CursorNotFound: cursor id not found MongoDB Origin: Data OSI layer 7 · Application Last updated 5 Nov 2026

MongoServerError: cursor id 1234567890 not found (CursorNotFound)

A cursor you were iterating timed out or was killed on the server, so the next batch fails.

Exact message you may see cursor id not foundMongoServerError: cursor id 1234567890 not foundCursorNotFound: cursor id not found on serverMongoCursorNotFoundError: Cursor not found (id:getMore command failed: Cursor not found
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Seen on: MongoDB Node.js

Meaning

Server cursors time out after 10 minutes of inactivity. Slow per-document processing between batches triggers this. Fix by processing faster, using smaller batches (batchSize), noCursorTimeout with explicit close (careful), paginating with _id > lastId, or storing results then processing.

Common causes

  • Processing each doc slowly while iterating
  • Cursor idle for over 10 minutes
  • Server restarted/failed over
  • Cursor killed manually
  • Using a huge find() without pagination

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Paginate: find({_id: {$gt: last}}).sort({_id:1}).limit(1000)
  2. Lower batchSize or process faster
  3. noCursorTimeout: true and always close the cursor

Detailed fix by platform

mongosh

  1. db.coll.find().batchSize(500) or cursor.noCursorTimeout() with cursor.close()

How to diagnose

  1. Idle — Time between batches?
  2. Failover — Occurred?
  3. Pagination — Used?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Data. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

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