Returning all records from a large table in a single response is a recipe for slow APIs and crashed servers. Pagination is not optional — this article shows how to implement it properly with Spring Data. The Problem with Returning Everything // Never do this for large datasets @GetMapping("/api/orders") public List<Order> getOrders() { return orderRepository.findAll(); // 1 million orders → OutOfMemoryError } Even for “small” tables, always paginate. Requirements change, data grows.