) {
+          return order === asc ? asc(min(column)) : desc(max(column))
+        }
+        return order(column)
+      }),
+    )
+
+    selectDistinctResult = await groupQuery.offset(offset).limit(limit)
+  } else {
+    selectDistinctResult = await selectDistinct({
+      adapter,
+      db,
+      joins,
+      query: ({ query }) => {
+        if (orderBy) {
+          query = query.orderBy(() => orderBy.map(({ column, order }) => order(column)))
+        }
+        return query.offset(offset).limit(limit)
+      },
+      selectFields,
+      tableName,
+      where,
+    })
+  }
 
   if (selectDistinctResult) {
     if (selectDistinctResult.length === 0) {

packages/drizzle/src/queries/addJoinTable.ts

@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ import { getNameFromDrizzleTable } from '../utilities/getNameFromDrizzleTable.js
 export const addJoinTable = ({
   type,
   condition,
+  isOneToMany,
   joins,
   queryPath,
   table,
 }: {
   condition: SQL
+  isOneToMany?: boolean
   joins: BuildQueryJoinAliases
   queryPath?: string
   table: GenericTable | PgTableWithColumns<any>
@@ -22,6 +24,6 @@ export const addJoinTable = ({
   const name = getNameFromDrizzleTable(table)
 
   if (!joins.some((eachJoin) => getNameFromDrizzleTable(eachJoin.table) === name)) {
-    joins.push({ type, condition, queryPath, table })
+    joins.push({ type, condition, isOneToMany, queryPath, table })
   }
 }

packages/drizzle/src/queries/buildQuery.ts

@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import { parseParams } from './parseParams.js'
 
 export type BuildQueryJoinAliases = {
   condition: SQL
+  // with parent
+  isOneToMany?: boolean
   queryPath?: string
   table: GenericTable | PgTableWithColumns<any>
   type?: 'innerJoin' | 'leftJoin' | 'rightJoin'

packages/drizzle/src/queries/getTableColumnFromPath.ts

@@ -158,12 +158,14 @@ export const getTableColumnFromPath = ({
           }
           addJoinTable({
             condition: and(...conditions),
+            isOneToMany: true,
             joins,
             table: adapter.tables[newTableName],
           })
         } else {
           addJoinTable({
             condition: eq(arrayParentTable.id, adapter.tables[newTableName]._parentID),
+            isOneToMany: true,
             joins,
             table: adapter.tables[newTableName],
           })

test/database/int.spec.ts

@@ -1518,6 +1518,80 @@ describe('database', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('should return the correct number of docs per page when sorting on an array sub-field', async () => {
+    const createdIds: string[] = []
+    const TOTAL = 10
+    const ITEMS_PER_DOC = 3
+    const LIMIT = 5
+
+    const testPrefix = `SortArraySubField-${Date.now()}`
+
+    // Each post has ITEMS_PER_DOC array items with distinct text values so the JOIN
+    // produces TOTAL * ITEMS_PER_DOC rows — enough to expose the LIMIT-before-dedup bug.
+    for (let i = 0; i < TOTAL; i++) {
+      const doc = await payload.create({
+        collection: postsSlug,
+        data: {
+          arrayWithIDs: Array.from({ length: ITEMS_PER_DOC }, (_, j) => ({
+            text: `${testPrefix}-doc${String(i).padStart(2, '0')}-item${j}`,
+          })),
+          title: `${testPrefix}-${i}`,
+        },
+      })
+
+      createdIds.push(String(doc.id))
+    }
+
+    const page1 = await payload.find({
+      collection: postsSlug,
+      limit: LIMIT,
+      page: 1,
+      sort: 'arrayWithIDs.text',
+      where: { title: { contains: testPrefix } },
+    })
+
+    const page2 = await payload.find({
+      collection: postsSlug,
+      limit: LIMIT,
+      page: 2,
+      sort: 'arrayWithIDs.text',
+      where: { title: { contains: testPrefix } },
+    })
+
+    expect(page1.totalDocs).toBe(TOTAL)
+    expect(page1.totalPages).toBe(TOTAL / LIMIT)
+    expect(page1.docs).toHaveLength(LIMIT)
+    expect(page2.docs).toHaveLength(LIMIT)
+
+    // No document should appear in both pages
+    const page1Ids = new Set(page1.docs.map((d) => d.id))
+    const duplicates = page2.docs.filter((d) => page1Ids.has(d.id))
+    expect(duplicates).toHaveLength(0)
+
+    // Verify sort order: each doc's minimum array text is `${testPrefix}-docXX-item0`,
+    // so ascending sort should place doc-00 first and doc-09 last.
+    // Collect all docs across pages and verify they are in non-decreasing text order.
+    const allDocs = [...page1.docs, ...page2.docs]
+    const minTexts = allDocs.map((d) => {
+      const texts = (d.arrayWithIDs ?? []).map((item) => item.text).filter(Boolean)
+      return texts.length > 0 ? texts.sort()[0] : ''
+    })
+
+    for (let i = 1; i < minTexts.length; i++) {
+      expect(minTexts[i - 1]! <= minTexts[i]!).toBe(true)
+    }
+
+    // Page 1 docs should all have smaller sort keys than page 2 docs
+    const page1MaxText = minTexts.slice(0, LIMIT).at(-1)!
+    const page2MinText = minTexts.slice(LIMIT)[0]!
+    expect(page1MaxText <= page2MinText).toBe(true)
+
+    await payload.delete({
+      collection: postsSlug,
+      where: { id: { in: createdIds } },
+    })
+  })
+
   describe('Compound Indexes', () => {
     beforeEach(async () => {
       await payload.delete({ collection: 'compound-indexes', where: {} })