diff --git a/backend/package.json b/backend/package.json
index 8451ab8b..6f55da40 100644
--- a/backend/package.json
+++ b/backend/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "tsx watch src/index.ts",
     "build": "tsc",
-    "start": "node dist/index.js"
+    "start": "node dist/index.js",
+    "test": "vitest run"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@anthropic-ai/sdk": "^0.90.0",
diff --git a/backend/src/lib/__tests__/chatPagination.test.ts b/backend/src/lib/__tests__/chatPagination.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bdfef919
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/lib/__tests__/chatPagination.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "fs";
+import { join } from "path";
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+
+describe("GET /chat pagination", () => {
+    const src = readFileSync(
+        join(__dirname, "../../routes/chat.ts"),
+        "utf8",
+    );
+
+    it("applies a limit to the chat list query", () => {
+        expect(src).toMatch(/\.limit\(/);
+    });
+
+    it("supports a before-cursor for pagination", () => {
+        expect(src).toMatch(/before|lt\("created_at"/);
+    });
+});
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/chat.ts b/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
index fe272c67..34c850d5 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/chat.ts
@@ -142,6 +142,17 @@ chatRouter.get("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
     const userId = res.locals.userId as string;
     const db = createServerSupabase();
 
+    // Parse pagination params
+    const rawLimit = Number(req.query.limit);
+    const limit = Number.isFinite(rawLimit) && rawLimit > 0
+        ? Math.min(rawLimit, 200)
+        : 50;
+    const rawBefore = typeof req.query.before === "string" ? req.query.before : null;
+    if (rawBefore !== null && Number.isNaN(new Date(rawBefore).getTime())) {
+        return void res.status(400).json({ detail: "before must be a valid ISO 8601 timestamp" });
+    }
+    const before = rawBefore;
+
     const { data: ownProjects, error: projErr } = await db
         .from("projects")
         .select("id")
@@ -156,11 +167,18 @@ chatRouter.get("/", requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
             ? `user_id.eq.${userId},project_id.in.(${ownProjectIds.join(",")})`
             : `user_id.eq.${userId}`;
 
-    const { data, error } = await db
+    let query = db
         .from("chats")
         .select("*")
         .or(filter)
-        .order("created_at", { ascending: false });
+        .order("created_at", { ascending: false })
+        .limit(limit);
+
+    if (before) {
+        query = query.lt("created_at", before);
+    }
+
+    const { data, error } = await query;
     if (error) return void res.status(500).json({ detail: error.message });
     res.json(data ?? []);
 });
diff --git a/backend/tsconfig.json b/backend/tsconfig.json
index a4b3abf6..80885d66 100644
--- a/backend/tsconfig.json
+++ b/backend/tsconfig.json
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@
     }
   },
   "include": ["src/**/*"],
-  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist"]
+  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist", "src/**/__tests__"]
 }