Mongoose Aggregate.prototype.limit() API

Last Updated : 28 Apr, 2025

The Aggregate API.prototype.limit() function of the Mongoose API is used to limit the number of documents that get passed to the next stage in the aggregator pipeline.

Syntax:

Aggregate.prototype.limit()

Parameters: It accepts a single parameter as described below:

num: It is a number that defines the maximum number of documents that get passed to the next stage.

Return type: It returns the aggregated documents as a response.

Setting up Node.js Mongoose Module:

Step 1: Create a Node.js application using the following command:

npm init

Step 2: After creating the NodeJS application, Install the required module using the following command:

npm install mongoose

The below examples will demonstrate the Mongoose Aggregate API.prototype.limit() method.

Example 1: In this example, we will use this method to return the first 2 documents from the response.

Filename: main.js

JavaScript

const mongoose = require('mongoose')

// Database connection
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/query-helpers',
    {
        dbName: 'event_db',
        useNewUrlParser: true,
        useUnifiedTopology: true
    }, err => err ? console.log(err)
        : console.log('Connected to database'));        

const personSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    name: {
        type: String,
    },
    age: {
        type: Number,
    }
});

const personsArray = [
    {
        name: 'Luffy',
        age: 19
    },
    {
        name: 'Nami',
        age: 20
    },
    {
        name: 'Zoro',
        age: 35
    }
]

const Person = mongoose.model('Person', personSchema);

(async () => {
    await Person.insertMany(personsArray);
    const res = await Person.aggregate().limit(2);
    console.log({ res });
})()

Step to Run Application: Run the application using the following command from the root directory of the project:

node main.js

Output:

GUI Representation of the Database using MongoDB Compass:

Example 2: In this example, we will use this method to limit the first 10 documents from the response.

Filename: main.js

JavaScript

const mongoose = require('mongoose')

// Database connection
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost:27017/query-helpers',
    {
        dbName: 'event_db',
        useNewUrlParser: true,
        useUnifiedTopology: true
    }, err => err ? console.log(err)
        : console.log('Connected to database'));        

const personSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    name: {
        type: String,
    },
    age: {
        type: Number,
    }
});

const personsArray = [
    {
        name: 'Luffy',
        age: 19
    },
    {
        name: 'Nami',
        age: 20
    },
    {
        name: 'Zoro',
        age: 35
    }
]

const Person = mongoose.model('Person', personSchema);

(async () => {
    await Person.insertMany(personsArray);
    const res = await Person.aggregate().limit(10);
    console.log({ res });
})()