diff --git a/services/sofiia-console/app/main.py b/services/sofiia-console/app/main.py
index e105348b..d4935447 100644
--- a/services/sofiia-console/app/main.py
+++ b/services/sofiia-console/app/main.py
@@ -3078,7 +3078,8 @@ def _clean_chat_reply(text: str) -> str:
 
 
 def _cursor_encode(payload: Dict[str, Any]) -> str:
-    raw = json.dumps(payload, separators=(",", ":"), ensure_ascii=True).encode("utf-8")
+    wrapped = {"v": 1, **payload}
+    raw = json.dumps(wrapped, separators=(",", ":"), ensure_ascii=True).encode("utf-8")
     return base64.urlsafe_b64encode(raw).decode("ascii")
 
 
@@ -3088,7 +3089,17 @@ def _cursor_decode(cursor: Optional[str]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     try:
         decoded = base64.urlsafe_b64decode(cursor.encode("ascii")).decode("utf-8")
         data = json.loads(decoded)
-        return data if isinstance(data, dict) else {}
+        if not isinstance(data, dict):
+            return {}
+        # Backward compatibility: accept old cursors without "v".
+        if "v" not in data:
+            return data
+        # Current cursor format version.
+        if int(data.get("v") or 0) == 1:
+            out = dict(data)
+            out.pop("v", None)
+            return out
+        return {}
     except Exception:
         return {}
 
diff --git a/tests/test_sofiia_chat_cursor_tiebreaker.py b/tests/test_sofiia_chat_cursor_tiebreaker.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c0caa373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_sofiia_chat_cursor_tiebreaker.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import asyncio
+
+
+def _create_chat(client, agent_id: str, node_id: str, ref: str) -> str:
+    r = client.post(
+        "/api/chats",
+        json={
+            "agent_id": agent_id,
+            "node_id": node_id,
+            "source": "web",
+            "external_chat_ref": ref,
+        },
+    )
+    assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+    return r.json()["chat"]["chat_id"]
+
+
+def test_chats_pagination_same_updated_at_no_duplicates(sofiia_client, sofiia_module, monkeypatch):
+    async def _fake_infer(base_url, agent_id, text, **kwargs):
+        return {"response": f"ok:{agent_id}:{text}", "backend": "fake", "model": "fake-model"}
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sofiia_module, "infer", _fake_infer)
+
+    created = []
+    for idx in range(3):
+        cid = _create_chat(sofiia_client, "sofiia", "NODA2", f"same-updated-{idx}")
+        created.append(cid)
+
+    async def _force_same_updated():
+        db = await sofiia_module._app_db.get_db()
+        for cid in created:
+            await db.execute(
+                "UPDATE sessions SET last_active=? WHERE session_id=?",
+                ("2026-03-02T10:00:00Z", cid),
+            )
+        await db.commit()
+
+    asyncio.run(_force_same_updated())
+
+    p1 = sofiia_client.get("/api/chats?nodes=NODA2&limit=2")
+    assert p1.status_code == 200, p1.text
+    j1 = p1.json()
+    assert j1["count"] == 2
+    assert j1["has_more"] is True
+    assert j1["next_cursor"]
+
+    p2 = sofiia_client.get(f"/api/chats?nodes=NODA2&limit=2&cursor={j1['next_cursor']}")
+    assert p2.status_code == 200, p2.text
+    j2 = p2.json()
+    assert j2["count"] >= 1
+
+    ids = [x["chat_id"] for x in j1["items"]] + [x["chat_id"] for x in j2["items"]]
+    assert len(set(ids)) == 3
+
+
+def test_messages_pagination_same_ts_no_duplicates(sofiia_client, sofiia_module, monkeypatch):
+    async def _fake_infer(base_url, agent_id, text, **kwargs):
+        return {"response": f"ok:{agent_id}:{text}", "backend": "fake", "model": "fake-model"}
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sofiia_module, "infer", _fake_infer)
+    cid = _create_chat(sofiia_client, "sofiia", "NODA2", "same-ts")
+    for idx in range(3):
+        r = sofiia_client.post(
+            f"/api/chats/{cid}/send",
+            json={"text": f"msg-{idx}", "idempotency_key": f"same-ts-{idx}"},
+        )
+        assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+
+    async def _force_same_ts():
+        db = await sofiia_module._app_db.get_db()
+        await db.execute(
+            "UPDATE messages SET ts=? WHERE session_id=?",
+            ("2026-03-02T10:00:00Z", cid),
+        )
+        await db.commit()
+
+    asyncio.run(_force_same_ts())
+
+    p1 = sofiia_client.get(f"/api/chats/{cid}/messages?limit=2")
+    assert p1.status_code == 200, p1.text
+    j1 = p1.json()
+    assert j1["count"] == 2
+    assert j1["has_more"] is True
+    assert j1["next_cursor"]
+
+    p2 = sofiia_client.get(f"/api/chats/{cid}/messages?limit=2&cursor={j1['next_cursor']}")
+    assert p2.status_code == 200, p2.text
+    j2 = p2.json()
+    assert j2["count"] >= 1
+
+    ids = [x["message_id"] for x in j1["items"]] + [x["message_id"] for x in j2["items"]]
+    # 3 sends => 6 total persisted messages (user + assistant each turn).
+    assert len(set(ids)) == 4
+