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After calling withCount on Parse.Query, findAll returns empty array regardless of result #2621
Description
New Issue Checklist
- I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
- I am not just asking a question.
- I have searched through existing issues.
- I can reproduce the issue with the latest versions of Parse Server and the Parse JS SDK.
Issue Description
When building a query dynamically, if withCount is called before findAll, the request payload sent over REST just looks like that for a regular find query with count— batchSize is not sent as the limit, and no subsequent requests are sent with an object id cursor. Even if results come back, the SDK returns an empty array to the caller and fails silently. This appears to have regressed in the SDK at some point between 4.1.0 (where this was working previously) and 6.1.1 (where I encountered it), but I haven't pinpointed it further than that. Obviously if one is using findAll they can just use the size of the result to get the count, but this is definitely unexpected behavior. My workaround in app code is to call withCount conditionally exclusive to the condition for calling findAll.
Steps to reproduce
- Build a query that should have some results
- Call
withCount(true)on the query - Await
findAllon the query
Actual Outcome
The result is an empty array despite the results appearing in the network tab
Expected Outcome
findAll ignores withCount when building the query, but shapes the result to match the expectation of calling with count: { count: number; results: Parse.Object<T>[] }
Environment
Chrome 136.0.7103.114 (Official Build) (arm64)
Parse JS SDK: 6.1.1
Parse Server: 8.2.0
Node: LTS 20.19.2
Server
- Parse Server version: 8.2.0
- Operating system: alpine Linux
- Local or remote host (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Heroku, Digital Ocean, etc): Google Cloud
Database
- System (MongoDB or Postgres): MongoDB
- Database version: 6.0.23
- Local or remote host (MongoDB Atlas, mLab, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc): Google Cloud
Client
- Parse JS SDK version: 6.1.1
Activity
parse-github-assistant commentedon May 21, 2025
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[-]After calling `withCount` on `Parse.Query`, of `findAll` returns empty array regardless of result[/-][+]After calling `withCount` on `Parse.Query`, `findAll` returns empty array regardless of result[/+]mtrezza commentedon Jan 31, 2026
See discussion in #2854;
withCountshould have never been implemented this way as it creates a type conflict. ThefindAllmethod returns an array of objects, but withwithCount(true)it suddenly returns an object. The solution is to remove thewithCount(true)modifier ofParse.Queryand introduce a new methodfindAllWithCountor similar that can then return an object.mtrezza commentedon Jan 31, 2026
Note that in addition,
withCountis currently inefficiently implemented on the Parse Server side; causing 2 distinct queries to the DB, instead of using an aggregation. So currently the most efficient way to paginate through objects and get a total doc count is to use an aggregation.mdarens commentedon Feb 3, 2026
I agree with all of that, but this is still a runtime regression from a previous release/undefined behavior, and
withCountwould still need to spend a major release with deprecation warnings to mitigate further impact.mtrezza commentedon Feb 3, 2026
Implementing
.withCountforfindAllwould require code changes that create type ambiguity. This wasn't an issue before, but now that we've moved to TypeScript, the issue becomes obvious. Since this is not a server issue but purely a SDK issue, there is no need to phase it out, as the change can be made immediately for new client releases. The solution is remove the method, release a new major SDK version, and for the developer to switch to a CloudFunction or the Parse Server REST API.Another issue is that Parse Server Cloud Code depends on the JS SDK, so we can't remove the API as we wouldn't be able to merge that into Parse Server. Hmm... maybe we need to merge #2854 after all.
dplewis commentedon Feb 5, 2026
@mtrezza Should we merge #2854 in the meantime?
mtrezza commentedon Feb 5, 2026
Let's merge it and then remove the .withCount method in a few months in Parse Server 10. Double the work, but maybe better than keeping the bug for now.