HTTP Web Caching Guide and Cheat Sheet Part 1: Storing Responses in the Cache

I recently had the pleasure of implementing a custom web caching layer. While the implementation was really fun, I discovered that the caching logic quickly becomes quite complex. The first question becomes: When should you store things in the cache?

To save you time poring over documentation and RFC’s I created this straightforward cheat sheet and quick reference.

Cheat Sheet

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, I’ll explain when it’s appropriate to return a cached response.

References:

• RFC 9110 HTTP Semantics
• RFC 9111 HTTP Caching
• MDN Cache-Control